‘The Long Walk’ Review: Everything a Book Adaptation Should Be

The Long Walk novel was published in 1979 by Stephen King, under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The one red herring of a Richard Bachman book is that they usually tackle even more dreadful topics and themes for the most part rooted in reality, than other King works. The Long Walk as a book and film is no different. The story follows Ray Garraty, who has joined a debilitating life or death contest where fifty young men must walk at a speed of three miles an hour or be shot on site. Only one man can win. The Long Walk shows every horrifying and disgusting part of this concept. Extremely effective and guaranteed to stick with you. Read our full review for The Long Walk below. 

This review contains spoilers for The Long Walk.

One of the main aspects of this movie that worked so well was the actors. Every single young male actor playing someone in the walk is impeccable. The standouts are, of course, Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, but actors like Ben Wong, Thamela Mpumlwana, Joshua Odjick, and Garrett Wareing fill out the ensemble beautifully. The film truly would not work without this cast of actors. But the best performance in the film, as mentioned above, is David Jonsson. I’ve been a personal fan of Jonsson since 2023’s Rye Lane, and since then he has only given standout performance after standout performance. The Long Walk might just be his best work. He is just a magnet that pulls you in at every moment. Though he is not the main character, he definitely is the person and character you will remember when the lights come up. None of this though is to denounce Cooper Hoffman’s solid performance as the main character, Garraty. Hoffman and Jonsson are both fully realized stars in the making, who I can not wait to see in the future. 

The Long Walk is really everything a book-to-film adaptation should be. I read the book a few years back and labeled it as one of my least favorite King novels. This is mainly due to the characterization and repetitive nature of the novel. Weirdly, the film fixed everything I did not like about the book. I actually felt very connected and remorseful for all of the fifty boys while watching the movie, while in the book the characters, especially Garraty, were not really that likable. The recharacterization of Garraty and McVeries is the change that impacted me most in the film, especially with this ending. Major spoiler warning ahead, but they change the winner of the long walk in the movie. In the book, Garraty wins, of course he is the main character and the entire story is told with him at the center, so it felt a little predictable. So imagine my surprise when Garraty stops walking and lets McVeries win. This felt like a treat for all of the people who had read the book, a true shock.

Surprisingly it feels like how this story should always end. In the book Garraty wins and seems to have some psychological break, then continues to walk into the darkness. This ending read to me as King not knowing how to end it, copping out by saying he went crazy in the end. The movie instead had McVeries win and fulfill the wish of Garraty’s to shoot the major, then everyone disappears and McVeries continues walking. There is a line in the film where McVeries says something along the lines of “I’ve been walking my whole life.” This ending calls back to that in a beautiful way. He has been fighting all his life, this is his small way of fighting back, but then he just keeps walking because the fight is not over. McVeries has killed the Major, the head of this totalitarian dystopia, but what has this done? Someone just as corrupt will rise up to take his place, making all of his efforts futile. When trying to decipher what he was thinking, one can assume that he did this to at least get some sort of closure for his friend he just lost. He knew that if he took the prize, nothing would change and if he killed the major nothing would change, so might as well fulfill the wishes of his deceased friend. It is an ending that punches you in the stomach. I truly can say that this film adaptation is better than the book in many ways, which is a rare phenomenon to come across. 

Needless to say I loved The Long Walk. Yes, it can be a little bit repetitive, but to me, everything repeated is to drive the message and horror forward. Almost every death in the film gives you an empty feeling in your stomach. It is extremely effective and it never gets easier to watch it. The actors look so young, like some boys drafted in the army would look, and that only enhances the horrors of what is happening. The parallels between the Vietnam War and this film are drawn perfectly. Never cowarding away from the clear fact of the matter. It can be hard to watch, gross, realistic, and can force us to reflect on the world we are in today. Go watch The Long Walk as soon as you can.

The Long Walk was directed by Francis Lawrence and written by J.T. Mollner. The cast consists of Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Mark Hamill, Judy Greer, Ben Wong, Thamela Mpumlwana, Joshua Odjick,  and Garrett Wareing. The Long Walk was released to theaters on September 12 and can now be preordered on Prime Video, Youtube Movies, and Apple TV.

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