A Simplistic Review I The Long Walk

I saw a review (well, more the headline/byline that dared me to click on it) and it mentioned that the latest Stephen King adaptation effort of 2025 (there’s still one more coming later this year with ‘The Running Man’) has a lot of talking in it. The term used in the headline was ‘yada, yada, yada.’ Here’s the LINK since I don’t think I need to read the review.

This was an interesting take considering that a lot of films have talking in it, and wouldn’t you know it; ‘The Long Walk’ has both a lot of talk, and get this, WALKING! I used the reviewer felt that we should have had 100 minutes of screentime with just people walking in silence or maybe just narration? Does narration count as talking? Asking for a friend.

In short, ‘The Long Walk’ is an affecting film that comes at a time where the scenarios that are playing out in some of King’s earlier work, this and again the upcoming remake of ‘The Running Man, seem to be getting eerily closer to reality.

Cooper Hoffman and David Jonnson have a natural chemistry where when they TALK, you listen; and you care. You care about what happens to all 50 of the walkers, even the ones you don’t get to actually know.

Unlike the book, published in 1979 against the backdrop of Post-Vietnam life and the crisis’ in the US in the 70s, the film version does create a more distinct villain and much more suitable ending for a mass audience. I’ll just have to imagine how this film would have played out if it was made in the 1980s by George Romero or even in the early 2000s (post 9/11) by someone like Frank Darabont.

At it’s core, ‘Walk’ is a lo-fi, well made film, with fantastic acting and some truly gut wrenching scenes ripped right from the book that might be hard to watch for some audience, and despite some of the changes they aren’t enough to take away this being the ‘anti-YA’ adaptation that is needed.