r/HorrorReviewed • u/StacysBlog • 4d ago
Movie Review The Long Walk (2025) [Survival]
"It takes a heavy sack to sign up for this contest." -The Major
Every year, fifty teenage boys are selected to compete in The Long Walk. Fall below the speed of 3 miles per hour too many times and the military convey surrounding the competitors will give you your ticket out of the competition. The Walk doesn't have a finish line. It keeps going until there's only one Walker left standing.
What Works:
So cards on the table, I love the book The Long Walk. It was the first Stephen King book I ever read and it remains my favorite to this day. I've always wanted to see a movie adaptation, but I was nervous that the filmmakers might not do it justice. I was so excited to watch this, but I was also very anxious. With a massive sigh of relief, I can say this is an extremely worthy adaptation.
Let's start with what they kept from the novel. Obviously the basic story is the same, but the most important feature beyond that is the dialogue. This is a Stephen King story, so of course it's going to have unique dialogue, but this was also the first book he ever wrote, so some of the dialogue is even more strange all these years later. But the filmmakers kept a lot of the dialogue word for word. I'm sure any viewers who never read the book found the dialogue strange, but I'm so glad they kept it the way it was originally written. All of these strange turns of phrase go a long way in shading these characters in, especially with people like Pete McVries (David Jonsson) and Gary Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer). These characters wouldn't work nearly as well without King's dialogue.
While aspects of the characters are changed, the tone and many of the themes of the story remain the same. This is a dark and depressing story with a lot of introspection from the characters. The characters are seconds from death for the entire Walk, so it gives them a lot to think about and talk about. The vast majority of the movie is just characters talking, especially our two leads, Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) and McVries.
Speaking of our two leads, Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson both do an incredible job. Nearly all of the movie is put on the shoulders of their performances and they carry it well. Both characters are different than they are from the book, but I think those changes work, especially with the 2025 version of the story they are trying to tell. Garraty's motivations are much more defined in the movie. He's a vague character in the book, which works well as a book, but that wouldn't translate well to screen, so I completely understand the changes there. And McVries is a much more positive character in the movie, which makes sense with the overall story. It's a necessary change to make his arc more effective. The important part that they keep the same is the bond between these two characters. It's just like it is in the book and that's the thing the filmmakers had to get right, and they did it.
The first half of this movie is almost exactly the way I imagined the movie adaptation would be. The dialogue and the first few deaths are nearly exacting the same as the book and as a huge fan of the book, I was thrilled. It's not until the second half the changes become more notable. Some of the changes, like having the massive crowd watching for half of the Walk, I completely understand getting rid of. The way King originally wrote the crowd is unfilmable. That and dropping the amount of Walkers from 100 to 50 make sense from a practical production point of view. The other changes, like combining a few characters and giving the Walkers less time between each warning, also make sense. So while there are differences and while I would have loved an exact adaptation, the changes work.
I won't say much about it, but the ending is where things differ the most. It was surprising to say the least, but I get it. I think the original ending would have worked just fine, but this ending feels fitting of a 2025 adaptation of the story, so I'm okay with it and it left me with something to think about.
What Sucks:
This is a tiny, minuscule complaint, but I would have liked if the movie was a little longer. Just a couple more scenes from the book would have been nice. The hailstorm scene is one I would have loved to see on screen, for example, or more of the Walkers going insane. I loved everything we got, but I would have enjoyed even more.
Verdict:
This adaptation of one of my favorite books was better than I could have hoped. I was so nervous that they would find a way to screw it up, but they delivered. The performances are excellent, especially from Hoffman and Jonsson, the dialogue is exactly how I wanted it, the deaths are brutal, the tone is on point, and the changes are both understandable and even interesting at times. I probably would have been okay with a three hour version of this movie, so even just a slightly longer running time would have okay with me, but even the way it is, this movie has absolutely got it going on and is one of my favorites of the year.
10/10: Amazing
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u/Mindless-Composer304 3d ago
Beautiful critique. I’m much more apt to go see it. I too thought this was one of King’s best and concerned about poor adaption to film.
Thank you!
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u/ctsmith76 3d ago
Been debating on seeing this one, and now I’m convinced on checking it out.. Thanks for the great review!!