The Long Walk (Photo – Murray Close/Lionsgate)
An endurance competition with no second place and only one survivor is the premise of The Long Walk, a brutal adaptation of an early Stephen King novel.
The Long Walk
Directed by Francis Lawrence – 2025
Reviewed by Garrett Rowlan
“One winner and no second place,” is how Mark Hamill puts it. The Star Wars actor is the only name I recognized in a young, largely unknown, almost all-male cast. Standing in the back of a jeep, bellowing orders, he plays commandant, cheerleader, and enforcer of the cruel rules.
Set in some alternate-history America (though filmed in Canada), where the cars and scenery suggest the early 1960s, 49 male contestants agree to walk, stragglers will be shot. As the days and miles pile up, so do the bodies.
“Your inspiration will continue to elevate our gross national product,” Hamill says early on. How the GNP is improved by soldiers gunning down their own countrymen is one of the things that make the film less a warning against fascism (or the examination of brotherhood under duress it tries to be) and more of a violent curiosity.
Watching The Long Walk, I was reminded of a film from the 1960s, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? That movie, set during a Depression-era dance marathon, subjects its contestants to a similarly brutal regimen, though dropouts are free to leave, still broke but otherwise unscathed. The Long Walk, however, lacks that film’s social commentary and doesn’t have the star power of Jane Fonda or Gig Young (unforgettable as the seedy Master of Ceremonies). It has to settle for competent performances from its lead actors.
But, of course, the real star is Stephen King. His name attached to a project lets producers cut corners on star salaries and set design, this film is shot outdoors along the same stretch of road from start to finish. Like another King adaptation, The Monkey, which played in town earlier this year, the film saves on star power but doesn’t overplay its material. While the repeated executions might turn off those unaccustomed to film violence, The Long Walk delivers pretty much what it promises.
> Playing at Regency Academy Cinemas, Regal Paseo, IPIC Theaters, Regal Edwards Alhambra Renaissance, AMC Atlantic Times Square 14, AMC Santa Anita 16, Regal UA La Canada, and AMC The Americana at Brand 18.
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