Tom Hiddleston as Charles "Chuck" Krantz in a scene from "The Life of Chuck." (Photo courtesy of NEON)
The paperback novel I picked up with my allowance money had Drew Barrymore's face in front of a wall of flames. It's safe to say my life would never be quite the same from that point forward.
Reading “Firestarter” was hardly the extracurricular activity the teachers at my Catholic school in Puerto Rico would approve of, but it introduced this ninth grader to a world of dark wonders and terse prose that dared you to put the book down. For a sizable stretch, from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, I read as many books by Stephen King as I possibly could, and they filled my impressionable teenage mind with vivid nightmare scenarios that haunted my dreams (in a good way) and motivated me to check out other genre writers' work. I even got my paternal grandmother to read “Misery” after I was done with it. To this day, his uncut version of “The Stand,” still my favorite King, stands as the longest book I've read.
Not every book the Bangor, Maine-based author has written is a home run, but the batting average is much better than the screen adaptations made from these novels, novellas and short stories. For every “Carrie” and “Stand by Me,” there have been more than a handful of misses, though I've managed to avoid the real turkeys. 2025, however, is shaping up to be the year of King, with four big-screen incarnations of his stories and an MGM+ series (“The Institute”) still unseen by me. Osgood Perkins' gleefully silly but uneven “The Monkey,” released this spring, left me very much on the fence, hobbled as it is by a miscast Theo James.
Charlie Plummer as Gary Barkovitch , Garrett Wareing as Stebbins, Cooper Hoffman as Raymond Garraty, David Jonsson as Peter McVries, Ben Wang as Hank Olson, Tut Nyuot as Arthur Baker and Joshua Odjick as Collie Parker in a scene from "The Long Walk." (Photo by Murray Close, courtesy of Lionsgate)
Ah, but the outlook has become considerably brighter since then, and we still have Edgar Wright's take on “The Running Man” opening later this fall. But let's focus on two adaptations of works written at very different points in King's career that show the prolific writer has never been just about quickening the pulse, giving you goose bumps or grossing you out (Lardass!).
They've been brought from page to screen with sensitivity and care by two filmmakers to whom the material fits like a glove. One of them was just released at a multiplex near you, and the other is now available to rent at home following a (disappointing) theatrical run earlier this summer. They share an inclination to highlight the kindness that walks hand in hand with the bleakness in King's worldview, as well as one cast member playing pivotal roles that are polar opposites from one another. It's time to take the plunge.
“The Long Walk”: The color palette is muted, the body count is high, and its portrayal of an alternate America where totalitarianism took root is awash in hopelessness, but what stands out in Francis Lawrence's fiercely moving adaptation of King's 1979 novel, written under his Richard Bachman pseudonym, is its generosity of spirit - from the characters who have signed up for an endurance test that attracts the Grim Reaper like a magnet, and also from the creative team who chose to make the opposite of the cold and clinical survival tale that this could have easily been.
The time period is unspecified, but the cars and clothing suggest a spartan-chic 1960s. Yet the aim is to convey that the titular contest, with the sole victor granted a wish of his choosing, could happen at any juncture over the past century and change and essentially look and feel the same.
Cooper Hoffman as Raymond Garraty and David Jonsson as Peter McVries in a scene from "The Long Walk." (Photo by Murray Close, courtesy of Lionsgate)
The rules are simple: The young men who received the letter of acceptance report at the starting point for the walk, unspecified in the film but near the Maine-Canada border in the book. Once the walk begins, participants must keep the pace at three miles an hour. If they go below or over, they receive three warnings. The fourth is a bullet from one of the soldiers who escort the contestants. And it's all broadcast for the entire nation to witness. The walk ends when there is only one walker standing.
Bracing for the doom-laden death march is Raymond Garraty (“Licorice Pizza's” Cooper Hoffman), a sweet-natured kid from the state where this year's walk is taking place. Raymond has chosen not to heed pleas from his mother, Ginnie (Judy Greer) to see if it's not too late to bow out. It's clear Raymond, soft-spoken but bullheaded, is ready to see this through, even though the odds hardly seem to be in his favor. It's also clear, seeing him introduce himself to the other competitors, that this humble young man is leadership material.
Overseeing the event like a hawk is the leader of this militarized society, referred to as The Major (Mark Hamill). The uniformed despot, who not once takes off his dark Ray-Bans, might be a cunning psycho, but as he barks into a megaphone, he strives to make sure these brave souls know they represent the best this country has to offer in these “economically desperate times,” even as they're reduced to a number. (Raymond is #47.) You feel the ghost of Shirley Jackson, whose short story “The Lottery” figures prominently in “The Long Walk's” DNA, hovering over this production and nodding in approval.
Mark Hamill as The Major. (Photo by Murray Close, courtesy of Lionsgate)
As for Raymond, he gravitates toward fellow contestant Peter McVries (David Jonsson), a free spirit who has seen things, as that big scar on his face suggests. It's the men's friendship, pure and heartfelt, that turns “The Long Walk” into an empathy engine that keeps you invested as it embarks in its grisly journey, where just about every death carries an agonizing sting.
Lawrence, working from a tight, profanity-laced screenplay by JT Mollner (director of last year's “Strange Darling”), is no stranger to this thematic territory, having helmed all but the first screen adaptation of “The Hunger Games.” The “Red Sparrow” director relies too heavily on Jeremiah Fraites' evocative but overbearing score, but he allows the grueling contest to shape the narrative, a couple of brief flashbacks notwithstanding, so it never feels like he's stepping up to a soapbox to condemn the dehumanizing effects of living under the thumb of an totalitarian regime. And yet the film's pro-democracy stance feels more potent because this isn't issue-driven cinema.
