Speaker #0Hello everyone and welcome to the concession stand here on the KB radio network. I am your host Kevin Reed and this is the review of the long walk. the brand new survival thriller directed by Francis Lawrence and it is based on a novel by the great Stephen King. This film stars Cooper Hoffman, David Johnson, and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. The Long Walk is set in a dystopian United States ruled by a Tartarian regime. A group of young men enter an annual walking contests in which they must maintain a speed of at least three miles per hour or risk execution the contest ends when only one walker remains this is a uh this is a risk that moviegoers uh experience when they decide to go see a stephen king adaptation because you don't know what you're gonna get it's either going to be really really good a la it chapter one or really really bad a la the dark tower you know there's never uh in between there's either good or bad and so when you when you look at a film like the long walk in a film where it's basically walking well it's not basically There's walking for an hour and a half. Nothing else. It's a big risk. It is a big risk to really invest that time and your money to go see a film where people are walking for 90 minutes or so. But what got me excited for it, to the point where I had to go see this, in the theater. It was the fact that Francis Lawrence is directing this film. I've been a fan of Francis Lawrence since his video directing days. You know, music video directing, I should say. I just loved his style. And then when he switched over to features, I think his first one was Constantine with Keanu Reeves. I believe that was his first film. Love Constantine and the Hunger Games films. in. I am legend. You know, he just loved dystopian film. And this is also a dystopian film. But I love his style of filmmaking. Big fan of his work. So that drew me to it. Stephen King, like I said, even the bad movies I like, you know, that doesn't mean I don't have a corner of my heart for those stupid adaptations of his novels and short stories. is just you know the ones i don't like i'll watch one one time and that's it you know that's it for me i don't need to see it no more but there's that then you have the screenwriter here jt molder who is coming off of strange darlings which came out last year or the year before last sneaky great film loved strange darlings i i it came out of nowhere for me but he he He wrote and directed that film, but he's just the writer here. So behind the camera pretty good team in front of the camera also great team even though there are some names here that they're not going to snatch you and say oh man this is a Cooper Hoffman film I need to go I need to go see this but you know it's it's solid solid young actors are dead in the future people these are the guys now Cooper Hoffman who stars in this film. He is the son of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman, and it's kind of a symmetry thing here, because I think Francis Lawrence, if I'm not mistaken, directed Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final film before he passed away. I could be wrong there, but if it wasn't his last film, it was one of his final performances in The Hunger Games. So, uh... I thought that was pretty cool to have Cooper Hoffman in his first starring role be directed by the same man that directed his father's final role. I thought that was really interesting. But he did great here. I haven't seen I think I've seen him in something else, but it was like a supporting role that he was a part of. But here he carried. I mean, you could see his dad shining through his his that talent is in. Embedded in his DNA. He really, really impressed me as the lead character in this film. David Johnston fell in love with him from Alien Romulus. There are rumors floating around that he will replace the late great Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther in the MCU. And I was kind of skeptical at first. Then I kind of warmed up to it. Then I watched this. And I was all on board. I'm with it. I'm with him taking over as the Black Panther. If that's going to be a reality, I don't know. But besides that, even if he doesn't get that, he can hang his hat on this. Awesome performance as well. All of these actors, Ben Wan, I want to point him out. Ben Wayne, I should say. Man, what a good performance here. And it's a small... although actors is kind of small roles you know supporting roles but i'm pointing him out because he was so so good in the in this role and you think back a couple of months back when he co-starred with jackie chan and ralph macchio and uh the uh karate kid legends movie that was so bad that was so bad, and... No fault to him, no fault to Jackie Chan, no fault to Ralph Macchio. I don't know what that movie was trying to do. But he just, nothing about that screamed that he was going to be a top star in Hollywood moving forward. But thank God he had this under his wings before everybody caught on. Because he is great in this role. Everybody did a marvelous job. All of the walkers, so to speak, did a marvelous job. in this film, Mark Hamill. He's the only one I feel that's kind of out of place. Even