Here Is My Movie Review of The Long Walk
Now when this movie was announced I was beyond excited because just looking at the trailer it looked really interesting. This idea that you have to walk for a long time and if you stop you get shot and killed and the last person who survives to win the prize money. So that was a really unique and amazing concept. But the other thing I was looking forward Two in this movie is to see the Joker himself Mark Hamill Because I really enjoy him as an actor I like him in the original Star Wars Trilogy I like him as Joker in Batman the Animated Series and I also liked him as Chucky in Child's Play 2019. So I went to go see this movie and let me tell you I really like it. Now I really enjoy this film. It's probably one of the most entertaining films of 2025. But I don't think it is as good as other 2025 films that I have seen like Death of a Unicorn or Fantastic Four First Steps. I think those two movies are way better than this film. But in terms of just being a really fun and intense film, it really does deliver on those things.
Now, despite how incredible the storyline is. That is not the thing that makes this movie tremendous. Don't get me wrong, the storyline is really interesting. But the thing that makes the movie magnificent is actually the performances because I think every single actor gives it their all and you can tell they're just having a lot of fun.
Now you may think Mark Hamill is the big standout of this movie and I'll talk about him later but here's the thing though he's actually not the big standout of this movie the really big standout of the entire film Is Cooper Hoffman who plays on main character Raymond Garraty Who probably gives one of the most emotional and captivating performances of the entire film. Now the character of Raymond Garraty Is it really tragic and really broken character that you really care about because this is a guy who lost his father and he want to avenge his father's death by killing the major but in order to do that he has to win the lawn walk and not die and I think he had one of the best character arcs of the entire film. The scenes where Raymond Garraty is getting ready for the long walk are really incredible to watch. But my favorite moment is when he finds out that The Major killed his father by shooting him in the head for not being guilty for his crimes. It's probably why the saddest moments of this entire film is because Raymond Garraty begged The Major not to kill him. It is probably one of the heaviest moments of the entire film. The chemistry between him and David Johnson, Ben Wang, Joshua Odjick, Charlie Palmer, Garrett Wareing, and Mark Hamill is tremendous.
Someone else who was really terrific in this film is David Johnson who plays Raymond's friend Peter McVries because he probably gives one of the most emotional and most beautiful performances as this character. Now out of all the characters Peter McVries Is my favorite in this film because he had the emotional core of the film he really cares about Raymond he really want them to survive the long walk and there is this really beautiful moment where Peter McVries tells Raymond to let go of the past and keep looking forward and it is one of the most powerful and mesmerizing moments throughout the film because he's trying to encourage Raymond to leave the past behind. But Peter McVries Have some funny moments like the scene where he has to go pee atith peas on all the other Walkers during the competition because it is really funny but it does make logical sense because you can't take a break or else The Major will just fly out kill you by shooting you in the head or having one of the soldiers do it. But it is one of the funniest moments in the film and the bonding between Peter and Raymond is probably the strongest aspect of this entire film. I really like their friendship throughout the whole movie. The chemistry between him and Cooper Hoffman is outstanding.
Now Ben Wang Probably gave the funniest performance in the film add the character of Hank Olson Because he kind of sounds like Mr Chow from The Hangover like he puts on this New York accent and I think it fits the character because you can just tell that Ben Wang Is having a lot of fun as this character. Now Hank Olson as a character is tremendous and he's probably my favorite character throughout the film because he is so funny and so entertaining to watch and he does really care about his friends. He wants to survive the Long Walk. The scenes with Hank often are tremendous and there are some of my favorite moments throughout the film whether it is him Towing Raymond in the other that if the gum goes he goes or the thing where he's like trying to make up the hell it starts freaking out it does lead to some really nail biting and some really funny moments throughout the film. Also his reaction to watching Peter pee in the middle of The Long Walk was also really funny; he is disgusted by the whole thing. The chemistry between him and Cooper Hoffman is remarkable.
Joshua Odjick was also really amazing in the film as the character Collie Parker because you can tell he is having a lot of fun and his performance is probably one of the most tragic and captivating performances of the entire film. Now Collie Parke Are the character you really feel bad for because he really wants to survive the long walk he starts to become more unstable and he can't take being held at gunpoint well he is walking and you just feels so bad for him you really wanted to get this thing done and when the prize money. The scene where he tries to attack one of the soldiers and put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger is probably one of the most heart pounding moments in the entire film because he couldn't take being tortured by the major so he wanted to put himself out of his own nitrate by shooting himself in the face and it's probably one of the scariest moments of the entire film. The chemistry between him and Cooper Hoffman is excellent.
