THE LONG WALK - (Blu-ray)

The Long Walk is a 2025 American dystopian survival thriller film directed and produced by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by JT Mollner. It is based on the 1979 novel of the same name by Stephen King (under his pseudonym Richard Bachman). The film stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Joshua Odjick, Roman Griffin Davis, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill.[5] Set in a dystopian 1970s, the film follows fifty boys in an annually televised competitive walking marathon, meant to inspire viewers. Each boy must maintain a pace of 3 miles per hour of nonstop walking for days, and failure to do so after three warnings results in death. The boy who lasts the longest wins riches and the fulfillment of a wish of his choice.

In an alternate 20th century, the United States is a totalitarian military regime following a devastating war. The regime has established an annual event, The Long Walk, which aims to inspire patriotism and work ethic among the destitute, as the country is in the grips of a severe economic depression. Fifty teenage boys, one from each state, are chosen randomly, given water and rations, and must walk hundreds of miles nonstop while escorted by armed soldiers who also broadcast the event. Those who fall below 3 miles per hour (4.8 km/h) or stop walking receive up to three warnings before being executed. The Walk ends when there is only one survivor remaining, who receives a large cash prize and can have one wish fulfilled. Although the sign-up is technically voluntary, nearly all eligible young men do so every year in the hope of improving their families' lives.

Raymond "Ray" Garraty, the year's participant from Maine, is driven to the starting line near the Maine-Canada border by his mother Ginnie, who begs him to back out. Ray refuses and meets the other participants, including Peter "Pete" McVries, Billy Stebbins, Arthur "Art" Baker, Collie Parker, Gary Barkovitch, Hank Olson, and Richard Harkness. The Major, a mysterious official who oversees the regime's death squads, starts the Walk and greets the boys from time to time as they proceed southward.

During the first day, Ray gets to know the other walkers and forms a close bond with Pete. A boy named Thomas Curley is the first to be killed, after he develops a charley horse in his leg. Barkovitch is shunned by the group for provoking another walker named Rank into attacking him, resulting in Rank's execution.