Review of The Dark Tower (2017) by Leon B — 11 Jan 2018

The Dark Tower.

(2017).

Plot:

Based on the book series by highly-acclaimed author Stephen King. The last Gunslinger, Roland (Idris Elba), has been locked in an eternal battle with the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the epic battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.

Review:

What an awful film! After watching the trailer for this movie, I thought it looked really interesting, and the cast was half decent but it turned out to be a right mess, and the little kid, Jake (Tom Taylor) was extremely annoying. The movie is based on some dark tower, which holds the universe together, and it's been protected by the Gunslingers, who have been destroyed by the Man in Black, Walter (Matthew McConaughey). As the last survivor of the Gunslingers, Roland (Idris Elba) seeks revenge after Walter murders his father, so it's a battle against good and evil, with the fate of the world's at stake. Jake, who has dreams about the Dark Tower, Roland and Walter, draws his thoughts, which makes everyone think that he has personal problems. His mum decides to send him to a psychiatric school but he escapes from the wardens, who also work for Walter, and he goes through a portal that leads him to Roland. They then join forces to kill Walter, who is always two steps ahead but with Rolands superb shooting skills and Jakes unique mind, they soon work out a way to get to Walter, and save the world. The Stephen King novel was definitely not portrayed well, and I'm surprised to say that McConaughey and Elba was pretty awful in the leading roles. I also was expecting some big showdown at the end, after such a big build up but that also turned out to be a total let down, along with the poor visual effects. The director wasted way to much time on Jake's storyline, and Walter seemed to be evil, for no reason what so ever, which just became a bit tedious after a while. Anyway, I really didn't enjoy this film, and I certainly didn't feel entertained, so it has to get the thumbs down from me. Disappointing!

Round-Up:

This movie was directed by Nikolaj Arcel, 45, who also brought you King's Game, Island Of Lost Souls, Truth About Men and a Royal Affair in 2012. Judging by his previous work, I was surprised that he was chosen to direct this Stephen King novel, and I was also surprised to see that this movie made a profit, because it is pretty bad. The cast played a big part in drawing an audience but I'm sure that a lot of people were disappointed with the outcome. On the plus side, some of the fast gun action was half decent and McConaughey did look the part but that's the only positive vibes that I got from this film.

Budget: $60million.

Worldwide Gross: $112million.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Western.

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Idris Elba, Tom Taylor, Dennis Haysbert, Ben Gavin, Claudia Kim, Jackie Earle Haley and Fran Kranz. 2/10.