As one of author Stephen King’s very first novels (written in 1967, published in 1979 under his pseudonym Richard Bachman), it’s hard to believe that The Long Walk hasn’t been brought to the big screen until 2025. In an era where a show like Squid Game, similarly about proletariat financial desperation, can achieve such mᴀssive success that Netflix would create a (non-lethal) real-life version, the timing of Francis Lawrence’s film, about a national walking compeтιтion whose prize is unimaginable wealth for its winner, feels almost too perfect.

Adapted for Lawrence by Strange Darling writer-director JT Mollner, The Long Walk vividly spotlights the lives of a diverse group of young men who are trudging across the American heartland for enormous financial reward, at the risk of near-certain death. Yet updates to some elements of King’s source material, while retaining others faithful to the time of its writing, sometimes muddle the motivations of the main characters. Skillful performances from the likes of Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Tut Nuyot, and Ben Wang easily pave over many of those speed bumps in the story’s path.

Francis Lawrence Returns To A Path Similar To His Hunger Games Journeys

In an alternate but highly recognizable version of the United States, Hoffman (Licorice Pizza) plays Raymond Garraty, an even-tempered Maine native selected to represent his state in “The Long Walk.” The national contest selects 50 candidates via lottery to compete to earn two prizes: an unspecified but enormous sum of money, and a single wish for whatever they want, as long as it doesn’t break the law or insist on insтιтutional change. He quickly befriends Peter McVries (Jonsson) and the two of them ᴀssemble a scrappy support system to help one another last as long as possible.

Not everybody is eager to embrace such camaraderie in the middle of what’s meant to be a compeтιтion. Stebbins (Garrett Wareing) keeps his distance, offering only cryptic insights into his motivations for walking, while social awkwardness from Gary Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer), possibly resulting from unspecified mental health issues, instigates an adversarial relationship with Garraty, McVries, and their other two “Musketeers,” Arthur Baker (Nuyot) and Hank Olson (Wang). But as the number of walkers dwindles, these fast friends are forced to make difficult decisions — some of which mean the difference between winning and losing, and come inevitably at the cost of human life.

Lawrence Treats The Subject Matter Sensitively — Except Where Splattered Blood Is Concerned

At the risk of using a word I’m generationally predisposed to avoid, Francis Lawrence has always been a “mid” director to me. As sturdy as his Hunger Games films were, his treatment of the stories in Constantine and I Am Legend, in particular, vacillates between perfunctory and desperately provocative. He commits some similar errors here, but thankfully, Mollner’s script keeps the action on the road.

Mostly for the better, the characters feel more like the kind of motley crew audiences would find in an old war movie whose diverging worldviews are thrown together in a foxhole as their platoon faces heavy fire. The choice gives the ensemble and the film a charmingly old-school feel, which is further amplified by a lack of bells-and-whistles spectacle.

That said, some of those caricatures are indulged a bit more grandly than fits into the otherwise subdued tone of the film. Wang, showcasing his versatility after starring earlier this year in Karate Kid: Legends, presses the pedal to the floor on his “Noo Yawk” accent and doesn’t let off. But those performance choices are more forgivable, especially as a counterpoint to what is mostly restraint in adapting this dystopian work of fiction.

On the other hand, Lawrence seems determined to aggressively dwell on the executions of each walker as they fall behind the three-mile-an-hour cadence that’s required, in a way that seldom makes their deaths more emotionally meaningful.

Admittedly, there’s something undeniably powerful about watching a wiry, well-meaning teenager get machine-gunned to death in the middle of the road as his compeтιтors have to listen to the sound — and continue going. But is that kid’s death any more tragic because the audience gets to watch his face get sH๏τ off in graphic detail? I’m not sure.

To be fair, Lawrence and cinematographer Jo Willems create some truly striking imagery despite the purposeful repeтιтion of the terrain. In particular, their backlit nighttime sH๏τs especially capture incredible silhouettes that convey both character and the weight of the journey on them as they advance towards the finish line.

JT Mollner’s Script Sets An Evocative Mood, But Not A Clear Time Or Place

Mollner’s script understates some establishing details that would have enhanced the context in which these characters are participating in the Long Walk, and more importantly, why. The car Garraty arrives in for the race, for example, is of a 1960s or 70s vintage, and his mentions of the art that his father shared with him fits that era. Similarly, the cameras broadcasting the walk look antiquated. But they are all given wrist pedometers to measure their speed — not quite a Fitbit or Apple watch, but is this film happening then, or today?

Notwithstanding the relevance (or lack thereof) of some of these niggling questions, what sort of cultural environment were these young men raised in? Was it the turbulent ‘60s, where protesting an oppressive government was an invigorated, grᴀss-roots affair organized by the people? Or today, where corporations are largely complicit in supporting governmental messages and social media platforms have watered down working-class outrage?

Cooper Hoffman & David Jonsson Are Stand-Outs Among The Walkers

Perhaps it’s too much to ask this film to provide those answers or encapsulate all of those complexities. Thankfully, the performances, led by Hoffman and Jonsson, are so good that you’re mostly able to ignore what isn’t there. After playing a charisma bomb in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, Hoffman is still finding his footing (no pun intended) as an actor, so the character is both believably unformed as a person and a little imprecise as a character. Even so, he’s terrific, and each new opportunity only makes you want to watch his growth.

But Jonsson is working on a level that almost no one else in this film is, and further confirms, after his breakout role in Alien: Romulus, that he is one of the most promising young actors working today. It’s the nuance and complexity he lends to McVries that forms the film’s unexpected soul, even right next to Hoffman as its heart. Together, they’re dynamite — absolutely mesmerizing, and make the whole thing worth watching.

In fact, viewers shouldn’t be surprised to see the two of them championed for real, non-genre awards attention at the end of the year. Ultimately, The Long Walk is a terrific, entertaining film with some interesting things to say about the state of the world. They’re not all fully articulated, but I’ll always prefer a film that advances cautiously in the right direction rather than one that hits the ground running without knowing where it’s going.