The Long Walk (In Theaters)

[g5000]

The Long Walk movie bears only a passing resemblance to the novella written by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1979.

There are only 49 walkers instead of 100. A walker from each state, leading one to question why there are only 49 states after whatever war was fought and tangentially mentioned.

In the novella, the walkers were all under the age of 18. That was a requirement.

In the film, they are all adult men. I guess the idea of teenagers' heads exploding under a hail of bullets on screen was thought to be unpalatable even in this age of the slasher movie.

I guess both King and the filmmaker felt females would be incapable of walking any long distance.

Also, and most bafflingly, the ending is different. I don't understand why so many movies end so differently than their source material.

With all that aside, The Long Walk is a pretty good movie. So good, both my wife and daughter said they felt exhausted, as if they had just walked hundreds of miles themselves. That's how much the movie draws you in.

Enjoy.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

It is bombing at the theaters, as of now expected to lose millions. The worst theatrical run of any Stephen King movie.
Let's hope this is a message to other highly successful entertainers - don't be a selfish jerk and act like a child. His childish rants has alienated millions of people who will now not go see it.
And lots of people will lose money because of it - but he doesn't care. He has all the money he needs.

 

[rightwinger]

89%Tomatometer237 Reviews
85%Popcornmeter1,000+ Verified Ratings
From the highly anticipated adaptation of master storyteller Stephen King's first-written novel, and Francis Lawrence, the visionary director of The Hunger Games franchise films (Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Pts. 1 & 2 , and The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), comes THE LONG WALK, an intense, chilling, and emotional thriller that challenges audiences to confront a haunting question: how far could you go?Content collapsed.

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[citygator]

The Long Walk movie bears only a passing resemblance to the novella written by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1979.

There are only 49 walkers instead of 100. A walker from each state, leading one to question why there are only 49 states after whatever war was fought and tangentially mentioned.

In the novella, the walkers were all under the age of 18. That was a requirement.

In the film, they are all adult men. I guess the idea of teenagers' heads exploding under a hail of bullets on screen was thought to be unpalatable even in this age of the slasher movie.

I guess both King and the filmmaker felt females would be incapable of walking any long distance.

Also, and most bafflingly, the ending is different. I don't understand why so many movies end so differently than their source material.

With all that aside, The Long Walk is a pretty good movie. So good, both my wife and daughter said they felt exhausted, as if they had just walked hundreds of miles themselves. That's how much the movie draws you in.

Enjoy.

Mediocre movie. The ending sucked. And the main antagonist was miscast. The kids/young men actors were great. All of them, I thought.

I didnt read the story so cant comment but 100 would have been overwhelming to keep up with and they whittled it down to the ones you knew pretty quickly so that didnt really matter whether 35 or 85 died offscreen. I liked the mystery of the 49 states, made you think about what could have happened.

Main issue is the main baddie, the Major. If he was a celebrity military leader he should have been some great dynamic leader in magnificent get up. He looked like a South American guerilla leader, not the person they seemed to talk about.

The ending had an obvious ending that they avoided just so they werent obvious... and the one they used blew chunks. Made no sense.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

89%Tomatometer237 Reviews
85%Popcornmeter1,000+ Verified Ratings
From the highly anticipated adaptation of master storyteller Stephen King's first-written novel, and Francis Lawrence, the visionary director of The Hunger Games franchise films (Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Pts. 1 & 2 , and The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), comes THE LONG WALK, an intense, chilling, and emotional thriller that challenges audiences to confront a haunting question: how far could you go?Content collapsed.

fandango
Now in TheatersNow Playing

The Long Walk (2025) | Rotten Tomatoes

Discover reviews, ratings, and trailers for The Long Walk (2025) on Rotten Tomatoes. Stay updated with critic and audience scores today!

www.rottentomatoes.com

And proves my point - the movie appears to be well done and a good movie.
But King had to be stupid and parrot lies about Kirk right after he died.
It is going to bomb like a giant lead balloon because of it.

The moral of the story - stop being a selfish jerk.

 

[citygator]

I will add that the woman to our right sobbed loudly the entire last half of the movie.

 

[whitehall]

The scary concept might be in the future according to King but the movie is lame and predictable.

 

[Natural Citizen]

After watching the trailer in the OP, I can't imagine I'd want to watch something like that.

 

[g5000]

Mediocre movie. The ending sucked. And the main antagonist was miscast. The kids/young men actors were great. All of them, I thought.

I didnt read the story so cant comment but 100 would have been overwhelming to keep up with and they whittled it down to the ones you knew pretty quickly so that didnt really matter whether 35 or 85 died offscreen. I liked the mystery of the 49 states, made you think about what could have happened.

Main issue is the main baddie, the Major. If he was a celebrity military leader he should have been some great dynamic leader in magnificent get up. He looked like a South American guerilla leader, not the person they seemed to talk about.

The ending had an obvious ending that they avoided just so they werent obvious... and the one they used blew chunks. Made no sense.

The book takes place in an alternate history where it sounds like Germany got the Bomb before we did, and that led to the US becoming a wasteland.

I watched the whole movie without realizing The Major was Mark Hamill.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

The wife wanted to watch it, and paying $9 to do it. A part of me didn't like that because that means a selfish jerk like King probably got $1.50 of it.
Anyway the movie - one thing I appreciate is they resisted putting in any "elite" Hollywood's newest shiny soy boy actors. They are all unknown's. (for the most part) And I like that.
Surprisingly the story is pretty decent, though it lacks some character development in not telling the story of anyone other than the "fishing hat" kid. A more compelling character the black man who goes to the end with him. It only hints to his history, but doesn't show it.
All in all - I would give it 3.5 stars out of 5. A watchable movie that doesn't suck.

With one exception - the ending. Simply stupid.