though he didn't do a bad job, but I felt like that role could have probably went to somebody else and it would have had a bigger impact in the end. You know, or throughout the film. But I didn't mind his role. All I can hear was Joker from Batman the Animated Series. That's the voice he was using in this movie. But I... I just felt it could have had a little more weight to it if it was somebody more prestigious. And I'm not trying to poo-poo on Mark Hamill. I mean, he's basically part of a great portion of my childhood. Luke Skywalker, like I said, Joker in the Batman animated series. So I can't really get mad at him here. But I just, I don't know. That's all I could think about when I left out the theater. Another thing leaving out the theater did not expect did not expect that I was gonna be crying in this movie that I was so touched and not in a Good way if that makes any sense It's I was I was I mean there was so much emotion here and it moved me i mean it was oh my god it was gut-wrenching it was gut-wrenching this the deaths in this movie they didn't hold anything back here people this was not for the faint at heart this there were some brutal deaths in this movie and they went all in with it but at the same time there were some deaths that they kind of shied away from and it was interesting choices that Francis Lawrence made. to show this death and not show this death uh this one will have bigger impact if we show this and this one will have even greater impact if we don't show it and let your imagination do the work and it was i mean very impactful uh the choices made in this film were uh just phenomenal phenomenal i'm i'm just blown away by this movie i'm blown away that this movie As simple as a premise as it is, kids, well, teenagers or young adults, males, sign up for this contest. Gotta walk. Gotta keep pace. Last man standing wins. That's the whole, that's it. That's the premise. You know, life is a marathon, not a sprint. That's basically the premise of this movie. And it managed to keep me. 100% engaged for 108 minutes. I cannot tip my hat more to the filmmakers, to the actors, to everybody involved in the production of this film. One of the best movies of 2025. I cannot express it any, I don't, I'm struggling to find a flaw in this movie. i really i sat on it for a couple of hours trying to find a flaw in this film and now i brought up the mark hamill thing that was more that's more of a nitpick not a flaw it was it was good it was a good performance it's well i'm trying to find it and i can't i honestly can't this was really really good emotionally impactful uh it does not drag his feet uh no pun intended uh but it starts off we're off to the races if you want to say that at the beginning of the movie we don't take 30 minutes in the beginning to set up every character that's a part of this uh contest and all this here it is the movie starts and we're we're at the starting line with these characters and as the movie progresses we get the development of all of these characters who are on this road their motivations for being on this road uh for different reasons and every man man man i can't wait to this uh get some time under his belt so i can really go in depth with it talk more in depth about this movie because it's so much about this movie i want to say but i don't want to spoil it because they are major spoilers in this movie that well kind of shock and surprise you because i was shocked and surprised and it takes a lot in film to shock and surprise me but this movie managed to do it and man i can't express my gratitude enough the long walk gets a letter grade of an a yeah man it's it's one of the best of the year honestly i did not expect it just thought it was going to be throwaway viewing you know but it wasn't It really, really made an impact. And kudos to Francis Lawrence. I mean, hey, Stephen King. Stephen King finally got a good adaptation of some of his work. Congratulations to the great Stephen King. Did you check out The Long Walk? And if you did, did you go to the theater that had the treadmills? I read this online. I don't think any theater down here where I live had it. Even if they did, I wasn't going to do it. But they have treadmills and you do the walk throughout the whole film. And it's paced. You know, they set the treadmills at that three mile per hour speed. And so you got to do it the whole movie while you're watching the movie. I would love to hear from somebody who did that. And that not only is brutal, but secondly, man, did you last? Did you last to the end? I would love to know. Email the show, kbradiopodcasts at gmail.com. You can also search for the show on all social media platforms. Just search for the KB Radio Network. Also, don't forget about YouTube. Subscribe to the KB Radio Network channel and like this video if you don't mind. Don't forget about the five stars, the reviews, and sharing this show. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, wherever you are currently listening to the concession stand. Here on the KB Radio Network. Everybody, thank you for joining me for this review of The Long Walk. I want you all to know that I love you. Continue to love everyone. and until we speak again You all be blessed.
