# The Long Walk Trailer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [May 8, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115 "2025-05-08T19:32:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/21 "2025-05-09T15:31:08Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > How often is their pace checked (is there someone always monitoring)? Constantly, with radar. > could someone run for a while and then slow down as long as their average is OK? No. IIRC if you slowed down below the 4MPH, you got a warning, and if you stopped, I think you got a warning every 30 seconds after that. 4 warnings, and you’re done. this is how they got their bathroom breaks. Right there, in the road, in front of the crowds lining the march route. Walking for an hour or something like that, erased one warning. > Are they allowed to eat/drink (as long as they keep moving)? Yes. They received daily(?) meal rations they carried with them. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/22 "2025-05-09T15:38:51Z")
It’s not based on an average. If your speed at any point drops below the minimum, your timer starts counting down from 2 minutes, and you get warnings at certain points during the countdown (the warning points are actually inconsistent in the book). Your timer stops counting down once you get back above the minimum, and each hour you stay above the minimum clears one of your warnings. There would be no advantage to running ahead. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/23 "2025-05-09T15:40:45Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > > Are they allowed to eat/drink (as long as they keep moving)? > > Yes. They received daily(?) meal rations they carried with them. Correct, daily. They can also carry any food they want from the start. Once it starts, they cannot receive any assistance or food from spectators. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/24 "2025-05-10T05:19:10Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > There would be no advantage to running ahead. It was an endurance challenge, not a race. So you are correct; running would be totally counterproductive. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/25 "2025-05-10T12:53:34Z")
Someone should write a parable about that… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/26 "2025-05-10T13:55:59Z")
Watched the trailer twice but didn’t realize that was Mark Hamill until I looked up the cast on IMDB. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/27 "2025-05-10T18:38:40Z")
I was quite impressed with Hamill in Fall of the House of Usher. I’m really enjoying his renaissance, though I haven’t seen Life of Chuck yet. Like Travolta with Tarentino, Hamill with Flanagan was a perfect match. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/28 "2025-05-11T14:21:41Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > I think you got a warning every 30 seconds after that. 4 warnings, and you’re done. However, you earn back warnings by not getting one for an hour. A competitor has no actual limit in the number of warnings they could get; they just can’t have more than three at any point. If the competitor has three warnings, he can burn them off by avoiding further warning for three hours. Early in the book, one of the characters - Stebbins, I believe - deliberately picks up a few warnings right away. It’s noted he is deliberately testing where the limit is, knowing that since they just started, it’ll be easy for him to earn the warnings back, and now he has physically learned where the limit is. Also WRT rations, the food rations are daily, but water is unlimited and provided on request. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2025, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/29 "2025-08-22T01:40:51Z")
Some early reactions are being posted by critics who have seen the movie (it will be released Sept 12 in the US). Maybe the Hollywood Reporter is cherry picking, but if these are truly representative then it’s sounding pretty good. > _The Long Walk_ easily one of the most intense emotional wallops of the year. I’m exhausted — and the movie earned it. You can tell the source material was adapted by someone who really gets it. > _The Long Walk_ [is] one of the most powerful Stephen King adaptations in recent years. Francis Lawrence pulls no punches, driving home the book’s themes of how authoritarianism continues to eat away at today’s youth. > I had an hour-long drive home after my screening of _The Long Walk_, and I couldn’t listen to music or an audiobook; I just had to sit in silence with the knot in my stomach. It’s a powerful, gripping and shocking film that is a perfect adaptation of the Stephen King source material. Unforgettable.”l > Visceral, gripping, emotional & provocative, a brilliant Stephen King adaptation & 1 of the year’s best films. A towering achievement reminiscent of _The Outsiders_ & _Full Metal Jacket_. > **[‘The Long Walk’ First Reactions: “Harrowing, Traumatizing” Film Ranks With...](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/the-long-walk-reactions-stephen-king-1236348882/)** > > 'The Hunger Games' meets a not-so-leisurely stroll in Francis Lawrence's adaption of a cult favorite King novel. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/30 "2025-08-22T15:18:28Z")
Oh, that’s wonderful to hear! ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/31 "2025-08-30T14:08:57Z")
I thought this was a joke, but it’s apparently really happening: a theater in LA is holding a special screening of the movie where the audience is on treadmills. Audience members must maintain a 3 mph pace or get kicked out of the theater. > **[Special The Long Walk Screening Will Eliminate Viewers Who Can't Keep Up on a...](https://consequence.net/2025/08/the-long-walk-treadmill-screening/)** > > If influencers walk less than three miles an hour... they'll miss the end of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/32 "2025-08-30T18:12:24Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Audience members must maintain a 3 mph pace or get kicked out of the theater. At first it sounds stupid, but (A) that’s amazing publicity and (B) what a unique experience for the moviegoer. Definitely a great story to tell people about later. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/33 "2025-08-30T23:59:31Z")
Walking at 3 MPH for the duration of a movie seems doable. Brian ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/34 "2025-08-31T18:02:58Z")
Try it at the gym, i don’t think most people could last an hour. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/35 "2025-08-31T18:18:28Z")
IMDb lists runtime as 1:48, so that’s 5.4 miles at 3 mph. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/36 "2025-08-31T18:57:42Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Walking at 3 MPH for the duration of a movie seems doable. > > Brian It’s very doable. Despite my age and decrepitude that is my usual treadmill speed. I get bored before I get tired. I might have issues going the entire length of the movie but I’m old. A young healthy person should be able to do it easily. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/37 "2025-08-31T19:32:13Z")
Not planning see it, but I did read the plot summary of the novel on Wikipedia, and I have a question: Why the FUCK do the authoritarians want this event to happen? Also, why the FUCK would anyone join? Also, what the FUCK is wrong with the “guards,” that they’d go along with something like this? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/38 "2025-08-31T19:48:59Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Also, why the FUCK would anyone join? To possibly win a big prize that will allow them to improve their lives (and those of their family) and escape their current shitty situation. Why do people risk their lives trying to illegally cross the U.S. southern border? Why do people with little money or income spend so much of it (relatively speaking) on lottery tickets? Science fiction and speculative fiction often take real-world situations (like present-day lotteries) and explore scenarios in which the situation in question is taken to an extreme. Thereby presenting a mirror on current society. _The Long Walk_ takes lotteries to an extreme. The potential reward at the end is life-changing wealth, and the potential cost is one’s life. There’s a reason the book and movie are set in a dystopian setting. No happy, well-off person with better options would volunteer for this extreme lottery. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/39 "2025-08-31T19:55:44Z")
> [@robby](#): > > _Long Walk_ takes lotteries to an extreme. The potential reward at the end is life-changing wealth, and the potential cost is one’s life. So one way or another the guy’s life changes? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115/40 "2025-08-31T20:14:39Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@robby](#): > > > > _Long Walk_ takes lotteries to an extreme. The potential reward at the end is life-changing wealth, and the potential cost is one’s life. > > So one way or another the guy’s life changes? Yup. Also note that the competitors all seem to be young men in the movie. (In the novel, they were definitely all young men. There might have even been an explicit age/gender restriction in the novel.) Anyway, young men have the bravado of youth and think they are going to live forever. Look at the young men who have willingly enlisted to fight on the front lines in wartime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-long-walk-trailer/1018115.md?page=3)