Verdict: ★★★★☆ (4/5) — A gruelling, deeply human dystopian thriller, and one of the best Stephen King adaptations in years.
Some films you watch. The Long Walk is one you endure — and that is entirely the point. Francis Lawrence’s adaptation of Stephen King’s first-written novel turns a brutally simple premise into nearly two hours of sustained dread, tenderness and, finally, heartbreak. A hundred teenage boys set out on a road. Only one will finish it alive.
King wrote the novel in the late 1960s and published it in 1979 under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. It took almost half a century to reach the screen, and the wait was worth it. This is not a horror film built on jump scares, but a slow, remorseless march through loyalty and cruelty — and it lingers long after the walking stops.
| Film | The Long Walk (2025) |
|---|---|
| Director | Francis Lawrence |
| Screenplay | JT Mollner, based on the novel by Stephen King |
| Cast | Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Mark Hamill, Judy Greer, Josh Hamilton, Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang |
| Release date | 12 September 2025 |
| Runtime | 1 hour 48 minutes |
| Certificate | R (strong bloody violence, grisly images, language) |
| Rotten Tomatoes | 88% critics, 85% audience |
| Metacritic | 71/100 |
| CinemaScore | B |
| Box office | $63.1 million worldwide on a $20 million budget |
The story: walk or die
The setting is a dystopian America, ruled by a military regime after an unspecified collapse. Every year, the regime stages the Long Walk: 100 teenage boys, chosen by lottery, must keep walking along the highway at a punishing pace, day and night, until only one remains. Fall behind and you get a warning. Collect three warnings and a soldier’s bullet ends your walk. The winner receives a fortune and any wish granted.
Among this year’s walkers is Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman), a quiet boy from Maine, and Peter McVries (David Jonsson), a wry, warm-hearted boy from Massachusetts who becomes Ray’s closest ally. Overseeing it all from a jeep is the Major (Mark Hamill), the smiling, terrifying face of the regime, who treats the whole event as patriotic entertainment.
Performances that carry the film
The Long Walk lives or dies on its two leads, and both are superb. Cooper Hoffman plays Ray with a stillness that makes his rare outbursts hit all the harder. David Jonsson is the film’s beating heart — funny, defiant and doomed in a way that sneaks up on you. Their friendship, built from shared jokes and small acts of generosity on an endless road, is what makes the film hurt.
The supporting walkers are drawn with surprising care. Ben Wang brings welcome humour as the wisecracking Hank Olson, Charlie Plummer is convincingly nasty as the bully Gary Barkovitch, and Garrett Wareing gives quiet dignity to Billy Stebbins. Mark Hamill is chilling as the Major — all folksy charm and menace, a man who has turned murder into a civic ceremony. Judy Greer appears in brief but affecting scenes as Ray’s mother.
Francis Lawrence’s direction
Lawrence, best known for The Hunger Games films, understands spectacle, but his smartest choice here is restraint. The camera stays at road level with the boys, the landscape barely changes, and the horror comes from repetition — the same road, the same footsteps, the same dread of the next gunshot. We stay on the road, because the boys cannot leave it.
What works
- The central friendship. Ray and Pete’s bond gives the film its emotional spine and its devastating payoff.
- Faithfulness with a purpose. The film keeps the novel’s bleak logic intact while giving the boys more inner life than the book allowed.
- Mark Hamill’s villain. The Major is one of the year’s most unsettling screen villains precisely because he never raises his voice.
- The ending. Without spoiling it: the film changes the novel’s final beat, and the change lands with real force.
What doesn’t work
- The middle stretch sags. Around the halfway mark, the deliberate pace tips into repetition, and a few walkers blur together.
- The world-building is thin. We learn almost nothing about how this America got here, and some viewers will want more context.
- The ending divides opinion. Some critics found the final minutes abrupt; others found them perfect. Expect to have a view.
Verdict
The Long Walk is not an easy watch, and it is not trying to be. It earns its emotional payoff through two remarkable lead performances and a director who trusts his material — and on a modest $20 million budget it grossed more than $63 million worldwide, finishing as one of the best-reviewed King adaptations of the decade. Go in expecting a horror film and you will find something stranger and sadder: a war story with no battlefield, and a reminder that the most frightening monsters in Stephen King’s work are rarely supernatural. 4 out of 5 stars.
Frequently asked questions
Is The Long Walk based on a true story?
No. It is based on Stephen King’s 1979 novel of the same name, which he wrote in the 1960s and published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The story is entirely fictional.
Who stars in The Long Walk (2025)?
Cooper Hoffman plays Ray Garraty and David Jonsson plays Peter McVries. Mark Hamill plays the Major, with Judy Greer, Josh Hamilton, Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer and Ben Wang in supporting roles.
How long is The Long Walk?
The film runs 1 hour 48 minutes and is rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images and language.
Where can I watch The Long Walk?
The film was released in cinemas on 12 September 2025 and arrived on streaming and digital platforms from late October 2025. Check your local streaming services for current availability.