Review of the movie "The Long Walk"

Starting from September 11, anyone can attend a screening of the dystopian thriller The Long Walk, which has started in Ukrainian cinemas and is an adaptation of the 1979 novel of the same name by Stephen King (by the way, the website already available a large article about the top movie adaptations of the King of Horror, don’t miss it). The film is directed by Francis Lawrence, who is no stranger to the popular dystopian plot about teenagers in a deadly reality movie after The Hunger Games series. New received is a truly enthusiastic perception, but how fair it is, let’s find out in the review.

“The Long Walk”

Genre dystopian thriller
Director Francis Lawrence
Starring Cooper Hoffman, David Johnsson, Garrett Wareing, Mark Hamill, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davies, Judy Greer
Premiere movie theaters
Year of issue 2025
Website IMDb, official website

In an alternate United States ruled by totalitarianism, the Long Walk is an annual endurance competition designed to shake up the decadent nation and restore American faith in an ephemeral bright future. 50 randomly selected young people must simply walk forward at a speed of at least 3 miles per hour. The winner will be the one who keeps this pace the longest. The lucky one is promised a substantial cash reward and the fulfillment of one wish. Everyone else will face certain death, as the event is accompanied by a military convoy with a surprisingly talkative Major at its head.

“The Long Walk” refers to the King of Horror’s early work, when he published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. His youthful, angry, and uncompromising spirit can still be felt on the movie screen today. This particular novel was the first one King wrote as a student, long before Carrie was first published. It was at the height of the Vietnam War. Some literary critics directly called as a metaphor for this war, the press also described it as “one of King’s most pessimistic novels” and “a dark sci-fi mirror of contemporary America”.

By the way, Bakhman’s period includes another novel about a vile reality show in a terrible dictatorship — “The Running Man”, the newest movie version of which will be released in November. In the movie, the events took place in the “future” of 2025.

But even though the concerns of those tumultuous times for Americans are long gone, The Long Walk has by no means lost its relevance, especially today. It’s one thing to shout about America’s future greatness into a loudspeaker, as the Major, played by the stalwart Mark Hamill, does, and quite another to face an objective reality where there is no basis for that greatness. It is one thing to stamp out caps with the encouraging inscription “Make America Great Again” and breed populism, and quite another to fulfill the promises. Even modern dictators disdainfully spit on such “greatness” from a high place.

However, apart from the obvious thoughts that a film adaptation of “The Long Walk” is more appropriate than ever, this story is not only about the global, i.e. the United States, which is in a fever, but also about the local — the doomed who are trapped in the system. But at the same time, it’s also about those who have found new friends — the theme of teenage friendship is one of the key themes in King’s work, and given the local, let’s say, competitive environment, it looks powerful here. Even the last bastard, Gary Barkovich, realizes the importance of cohesion, humanity, and camaraderie in the face of death, but perhaps too late.

The characters of Cooper Hoffman (the son of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played Plutarch Gavensby in The Hunger Games) and David Johnsson, who was remembered by many for his performance in last year’s “Alien: Romulus”. They are responsible for this friendship, and it is this friendship that is the emotional center of the story.

And for some people, the death is even worse and even more painful — Lawrence fundamentally does not spare either the characters or the audience. And this causes real horror, which is what the director successfully achieves. In fact, we are faced with walking dead, because it is no secret that almost all of them will die. If it’s a bullet in the forehead, it’s a bullet in the forehead.

But at the same time, the characters in the film are really real, and despite the laconic timing and the inability to reveal everyone in full, we feel pain (at least discomfort) when one of the unfortunates gets a dose of lead. It is simply impossible to remain indifferent.

The pessimistic, death-filled “The Long Walk” looks like the direct antithesis of the life-affirming “The Life of Chuck”, which was released just two months ago and is still quite fresh in our minds. Even the roles of Mark Hamill, who has been moving from one place to another, let’s draw symbolic parallels, are like the parts of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. And how much more powerful is the uncompromisingness of this film than the superficial philosophical nature of the one.

Overall, this is a worthwhile movie that, among other things, reminds us that our path is hard, and living life is not a field to cross. Especially if it takes place at gunpoint and in the sights of tank guns of those who can hardly be called human.