2025 is the year of Stephen King movies, which have varied in quality. From Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck (good) to Oz Perkins’ The Monkey (bad), King’s presence in cinema is more alive than ever. Enter The Long Walk, an adaptation of King’s 1979 dystopian take on American fascism, is far and above the best cinematic output of King’s work this year. It’s raw, it’s emotional, it’s powerful. For me, its impact was so deeply felt because of the truly eerie parallels with how the democratic American experiment has backslid into an unrecognizable form of oppressive fascism this year.
The state-controlled economy has exacerbated such extreme wealth disparity, that desperate men volunteer from each state to take The Long Walk. The goal? Last man standing gets money and everyone else dies by execution. All the while the regime controls the American population with the threat of violence, under the guise of patriotic glory for the state. Citizens cannot dissent. It’s a simple premise, but a compelling one.
Primarily because of the hyper-focus on character development, where true friendships and enemies are forged during the walk. And then when the graphic brutality rears its head, the emotional investment in the outcome for each character carries a heavy weight. There’s a lot of dialogue in this film, which mostly works to its benefit of the storytelling.
On the flip side, the routine “around the room” creation of archetypes is a bit forced. There’s the nerd, the bully, the heart of gold, the psycho. The character identities are diverse, but their distinct manifestation sometimes doesn’t land in a convincing manner. And this heavy reliance on dialogue does yield some dry spots in regards to pacing.
But that’s OK because everything else is quite enthralling, from the performances to the craft. Mark Hamill is simply excellent as the evil military major that leads this grotesque gameshow, but does so in a way that makes him likable. It’s an effective representation of how a population can be manipulated by propaganda that appeals to people’s emotions.
The Long Walk is directed by The Hunger Games franchise veteran Francis Lawrence. Having a directing career primarily focused on the atrocities of dystopian fascist regimes, his sensibilities are uniquely qualified to cinematically bring this story to life on the screen.
This film will make you think. It will make you feel. It will make you reflect. It’s a thought-provoking and valuable exercise in art imitating life and vice versa. I hope folks will go see The Long Walk because it’s a really good, entertaining movie, but also ponder the themes after leaving the theater.