What “The Long Walk” is at its core, as Lawrence and Mollner begin to dole out revelations, is a wrenching melodrama for dudes, one that's not afraid to plumb the depths of despair but is fond enough of its characters to leave room for a little light amid the darkness. That gives Jonsson and Hoffman, whose father, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, starred in several of the “Hunger Games” movies, the chance to shine like the movie stars they are. Watching their characters, with heavy Sam and Frodo vibes, grow closer is why I go the movies. There's a classical appeal to the actors' chemistry that's reminiscent of onscreen duos from Tinseltown's past, and a discreet gay subtext, an aspect King also explored on the page, is thrown in for good measure.
Joshua Odjick as Collie Parker, Jordan Gonzalez as Richard Harkness, David Jonsson as Peter McVries, Cooper Hoffman as Raymond Garraty and Charlie Plummer as Gary Barkovitch in a scene from "The Long Walk." (Photo by Murray Close, courtesy of Lionsgate)
Jonsson, so good in the British rom-com “Rye Lane” and in last year's “Alien: Romulus,” is the MVP here, his eyes deep wells of expression, but Hoffman is also quite affecting. There's not a weak link in this ensemble cast, which includes Charlie Plummer as a standoffish jerk, a King specialty, and the charismatic Ben Wang (“Karate Kid: Legends”) as a cocky, immensely likable contestant who provides a welcome dose of levity before his performance grows more poignant.
Many feared King's book, which, although published in the late 1970s was the first novel he wrote, would prove unfilmable, with its reliance on its protagonist's inner monologue, but Lawrence and Mollner were able to crack this very tough nut. They've turned in an Orwellian odyssey with a dash of “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner,” an effective indictment of government overreach taken to a disturbing extreme. In the volatile political climate we're living in, its cathartic rebuke to tyranny comes through loud and clear, anchored by a friendship that shines brighter than the sun.
“The Life of Chuck”: The end of the world has been depicted in myriad ways in film and literature. In this radiant, disarmingly offbeat re-envisioning of King's 2020 novella, it's akin to an organism gradually but inexorably shutting down. The paradox is that the closer we come to the end, the more filled with life everything feels.
Tom Hiddleston as Charles "Chuck" Krantz in a scene from "The Life of Chuck." (Photo courtesy of NEON)
Writer-director Mike Flanagan's Capraesque puzzle box is divided in three sections that unfold at different intervals in the title character's existence, in reverse chronological order. In Act Three, which plays first, we're introduced to several residents of an unnamed city as they react to a series of unusual event, including but not limited to natural disasters. And oh, yes, stultifying traffic jams. The distressing calamities are accompanied by billboards and signs popping up across town that show a picture of a bespectacled accountant, with the caption, “Charles Krantz: 39 great years. Thanks, Chuck!”
It's an enigma that Flanagan uses as a backdrop to show schoolteacher Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) reconnecting with his ex-wife, Felicia Gordon (Karen Gillan), a doctor who's holding on to her vocation as the universe appears to come apart at the seams.
The film abruptly segues back in time, and Chuck (Tom Hiddleston) dominates the film's compact, delightful middle chapter. What begins as a casual stroll during a work convention suddenly begins to resemble a scene out of an MGM musical, with a cosmic twist, thanks to busking drummer Taylor Franck, played by professional drummer Taylor Gordon, aka The Pocket Queen, and the recently dumped Janice Halliday (Annalisse Basso).
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Marty Anderson and Karen Gillan as Felicia Gordon in a scene from "The Life of Chuck." (Photo courtesy of NEON)
What happens when the three strangers converge ought to be cringe-inducing, and to the film's vocal detractors, it is, but there's a zest for life that Flanagan, with big help from “Dancing with the Stars” choreographer Mandy Moore, encapsulates here like lightning in a bottle. The sequence is unabashedly cornball, yet to this critic, altogether impossible to resist.
The bulk of Chuck's story is told in Act One, which comes last, a more conventional coming-of-age story that shows how the orphaned Chuck, played by multiple actors but predominantly by the captivating Benjamin Pajak, discovered his inner joy, despite experiencing loss at an early age, and despite a dark secret lurking in the home where he lives with his grandfather Albie (Hamill, back for more King goodness) and grandmother Sarah (a shrewdly cast Mia Sara).
Flanagan also toys with the concept that it takes a village to raise a child. In this case, loved ones and teachers that encourage the young lad to pursue his passions, tempered by Albie's more pragmatic life advice. The result is an odd duck of a movie that's unashamed to reach for the stars, a big swing that, if not quite a powerhouse like “The Long Walk,” is touching in its distinctive, TCM-friendly optimism.
Mia Sara as Sarah Krantz, Mark Hamill as Albie Krantz and Cody Flanagan as Charles "Chuck" Krantz in a scene from "The Life of Chuck." (Photo courtesy of NEON)
Flanagan has adapted King's novels for the big (“Doctor Sleep”) and small (“Gerald's Game”) screens, but “Chuck” feels like the most cohesive fusion to date of his sensibility and King's. The filmmaker feels more at ease when making longform TV, but this feels like a significant stepping stone, a possible harbinger of even better things to come. Flanagan is currently working on turning “Carrie,” the book that put King on the map in the mid-1970s (and spawned a terrific Brian De Palma movie), into a limited series. Regardless of how that turns out, “The Life of Chuck” shows that Flanagan's ambition and willingness to play with structure are only dwarfed by his all-encompassing tenderness. Give it a spin.
“The Long Walk” is now playing in wide release across South Florida, including Regal South Beach, Silverspot Cinema in downtown Miami, AMC Aventura 24, The Landmark at Merrick Park, CMX Cinemas Dolphin 19 and Paradigm Cinemas: Gateway Fort Lauderdale. “The Life of Chuck” is currently a $5.99 digital rental on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Google TV, YouTube and other platforms.
