Film Review: The Long Walk

Welcome back to the blog readers. Book-to-film adaptations are a tough nut to crack; on one hand, you get things like the Twilight (2008-12) films. On another, you get things like It Ends with Us (2024) and the Divergent (2014-17) films (films I still consider somewhat of a guilty pleasure). With another adaptation from the master of storytelling, would this be more of a Twilight or a Divergent? Let's hope the latter, because the reviews for this film are absolutely glowing.

The Long Walk was directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by JT Mollner, based on the novella The Long Walk by Stephen King (under his pseudonym Richard Bachman). The film stars Copper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill. In the film, fifty teen boys in a dystopian America enter a competition where the only rule is to walk or die.

I originally did not know that this film was coming when I was looking forward in January, but since I learned of this film's existence, I have been eagerly awaiting this one to see if it was worth the hype that it had been getting at the festival circuit. Positive word of mouth got out, so I was even more excited, but that could not prepare me for what I had witnessed: this is one of my favorite films of the year. The performances (especially from Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, and Mark Hamill) were stellar, and the story about brotherhood and togetherness is possibly one of the best I have seen all year. Plus the tension was off the scales guys.

I want to start by talking about the performance of Cooper Hoffman. The son of late acting titan Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cooper has not been in a whole lot since he made his acting debut in Licorice Pizza (2021). He was great in Saturday Night (2024), but nothing has stood out in his small filmography...until now. Hoffman is the heart and soul of this film, and he gives his heart and soul to the character of Raymond Garraty. He infuses so much life, so much humanity, and so much levity to this character that you wind up feeling for him whenever his life is on the line. I know he won't get it, but I would absolutely shortlist him for Best Actor at the Oscars. He really surprised me with this role.

I was slightly less surprised with how amazing David Jonsson was in his role of Peter McVries, only because I saw how brilliant of an actor he is becoming when he was in last year's Alien: Romulus (2024) and he won the BAFTA Rising Star award for his performance. This performance was utterly shocking to me, because I did not know he was capable of this level of talent. I kid you not when I say this, but I will be absolutely shocked if he is not one of the five nominees for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars. He brings the same life and humanity to his character as Cooper Hoffman does, but there is an underlying anger and rage that he brings that can be terrifying at times. David Jonsson is someone who is becoming a star in front of us, and I am glad I can say I became a fan of his before he blew up into the big time, because that is where he is headed.

And finally, I need to talk about the performance of our favorite Jedi Master: Mark Hamill. Synonymous with Star Wars, Hamill has also obviously taken on other classic roles like the Joker, but Hamill really surprised me with his honest performance in The Life of Chuck (2025). But when was the last time you could say Hamill was terrifying in a role, much less the role being the cunning and cutthroat Major? Hamill is not in the film much, but he makes a complete and utter impact with his tenacity and grit that he brings to the role. And by the end of the film, you are left to cheer when the Major's deeds come back to haunt him. I think Hamill is putting out the best work of his career in these King adaptations, and I am hopeful he can get an Oscar one day.

I want to take this paragraph to talk about the tone that this film gives us. The trailers made the film seem like it was going to be dark and brooding with no room to breathe at all, but I commend Francis Lawrence for only making the film partly like that. Yes, it is dark and brooding where some fucked up shit happens (and if you saw the film, you know what I am talking about), but there is a lighter undertone to this film in regards to its themes and story that I will talk about in the next paragraph. And trust me, there is some real horrific shit that happens in this film, do not let me fool you.

And finally, I want to talk about the aforementioned themes and story of this film. Like I mentioned in the informational paragraph, the film involves fifty teen boys entering this competition where they have to walk or die, which seems basic enough on its own, but couple that with the themes of totalitarianism and class divides and you have a meditation on our current political climate (obviously it was not intentional but art is a reflection of reality). Then, layer on top of it the resolve these kids have and twist the narrative of people doing whatever it takes to win on its head and give these boys a sense of belonging and desire to lift each other up. That was the most surprising part of this film; that these fifty kids wanted each other to succeed, which you almost never see in a genre project like this. I really hope JT Mollner gets a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for his work on this screenplay, because he hit a damn home run on it.

In conclusion, The Long Walk takes familiar dystopian tropes and flips them on their head to make one of the best films of 2025, and dare I say it, one of the best Stephen King adaptations yet. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.