What’s it rated? R
What’s it worth, Anna? Full price
What’s it worth, Glen? Full price
Where’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, Park, Stadium 10
Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I Am Legend, Water for Elephants, four of the five The Hunger Games films) directs JT Mollner’s script based on the Stephen King 1979 dystopian thriller novel of the same name about a group of 50 teenage boys, each from a different state, competing to see who can walk the farthest. The televised event is accompanied by armed soldiers, and any boy who stops walking or slows to under 3 mph is executed. (108 min.)
Glen Ugh. Stephen King knows how to weave an effed-up tale. In this America, a second civil war ravaged the population and economy, and the country is controlled by a totalitarian military dictatorship with The Major (Mark Hamill) at its helm. Every year, he organizes The Long Walk, which he believes can inspire patriotism and motivate the population to work harder. We meet some of the various participants, but the story focuses on two boys in particular: Raymond Garraty No. 47 (Cooper Hoffman) and Peter McVries No. 23 (David Jonsson), who strike up a friendship. All the participants know the truth—all but one of them will die before The Long Walk is done. In the end, it’s a story about the bonds formed by a band of brothers surviving combat. Viewers also know how it will end, but when the first fallen boy gets graphically shot in the head, it’s a shock. The stakes feel real.
Anna King knows how to deliver emotionally gripping relationships, especially those between boys and young men. Think Stand By Me from King’s story The Body with Saving Private Ryan stakes. This world is bleak, even bleaker that the one we face today. The film opens with Raymond trying to soothe his rightfully hysterical mother as she drives him to the walk. He promises to see her in a few days, and we learn that his hunger to complete the long walk isn’t just about his life, but about much more—including vengeance. Peter is immediately charming, at least to Raymond and a few of the other teens on the walk. Soon the four Musketeers are bonded, but none as close as No. 47 and No. 23. The two fall in love in that way that only fast friendship can create. Is it trauma bonding? Sure. But these two boys need each other to make it to the end just as much as they need to make it themselves. This one ripped me apart from the inside out. It was devastation after devastation, but I couldn’t help but want to watch these two spend every second that they could together. It was gutting.
Glen The two leads offer compelling performances. Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, exhibits some of his father’s knack for inhabiting underdogs. He’s pudgy and sloppy compared to Jonsson’s lean, fit Peter. But as you noted, what drives Raymond is enough to propel him forward. Aside from The Major and the nameless, faceless soldiers that do his bidding, the story’s other villain is Gary Barkovitch No. 5 (Charlie Plummer, grandson of the great Christopher Plummer), whose cruel taunts leads to No. 19’s (Daymon Wrightly) death. What these boys go through is a grotesque form of torture. What happens in the end is open to interpretation.
Anna Unfortunately, the kind of world these boys live in is one that chews you up and spits you out, so any faint hope for an ending that is anything other than tragic is fleeting. I can’t say it’s a fun watch, and the grisly nature of the deaths of these young men is not for the faint of heart. However, the bond between Peter and Raymond is tender and heartbreaking, and the story, while difficult, offers an odd sense of hopefulness. Even when the world around us is bad, we ourselves can be good. ∆
Arts Editor Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Split Screen. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Autumn Arts Annual 2025.