Charlie Palmer Plays Gary Barkovich In the film and his performance is really incredible and really entertaining because you can tell that Charlie Palmer is having a lot of fun in this film. Now the character of Gary Barkovich Is really interesting because at first he doesn't like Raymond and Peter makes fun of them and their friends but later on in the film you start to have a change of heart and he admits that doing the long walk is torture and he walked to survive with his new friends. The scene where Gary Barkovich And his friends say fuck The Long walk and fuck The Major not only is it really funny. But you can tell that they kind of had enough of being tortured by The Major. They don't want to do this horrible event anymore because they say it's borderline abusive and it is torturing them why they call out The Major for his disgusting and horrible behavior. The chemistry between him and Cooper Hoffman is magnificent.
Garrett Wareing plays Billy Stebbins. In the film, his performance is really entertaining because you can tell that he is having a lot of fun as this character. Now the character of Billy Stebbins is really interesting because he really wants to survive the long walk with his friends and wants to win the prize money but then you find out that he is one of the Major's Sons. But he doesn't want to do anymore; he doesn't want to get the event over with. But the scene where he reveals that he had the majors son is probably one of a shocking moments of the entire film because when your first introduce to him in the film he's just an average guy because you don't believe that he and the major Unrelated but once he tells his friends in the third act it is probably the most shocking moment of the entire film. The chemistry between him and Cooper Hoffman is terrific.
Now the thing that I was the most looking forward to in this entire film is Mark Hamill as The Major and I have to say he does a magnificent job in fact he probably get one of the most creepiest but one of the most entertaining performances of the entire film because you can tell that Mark Hamill is having the time of his life playing this character. Now To say that The Major is probably the most statistic character in the entire film that's play it lightly because The Major is a really disturbing scary individual because this guy enjoy the torturing the contestants because he is so into doing his job is that he doesn't care that someone gets a seizure in the middle of the race he just straight up gets his soldiers to kill the person and when he raises his voice in the film it's actually really scary but it's understandable because he's giving orders to the contestants to keep going because he gives you a 3 warnings and if you don't listen to him you die. On the bright side you can make this joke: The Joker is running the long walk event and shooting your brains out because he's played by the same actor who is Mark Hamill. The scenes with the Major are really incredible and really brutal to watch. Whether it is the scene of him explaining the rules of the Long Walk or him sending his military soldiers out to kill the contestants it does lead to some really scary and some really chilling moments throughout the film. Now The Major does have some Darkly comedic moments in the film like the scene where Raymond and his friends are like cutting him out saying he is a piece of shit and The Major like that's the spirit like he doesn't care if anyone cusses him out because he enjoys ruining people's lives in this event. I think The Major is up there with Red Hulk from Captain America Brave New World as the most entertaining villains of 2025. The chemistry between him and Cooper Hoffman is incredible.
However the best thing about this movie is the directing by Francis Lawrence because what I love about his director that he does a terrific job adapting the short story because the exact same thing happens you have all these People participating in this thing called the law walk where you have to walk the whole time and if you stop or take a break you get shot and killed and he really nailed Intense and Horrifying aspects of that book really well. Buy all the like how he made this film and analogy for the Vietnam War because the Vietnam War was the very dark time in history lots of soldiers got shot multiple times and got killed and some soldiers develop PTSD because they either lost Their best friend or one of their family members has died in the war and can scar them really badly So I am super happy that he took that very seriously. Something else I really liked and that can develop all the characters especially Raymond and Peter because these two characters had been through a lot. You know Raymond has lost his father because The Major killed him and Peter lost his parents when he was little when his father was killed by the government. So I think that is really terrific of how he developed the characters in this film. So overall I think he did a magnificent job of directing the film.
So in conclusion I really enjoy this film because the storyline was really incredible having all these contestants participate in the long walk of this deadly event that means that you walk or you die which means if you don't walk you die but if you walk you'll be okay. I think the storyline of this movie is up there with Mickey 17 with Mark Ruffalo as one of the best storylines of 2025. But the best thing about the film are the performances. I think everyone gave some of the best performances of this entire year especially from Cooper Hoffman and David Johnson who both steal the entire movie as Raymond and Peter. Both of them have wonderful chemistry with one another. Also Mark Hamill also gives a tremendous and fun performance as The Major because you can just tell that this is a character that Mark Hamill is having a lot of fun playing in the film. Now The Major is up there with Red Hulk From Captain America Brave New World as one of the best villains of 2025. Also The Major is probably up there with The High Evolutionary from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 as one of the most entertaining but yet one of the most despicable villains of the 2020s. I think this film is up there with Love Hurts as one the most entertaining films of 2025. I also like how this film does not hold back on its violence because you see someone get killed in the film. You really feel scared for the other characters and you want them to survive this event. Also the film utilized its R rating perfectly because this film is violent and disturbing. I highly recommend you go see this movie theater especially if you are a huge Mark Hamill fan or if you like Stephen King movies like 1922 or The Shining with Jack Nicholson you will not be disappointed. I give this movie a 10/10.
