The Long Walk: Don't watch this before an Ultra-Marathon

Josh
Oct 19, 2025
4 min read

Francis Lawrence (2025)

Would you last if David Goggins were there, too?

I love horror movies that put characters in situations where you can easily see yourself. Most of these can be considered bottle movies, such as Saw (2004) or Cube (1997), which are among the most famous. That's the same feeling I got from The Long Walk. Based on the novel by Stephan King, yet another movie where he's had involvement and I had no idea this work existed (Second most recent is ironically The Running Man, another, eat the rich we live in a society type movie). It feels like a bottle movie in the sense that we don't leave this small pack. Although we're moving along a road, we don't go beyond the confines of the road and gun-mounted cars at either end of the line. And with that, it was rather engaging and involving all the way through to the end. Spoilers.

*The Long Walk (2025) courtesy of Lionsgate.*

We open on a drafting letter, thanking our lead, Raymond Garraty (Cooper Hoffman), for enlisting in the long walk. Similar to the Hunger Games, it's an event designed to reunite a divided nation, with the winner being granted one wish and immense riches. All they have to do is walk at a pace above 3mph and if you fail on three warnings or break the rules, you get a “ticket”. A.k.a., death. Yes, similar to the Hunger Games, you question how doing this is meant to help anyone at all. Well, it's not meant to. It's false hope for the hopeless. Unlike the Hunger Games, we don't see the game show aspect of it all. We don't see the wealthy laughing and cheering with each death. We see everyday people who manage to catch it going past their home or town. The only larger-than-life authority figure is The Major. Played by Mark Hamill with a guttural raspy voice.

We don't see the world beyond what our characters see. Like spectators, we see the outskirts and quickly pass through what appear to be abandoned towns. We don't have over-the-top rich people with goofy haircuts and suits to contrast the grey that is District 12.

Out of the 50 boys, we get introduced to a small handful. And we get drip-fed reasoning for enrolling, what they'll do with the riches and overall attitude towards the event. There's a small group, the Musketeers they call themselves, who form a brotherhood. Constantly pushing each other to go forward. The highlight being Alien: Romulus (2024) star Z, as the right-hand man of Z. Also, Z from The Clovich Killer makes an appearance, playing a smart ass child with all the insults from a Stephan King novel. He actually turns into one of the more interesting characters as he has to walk with the consciousness of someone's life on his mind. Slowly, his conscience eats away at him as he tries to not only convince other people it’s not his fault but himself.

The deaths are decent with some visceral moments that make you squirm. With gore that makes you feel the impact of the government, with set pieces that make sense within a walking frame. Like gore around the feet or people losing their minds and trying to escape. It would be good if they amped up simple blood moments that come with running or walking. Like more blood around the chaffing around the groin or from the straps on their bags. Chapped lips and sunburns. Blood in urine from dehydration. Some horrors come from ultramarathons in real life.

When looking into the book, taking place within the 70’s, it was seen as an allegory for the Vietnam War. And viewing it through that lens made the whole movie more interesting than typical: “We live in a society, so let’s rise against the government as teens”. Watching this as a group of young men who are forced to march to their deaths by the hand of government officials who tell them it’s for the good of the nation. That in the end, you’ll march out victorious with fame and fortune. Unless something is extremely unique, the dystopian future where young people fight oppressors just feels very bland due to the flood of young adult novels. Aside from the allegory, which does make this more appealing than those stories, is the simplicity and lack of uprising. There isn’t a complicated system of hierarchy that’s explained. That’s all in the background and implied. There aren’t any massive speeches telling the common man to stand up to their government officials. We don’t even know if their spark for the uprising even worked. It was more of a selfish revenge act if anything. But it leaves the audience with a bittersweet ending. The satisfaction of vengeance towards characters that we grew attached to. But the questionable hope of a better future.

Like walking at 3mph, it’s paced fast enough, although moments of conversation between some characters failed to keep my attention. Listening to them talk about their dreams of riches, although exposing their inner character, although in your mind you know who’s going to make it in the end to see their dreams become true, which made me not care all that much. Yet it did some moments of comedy between the characters.

Even though it’s coming out now, it’s very much a we live in a society message. Although looking into the Stephen King book, I found it to be a more interesting perspective from the 70s. It was seen as an allegory for the Vietnam War. Soldiers sent out to march for the good of the country with the promise of victory and triumph. But left with pain. Nothing good comes from war.