The Long Walk

I'll start by saying I haven't read Stephen King's book, but the concept of a dystopian death march with one winner and no finish line sounded pretty intriguing.

Turns out, it's just... walking. For almost two hours. Straight.

I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I guess I should've known better - watching people walk (and talk, and occasionally fall over) probably can't carry an entire movie. The film kind of flatlines early on and just keeps dragging its feet, literally. Nothing major really happens - it's just endless walking with bits of dialogue sprinkled in, and none of it feels impactful enough to justify the runtime.

It's like watching a horror movie without horror, or a war movie without war - just the awkward middle bits where everyone's sweaty and miserable. The concept had potential, but it feels like it forgot to actually go anywhere (ironically).

Most of the characters are forgettable or painfully stereotypical: the cocky one, the quiet one, the emotional one, the guy who clearly won't make it past the halfway point, and a few randoms who seem to exist just to fill the quota of "people who can die later". Some are purposely annoying, some are just... there. And while I get that the point is supposed to be bleak and psychological, it ends up feeling weirdly hollow.

The film tries to say something deep about humanity, sacrifice, survival, or whatever, but it never quite lands. In the end, it's just a story about a short-lived friendship that won't last, told through the world's longest, most uneventful walk.

I wouldn't say it's bad-bad.. it's just frustratingly dull. It's one of those films where you keep waiting for something to happen... and then the credits roll.

In essence, The Long Walk is a long watch.

Somewhere in the Stephen King adaptation there are moments of tension, fear, horror, friendship, male camaraderie, effort and determination, sadly its a one trick film that become rather boring rather quick.

The reason is the character walk and walk, they talk and talk, one drops out and is shot dead- repeat again and again.

Repetitive this most certainly is.

It may build up sympathy for our young characters but can't go anywhere because they can't go anywhere. It's the long walk on the long straight road.

I couldn't see Cooper Hoffman's character as a sympathetic, team leader, more a schlubbly ,socially awkward boy. I didn't see how people were attracted to his charisma from the TV screen, as he had none.

If people were watching at home why weren't they seen more on the journey at the roadside instead of just at the end? After all it's a satire (as The Running Man was on small screen consumption).

Still, it's a bold movie, extremely well acted, I just wanted it to be on par with the other, better, King adaptation; the equally grim The Mist.

Wow, let me start by saying I didn't have a clue what I was walking into other than Stephen King being attached to this project. This movie is brutal, which is a shocking way to describe a movie that I thought is one of the best I have seen in a long time. My stomach was twisting and my leg developed a nervous twitch the deeper into the film I got. By the last quarter of the film, I had tears in my eyes and could hardly keep it together. So you are probably wondering, why? Well this movie cuts right to the heart of why any of us choose to get up each morning and walk around all day, even when life is throwing everything bad at us. It's because it's what you do when you are alive, you walk, and you walk because you have purpose. And we walk in spite of the fact we all know that one day we won't be able to walk anymore because our time will be up. Some decide when to quit their walk, some have their bodies or minds decide for them, and many continue their walk because of those they love picking them up and helping them move forward. And some just walk because that's all they know to do, survive. I won't say anymore, other than watch this film and prepare yourself for a hard but necessary watch. Bravo to all those involved with this film and story.

Read the book as a kid, and it never left me.

Stephen King - writing as Richard Bachman - didn't need monsters or explosions to terrify.

He gave us a hundred boys walking down an endless road, dying one by one under the weight of exhaustion, fear, and quiet madness.

It was slow, suffocating, and profoundly human. The horror wasn't in the gunfire - it was in the silence between steps.

And then came the 2025 "movie".

Absolute betrayal. Everything that made the book powerful - the tension, the intimacy, the claustrophobic pacing - is gone.

Filmmakers clearly didn't trust the story's simplicity, so they threw in noise, chaos, and overexposed emotion.

Turned King's psychological death march into yet another dystopian action flick with shaky cameras and empty dialogue.

Characters are cardboard cutouts delivering cliché lines between slow-motion shots.

Watching this movie felt like watching someone pave over a graveyard. Hollywood gloss and lazy direction that doesn't respect the story. It doesn't even seem to understand it.

Shallow and soulless Garbage.

The idea itself works - no surprise, it's Stephen King, he knows how to build a premise. At first the movie even feels like it might pull it off: the suspense starts to grow, you feel the tension creeping in. But then it just... stalls. Instead of escalating, everything flattens, and by the halfway mark you can already predict how it's going to end. And it ends exactly that way. No surprise, no punch.

The characters don't help either. They're too sketchy, like placeholders rather than people. The movie tries to layer in some social commentary, but it's done through such obvious, stereotypical figures that it feels more forced than insightful. On top of that, the drama is laid on way too thick. Every "emotional" moment is broadcasted with neon signs: "Look! Here comes the sad part. Time to cry." It's manipulative rather than moving.

In the end, it's a good story wasted by a weak execution. The tension fizzles, the characters are cardboard, and the emotional beats feel staged. 5/10.