Summary
A grimly compelling dystopian tale that blends relentless tension with Stephen King’s mastery of raw human endurance.
Dystopian fiction has a very different flavour in 2025. In THE LONG WALK, adapted from Stephen King’s 1979 novel (written as Richard Bachman), some nameless war has left the US under a totalitarian regime. King was writing in a post-Vietnam environment, with reality television still embryonic, but that’s the beauty of speculative fiction: good stories are malleable, reshaping themselves to fit the times.
Writer JT Mollner and director Francis Lawrence — no stranger to the genre thanks to The Hunger Games — deliver a largely faithful adaptation. Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) signs up for the only viable path to money: the titular annual walking contest. The rules are simple and merciless. Slow down below the minimum pace or stop, and The Major (Mark Hamill) and his soldiers execute you on the spot.
What begins as a bravado-fuelled endurance test quickly turns grim. The first body on the road reframes the contest not as sport, but as survival. Despite knowing only one walker can live, Garraty forges bonds with fellow contestants (David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot). The story plays as both an allegory for war and a bleak reflection of daily existence under relentless pressure.
Seven years ago, writing about the book, I observed: “The plodding nature of the narrative becomes rhythmic, like a slow drum beat in the back of your mind. The deaths, shocks, and other revelations become commonplace, which is exactly where King wants you.” Lawrence clearly wants the same. The initial violence hits like a gut punch, but repetition numbs both characters and audience. We accept it because the walkers already have.
Lawrence keeps the focus on the dwindling group, using only occasional flashbacks to Garraty’s mother (Judy Greer). The cast does the heavy lifting, carrying the physical and emotional toll on their increasingly broken frames. Hoffman and Jonsson (Alien: Romulus), bring raw, lived-in emotion. Only Hamill veers toward caricature, barking orders from behind aviators atop a tank.
Later this year, Edgar Wright’s take on The Running Man will join The Long Walk in reviving King’s early dystopias. Both came from a younger, angrier King — though his social media presence suggests he hasn’t mellowed much. That these stories, four decades old, are still striking chords now says as much about our moment as it does about King’s fire.
2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Francis Lawrence | WRITERS: JT Mollner (Based on the book by Stephen King) | CAST: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Judy Greer, Mark Hamill | DISTRIBUTOR: Lionsgate (USA), StudioCanal (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 11 September 2025 (Australia), 12 September 2025 (USA)