The Long Walk (2025) is directed by Francis Lawrence and written by JT Mollner. It stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Mark Hamill, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Joshua Odjick, Tut Nyuot, Garrett Wareing, Jordan Gonzalez, Judy Greer, Roman Griffin Davis, and Josh Hamilton. Based on the novel by Stephen King, the film is set in a dystopian future where, every year, a group of 50 young men compete to see who can walk the furthest while maintaining a speed of 3mph. While the sole winner gains untold riches, any contestant who falls below 3mph or breaks any of the other rules is immediately executed. When Ray Garraty (Hoffman) joins the competition, he soon forms an unlikely friendship with fellow contestant Peter McVries (Jonsson). Along with a handful of other allies, Peter and Ray lean on one another to survive, despite knowing that only one of them has any real chance. As they’re picked off one by one, the boys realize that no amount of money is worth a man’s soul. 

As the two leads, Jonsson and Hoffman both deliver devastating, intensely likable performances. Hoffman shows shades of his uber-talented late father, Phillip Seymour, proving that he can not only lead a great film, but carry it. He perfectly balances the idea that Ray sees himself as a man/adult without having any idea of what that actually means. There’s something deeply mature about the character, but also a certain naivety in how he sees the world. On the surface, he’s far more mature than Peter, but the film uses this to subvert our expectations. Peter wants to be friendly, not because he’s unaware that most of them will die, but because he’s the only person to realize that these human connections are all that truly matter in terms of living a meaningful, fulfilling life. The script does a great job of building a believable connection between the two, but most of the credit goes to Jonsson and Hoffman. Their performances extract every last ounce of emotion from the material, resulting in a devastating experience despite the plot’s inherent predictability.   

The supporting cast is also strong, especially Mark Hamill as the Major overseeing the competition. Unfortunately, he doesn’t receive as much characterization as I would’ve liked. He’s unsurprisingly an essential character by the end of the film, but the viewer is never keyed into his more complex motivations. This makes him somewhat basic and forgettable, despite Hamill’s entertaining portrayal. The supporting young cast is excellent as well, but their characters are often just the typical King archetypes we’ve seen in countless numbers of his other stories. Granted, King movies is basically its own subgenre at this point, with these archetypes being one of their defining factors. In other words, the added ‘King’ flavor makes up for the heightened predictability.

Even though the nature of the premise makes a lot of the deaths predictable due to their inevitability, they’re still extremely shocking. Not only are the deaths surprising in how they each unfold, they’re also surprising due to their graphic, unapologetic nature. It’s clear that the filmmakers understood the inherent flaws of this premise, and thus took the proper time to figure out how to make them work in their favor. I do think the story could’ve ended in a less predictable place, but it’s one of those endings that just feels right despite being a tad obvious. 

The themes here might be more relevant today than they were when King wrote the story in the midst of the Vietnam war. Whether it’s the illusion of choice, greed, or the idea of finding kinship even when pitted against one another, the film holds up a magnifying lens to our most timeless flaws. 

Overall, this one of the best Stephen King adaptations to be released in the last decade, featuring an irresistibly simple premise and two emotionally resonant lead performances. There’s a certain predictability to the plot structure that isn’t ideal, but it’s also one of the many things that establishes the film’s charm. You might be able to guess where it’s going, but that doesn’t hurt the experience as much as you’d think. There’s still plenty of surprises along the way, just not the kind you expect. If you like Stephen King, watching this is a no-brainer. B+