October 5, 2025 – I have enjoyed a number of Stephen King's movie adaptations, but not this one. It was boring and depressing. I enjoyed “The Stand,” “Salem's Lot,” “The Mist” and some others, but not this one.

This story is about a slow, grinding quest for survival, with little hope of success. Young men enter a lottery to compete in a survival competition, the winner of which gets rich and all the others die. The rules are that each contestant must walk at least three miles per hour with only brief stops for a few seconds allowed. No rest stops for sleeping or eating or bathroom breaks. The Long Walk continues until only one person remains alive.

I suspect “The Walk,” based on a 1979 novel by Richard Bachman (a pseudonym for King) was made into a movie because the story is a bit similar to “The Hunger Games,” and other teen-oriented dystopian films like “The Maze Runner,” “Battle Royale” and the Divergent series. As stupid as those stories were, they made more sense than this one does.

Those similar stories, for instance, have some entertainment value because there is actual skill and courage involved in the contests. The idea is to create champions to inspire and distract people from thinking about their miserable lives suffering under a dictatorship. This contest, however, shows that 99.9 percent of those who work hard for a better life die a miserable death under this administration. Instead of being inspirational, it would incite rebellion.

No doubt there are some people who would find such a contest, entertaining, but I found it grim and boring. Contestants who stop are murdered. Many contestants are humiliated because of injury, illness and the lack of bathroom breaks. This is both depressing and revolting.

What little entertainment there is in this story is the result of character development among the contestants, primarily Raymond “Ray” Garraty (played by Cooper Hoffman of “Licorice Pizza”) Peter “Pete” McVries (David Jonsson of “Wasteman”) who end up having a close bond as they endure the long walk.

Pete is a tough street kid who enters the competition for riches, while Ray enters the competition for a dark reason which is revealed later in the movie, having to do with a mysterious military man, The Major (played by famous actor Mark Hamil) who is in charge of the Long Walk. The friendship that develops among some of the contestants is not very believable. Rivalries would be a lot more believable.

A couple of surprising things happen in the story, including how the story ends, even though there are hints that spoil the surprise. As a tale of pure survival in inhumane conditions, the movie succeeds to a limited extent. In order for a story like this to truly succeed it would have to be a lot less depressing, boring and pointless. Despite some good acting performances, this movie rates a C.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff (no extra charges apply). I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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