The Long Walk 2025 Parents Guide

The Long Walk is Rated R by Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for strong bloody violence, grisly images, suicide, pervasive language, and sexual references.

Review: The Long Walk

Francis Lawrence clearly has an affinity for dystopia. After I Am Legend and four entries in The Hunger Games saga, the director returns once again to a world where survival is both spectacle and punishment. His latest effort, The Long Walk adapted from Stephen King’s 1979 novel dives headlong into that blend of agony and gamesmanship, where a totalitarian regime turns despair into entertainment. The result is a punishing, often gripping endurance test of a movie. Imperfect, yes, but Lawrence approaches the material with deadly seriousness, delivering a harsh, unflinching experience that often lands its blows.

Set in an America just barely pieced back together after a second civil war, the government holds onto power with threats of economic collapse and fear-mongering. Their twisted morale booster? A nationally televised “Long Walk,” where scores of young men march without rest until only one remains the losers gunned down on the spot if they falter. The prize: a hefty sum of cash and a single granted wish.

That’s enough to lure Raymond (Cooper Hoffman) into volunteering, despite the terror it stirs in his mother (Judy Greer). Alongside fellow walkers Peter (David Jonsson), Stebbins (Garrett Wareing), Gary (Charlie Plummer), Hank (Ben Wang), and others, Raymond sets his sights on victory, carrying a secret ambition for his wish. But the further they go, the more the camaraderie dissolves under the brutal eye of The Major (Mark Hamill), the pitiless overseer of the contest who has no hesitation in enforcing “American spirit” with bullets.

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Screenwriter JT Mollner (Strange Darling) chooses to keep the focus tightly on the competitors, offering only scraps of world-building about this fractured nation. Instead, the film zeroes in on Raymond’s determination a young man who actually wants to be part of the Walk, ignoring his mother’s pleas in favor of glory. Early on, Lawrence frames the march almost like a grim coming-of-age road trip, with characters sharing bits of backstory and bonding as they move forward. That fragile sense of fellowship shatters the moment the first boy collapses and is casually executed.

From there, the violence comes in bursts. Lawrence makes each death count, staging the shootings with raw, bloody detail that jolts both the walkers and the audience. Still, the film is less about constant carnage and more about the conversations along the way: alliances forming, rivalries simmering, and personal demons surfacing. Gary, for instance, leans into his sadism, while Stebbins’ strength is undercut by illness. Bodily needs are met on the move, adding humiliating reminders of the inescapable ordeal. Through it all, Raymond grows close to Peter, their fragile friendship a small ember of humanity in the horror. Flashbacks hint at Raymond’s deeper motives, gradually revealing what he’s truly walking for.

But for all its brutality, The Long Walk often drifts into repetition. Mollner’s script is heavy on profanity-laced dialogue, light on wit, and misses opportunities to flesh out its dystopian backdrop. Oddly, the film also expects audiences to buy into the walkers’ shock at each execution even though this is a broadcasted event that everyone, including the contestants, should be familiar with. These lapses keep the movie from reaching the relentless intensity of King’s novel.

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Even so, there are stretches that bite hard. Jonsson, fresh off Alien: Romulus, delivers the standout performance, grounding the story with vulnerability and quiet strength. Hamill makes the most of his limited screen time, turning The Major into a chilling figure of authoritarian piety. Lawrence’s direction ensures the ordeal never loses its physical weight each mile trudged feels heavier, each death more inevitable. By the end, The Long Walk almost resembles a grim stage play stretched across an endless road, its theatrical intensity sustained by the director’s refusal to soften the blows.

Flawed but unflinching, The Long Walk isn’t an easy sit. It’s a test of patience, endurance, and stomach much like the contest itself. And while it may not answer every question, it captures the bleak heart of King’s vision: a world where survival is entertainment, friendship is fleeting, and victory comes at a devastating price.

The Long Walk 2025 Parents Guide

Violence & Gore
Violence isn’t just present here it’s the film’s backbone. The very premise is cruel: young men are forced to march until they literally collapse, at which point they’re executed on the spot. Lawrence films these shootings with grisly detail. The splatter is raw, bloody, and intentionally shocking. The film also lingers on the indignities of the ordeal injuries, illness, and the slow breakdown of bodies. There are a handful of images that qualify as downright grisly, the kind that stick in your mind long after the credits.

Suicide & Psychological Trauma
The movie leans into despair. Several moments dwell on characters giving up sometimes violently, sometimes by sheer resignation. The weight of hopelessness is baked into the narrative, and while that’s faithful to Stephen King’s novel, it makes for a harrowing watch. Sensitive viewers, especially younger ones, may find the atmosphere overwhelming or outright triggering.

Language
The dialogue is laced with F-bombs, curses, and heated insults often to the point of exhaustion. The language feels authentic to a group of terrified teenage boys under extreme pressure, but it’s relentless, and parents should be prepared for wall-to-wall swearing.

Sexual References
Sex itself isn’t depicted, but the script makes occasional crude references. They’re tossed around more as blunt, juvenile chatter than anything erotic, but it’s still enough to earn notice in the MPA’s rating.

Final Word for Parents

The Long Walk is not a Friday night popcorn flick—it’s a bleak, brutal meditation on survival, spectacle, and the cost of ambition. For mature older teens, it may spark serious conversations about violence as entertainment and the machinery of authoritarianism. But for most younger audiences, the mix of grisly violence, constant profanity, and suffocating despair makes this one best left unseen until they’re truly ready.

• If you’re a parent wondering whether to let your 15-year-old watch: don’t. The R rating isn’t decorative here it’s a genuine warning.