The Long Walk was originally a book published by Stephen King (under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) in 1979. It follows Ray Garrety as he partakes in the long walk, an annual competition where any participant who stops walking for two minutes is immediately–and fatally–eliminated. Recently, the novel received a film adaptation, released on Sep. 12, 2025. Naturally, the movie is also titled The Long Walk. As with most book adaptations, there were a few discrepancies; the question is, though, were the changes for the better?

     To start, I did enjoy the book. It has a very well-executed, interesting premise. Every so often, it would become a tad boring, but never boring enough for me to lose interest. I recommend this book if you’re a fan of Stephen King and dystopian thrillers, or if you’re looking for something unique.

     The movie was phenomenal. The main character became much more likable, and the plot was condensed extremely well. Additionally, the themes of endurance, friendship, and morality were approached better and made much more sense. The movie was skillfully produced and directed; for a movie about walking, it didn’t become boring in the slightest.

     There were a few issues with the book that didn’t make it into the movie. A lot of King’s odder writing points got removed. Almost every other page, the main character started talking about weird, unnecessary things, which brought down the overall quality of the book. Fortunately, all of this was absent in the film. Similarly, the characters had a better bond in the movie than they did in the book. The ending was also revised to better align with the character changes.

     Sadly, as with all adaptations, some good parts of the book were scraped from the film. Some characters were either removed or changed entirely. A lot of the plot points surrounding the problematic culture of dangerous entertainment were missing, as well.

     The movie was very graphic, which was expected; however, the level of visible gore was quite surprising. I would not recommend it if you are squeamish. If you do want to check out the movie, but are worried about the gore, reading the book first lets you know when to look away.

     Movies don’t have to be carbon copies of the book they’re adapting. A movie adaptation just needs to improve on the source material. Was this book adaptation necessary? No, but no book adaptations ever are. Was it adapted well? Absolutely.