2025 is a big year for Stephen King film adaptations, apparently! Earlier this year, the hilarious horror-comedy The Monkey was released. Coming up in November Edgar Wright is tackling the action-packed The Running Man. But now, we have the darkest and bleakest of the three: The Long Walk. In typical Stephen King fashion, this disturbing story makes you contemplate life and death and the state of the world. A timeless tale of dystopian self-sacrifice, The Long Walk hits hard.
Over the years, Stephen King’s novels and short stories have seen adaptions of very varied quality. While The Shawshank Redemption is considered a classic, a lot of his other tales have steeped towards B-Movie territory. (Not always a bad thing!) But, with a writer as experienced as King, his stories tend to hold a lot of emotional weight. When adapting his stories, some filmmakers lean more towards scares and gore than actual human compassion.
Luckily this year King’s writing is getting some much needed care and attention. The Monkey is an absolute absurdist horror-comedy, Osgood Perkins got that level of humor/horror down pat. The Running Man looks to be one of the most exciting films of the year. (Not a surprise with Wright on board). And now, as punishing as it is, The Long Walk brings King’s typical dread to an all time high.
The walkers
The Long Walk‘s plot is so simple it hurts. In King’s future world, once a year, fifty young men are chosen from each state to walk, as long as they can, at the same speed, until there is only one left. And that’s the whole film. As soon as it starts they are on their way, and man, is it a soul-crushing experience! The film isn’t bad at all, by the way, it’s very good. It just makes you feel bad. Very bad.
While David Jonsson and Cooper Hoffman do a phenomenal job as the lead characters, the entire cast shows up for this one. Every actor inhabits the constant rollercoaster their characters are subjected to. One minute they’re sharing a moment of laughter, the next they’re watching a young man get executed right behind them. The film gives you no time to breathe, much like the characters within it, who are constantly forced to be on guard.
I knew the plot of the story before seeing it, though my friend had no idea what we were walking into. He was shocked to find out the plot of the story, and we both watched in horror as these poor boys walked slowly to their deaths. Of course these young men are likable, even the villainous ones to an extent. All at once, as the walk begins, these characters are all victims to the same hopeless situation, and you can feel like you’re there.
Man vs authority
This all takes place in a very messed up version of American Society. (Or, a more messed up version). Why do fifty young men subject themselves to a 1 in 50 chance of survival every year? American Pride of course! The reason for the long walk is to boost morale in a broken world. The idea being people can watch such a brutal spectacle broadcasted live in hopes that, they too may someday be the winner of such an “honorable” tradition. The winner gets paid handsomely and is granted one wish. Whoop-dee-doo.
Over the course of the walk they tell each other what they would do if they won, judging each other for their reasons and their actions throughout. Some keep quiet, while others opt to make friends, the only good thing to come out of the challenge.
As simple as the story is, it brings up so many interesting themes into the mix. Most obviously the way in which the government can effect, and furthermore, trick the major populace into thinking something is for “the greater good”. There’s the idea that so many young men are willing to volunteer themselves to die for their country. And, of course, that in a bleak world, the hope of friendship and human connection can set us free. Damn. It all really hits differently when you’re sat watching fifty men who are more or less guaranteed death discuss the meaning of their hopeless, short lives.
The Major
In his villain era, Mark Hamill is great at playing “The Major”, the face of The Long Walk who sporadically drives by the boys, encouraging them to win, or die. Nothing is sugar coated, as the boys are continuously told and shown that they are not long for this world. Hamill has a blast cheering on and bullying the remaining survivors. He is stone cold, emotionless, and happy to be helping out with the terrifying tradition.
Friends to the end
I worried that the film would drag and get boring at times. It is, after all, one long walk. But the acting kept me in it. It looked great, and as director Francis Lawrence directed a share of The Hunger Games films, he knows his way around a dystopian world. But the acting? Unbelievably strong! Each of these young men made you feel that they felt everything- the terror, the poignancy, and especially, the sadness.
A lot of the scenes were filmed in very long take style, having conversations go on for minutes without pause. The characters came through so clearly, with the actors having to remember lines for long stretches of time, and with conviction. David Jonsson and Cooper Hoffman play a fantastic pair of friends, friends who have only just met, and friends who know that soon they will never see each other again. It’s a heart-wrenching story to watch, but that’s what makes it so impactful.
Each execution scene, or any sequence of chaos and fear, brings with it such a devastating blow of melancholy. These boys know only one of them is going to make it, and as the group starts to dwindle down, its terribly sad watching them reason with one another. But as they start to fall, they realize all they have left is each other. Some learn this faster than others, others never learn it at all. The biggest lesson at the center of King’s terrifying fable? We simply can’t go it alone, we need each other.
Lovely dystopia
Dystopian stories rock. They show us a glimpse of a dark, shattered future, and what we could succumb to therein. So, while The Long Walk is by no means a “feel good film”, its one that’ll stay with you. I can’t imagine I would rewatch the film, (to spare me the emotional turmoil), but I’m sure glad I saw it in theaters.
Dystopias remind us how good we actually have it, and how bad things can go if the world goes unchecked. If you like being on the edge of the seat, and your thoughts provoked, give The Long Walk a shot. Stephen King movies have rarely been better.
The Long Walk is now playing in theaters.
