Review of The Dark Tower (2017) by John H — 14 Aug 2017

As an avid King fan and absolutely love the Dark Tower series, I was both excited and nervous of this adaptation, as well as it being a continuation of the books NOT A TRUE MAKING OF THE BOOKS INTO A MOVIE.. IT'S A SEQUEL.

SPOILER ALERT if you have not read the books, even with it being a continuation, it is also an adaptation of the two first books as the ending of the books is similar to Samsara where he has to repeat the story until he gets it right. Therefore technically the same story will be told but with modifications. Such as when Walter states "Does the boy know your last group died by your side?" which was technically Jake, Eddie, Susannah and OY. Speaking of OY, I was disappointed that they made such a small gesture to OY via the Geico commercial. OY was a great character. SPOILER OVER .

For the series fans you won't be disappointed as long as you know this is a CONTINUATION, as you are familiar with the history of Roland, the Man in black, the corporations, the fake skin, Jake's Touch as stated in the book not The Shine. I appreciated the shout outs to other King stories as the Dark Tower books do the same, Pennywise for IT, The Shine for The Shining, the portal 14 08 for the book 1408. However the book does different shout outs to other stories as well, The Regulators, Salems Lot, The Stand.

For those who do not know the books may be confused by the storyline but still be entertained as Idris did a fantastic job as Roland, As Matthew for Walter (though he also shape shifted) and the young man as Jake. People need to understand as to be less critical, there are 7 books, 6 of which are massive with a ton of details, information, back story, so much that it would be impossible to cover it into one movie. I hope they commit to the entire series. For those die hard fans of the books, like myself, though there are many details missing, it's a dream come true to finally see such a fantastic story come to life on screen.

I only gave it 4 stars as I think the audience would have been ok with it being longer to have more of an explanation and understanding of the characters of The Dark Tower series. Also my one main gripe, if this a continuation it would have been nice to have seen the first introduction of Roland in the desert pick up The Horn of Eld, which again SPOILER, where Roland starts the story over but makes one slight change right off the bat...He picks up and keeps The Horn of Eld. I will most likely see this again as I was so dedicated to this book series for several, several years. Roland you have been missed.