The Film Called a Masterpiece: Stephen King's "The Long Walk" Earns 94% Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes

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The new adaptation from the master of horror is a powerful hit. It's one of the best results among films based on the writer's works.

"The Long Walk" has already scored an incredible 94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics are calling the film "brutal, piercing, and incredibly relevant."

The plot follows a hundred young men on a deadly march where they can't stop or slow down. Break the rules, and you get a bullet. The winner gets money and any wish fulfilled.

What critics are saying

Reviews describe the film as "ruthless and hypnotic." The Jam Report notes: "This is King at his most stripped-down and brutal, pushed to its ultimate honesty."
The Long Walk movie trailer
Collider writes that the film's power lies in its focus on the participants' fates: viewers literally feel the exhausting burden alongside them.

GamesRadar+ confidently places "The Long Walk" alongside "The Green Mile" and "Misery."

There are more restrained reviews too: some complain about pacing issues, and Beyond the Trailer even calls the film "stuck in the '70s." But even they admit: this is a powerful, complex, and sometimes unbearably heavy drama.

From book to screen

The novel "The Long Walk" was written by in 1979 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman and was long considered "unfilmable." George Romero and Frank Darabont both attempted to make the movie, but it only came to fruition now.

Francis Lawrence ("The Hunger Games," "I Am Legend") took on the project, and he's the one who managed to transform this dystopian experiment into major cinema.

Why it works

The story centers on people, not special effects. Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson performed so well that critics call their duo "the heart and only light" of this story. "You feel like you're walking right alongside them and getting just as tired," writes Syntell.
A group of people walks along a road where tanks are driving
The Long Walk movie poster
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The film doesn't try to be "entertainment horror." It's a harsh metaphor for a society where life's value is measured by the speed of your step and willingness to follow rules.

Should you watch it

"The Long Walk" isn't for the faint of heart. There are brutal scenes, blood, and plenty of pain. But that's exactly why it hits so hard. Critics are already calling it one of the best adaptations of the writer's work, and audiences are discussing the ending like they walked the path themselves.

If "The Green Mile" was about miracles and "Misery" was about fanaticism, then "The Long Walk" is about human endurance and what makes us human. Earlier on zoomboola.com, we told you why critics are praising the new Adam Sandler film "Jay Kelly."