by Kaylin Harris, 12th
Going for a walk is nice, especially since it has a lot of benefits. Walking is good for exercise, relaxation, or even birdwatching. But imagine being in a society where walking is a challenge of endurance. Instead of walking for enjoyment, the characters in The Long Walk (2025) have to walk to win and survive. The Long Walk (2025) is an introspective and character-driven film that highlights how society watches those in need struggle, even for their own pleasure. Overall, the film is well written and I suggest that readers check it out to formulate their own opinion. Nevertheless, here is my review of the film.
Summary
The Long Walk (2025) is the film adaptation of Stephen King’s: The Long Walk. Despite some changes from the original, the premise of the story remains the same. The film opens with the character Ray Garraty, who is arriving at a military base with his mother. The two have a tense goodbye before Garraty gets settled with the other boys around him. Once settled, Garraty befriends some other characters before the boys are given a number. The numbers make the boys easily identifiable to the soldiers around them. The Major explains the rules: the fifty boys will have to walk nonstop until they reach the end of course. There is no stopping to fulfill needs such as eating, sleeping, or even using the bathroom. If a contestant stops, they are given three warnings in the span of two minutes; if the contestant’s speed isn’t regained by the end of the two minutes, they are immediately shot. Easier said than done, in my opinion. But alas, the walk begins. Throughout the walk, many characters reveal their motive for joining the challenge. Viewers watch as the characters are executed due to defiance, misfortune, and sacrifice. By the end of the film, only two boys remain; one is declared the winner.
Review
Overall, the writing and cinematography made the film enjoyable, the characters are intriguing and the cinematography is beautiful. My overall critique is that the film was only enjoyable, and as a viewer, I cannot see myself actively choosing to watch it again.
One thing most people will agree on about film adaptations is that it is never 100% accurate. Usually small details are changed a lot of the time, certain scenes or even characters end up being left out and altered. In the film adaptation of The Long Walk (2025), fans of the novel immediately noticed some of the differences within the story. For example, there were some technical details that needed to be changed, such as: the walking speed the contestants must maintain (from 4mph to 3mph), the amount of contestants was lowered from 100 to 50, and minor plot points that were present in the book (a character going crazy in the middle of the walk). These were some changes that made sense. It is physically impossible to walk 4mph nonstop, it is also a lot of money to have more extras. Also, considering the length most movies are permitted, the director cannot fit all of the arcs from the book into three hours of film, at maximum. So, most of the changes do in fact make a lot of sense and are not the reason that the movie is only enjoyable.
The only change I personally do not favor—though I do understand—was the change in the character’s ages. In the novel, the characters are between the ages of 13-18, but in the film, the characters are above the age of 18, with the exception of one character. Due to child labour laws, the film would have taken longer to create with accurate ages because school-aged children’s hours have to be cut in order to fulfill the child’s needs, i.e., school work and rest. In my opinion as a viewer, the characters being teenagers add so much more depth to the narrative, rather than them being adults; I believe the extra time and cost would have been worth it.
The overall theme of the film remains the same despite the characters’ ages being changed, but it lacks the same level of emotion. One of the ways that the emotional aspect is filled in the novel is with the heartbreak of watching teenagers struggle to survive. When I was watching the film, I never felt a particular sadness for the death of any of the characters. Which makes sense, considering the fact that there is not a lot of time for the same level of character development in film compared to the book. But I feel that I would have felt worse witnessing the deaths of teenagers purely because of their age. Though the changes made did not damage the end result of the film they also did not enhance the film.
Despite the changes in the storyline, the acting was satisfactory. One of my personal favorite scenes was during the walk up the hill with Cooper Hoffman (Garraty’s actor). That scene displayed a tremendous amount of emotion and suspense that it led me to question the survival of Garraty, our main character. Not only has Cooper Hoffman done a great job with acting, but so has the rest. Ben Wang helped with making his character, Hank Olson, even more loveable, along with the actors Peter McVries and Tut Nyuot with their characters. This is something that I would love to applaud: the characters are still entertaining, which helps keep the plot interesting.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed The Long Walk (2025), despite my opinions on the changes involving the writing. The only thing I could say that the film lacked was its emotional effect. It ia not the type of movie where I can imagine myself discussing theories while walking in circles, but it is also not a movie that I regret watching either. In my eyes, the movie qualifies as good in every aspect, but nothing more.