Review of The Dark Tower (2017) by Devon W — 13 Sep 2017

As someone who read - and hugely enjoyed - the Dark Tower series, I had to establish some things for myself prior to seeing the film.

For starters, the film is supposed to be a "sequel" of sorts; a sequel to the novels, but a mosaic sequel and deliberately non-linear. Jake, for example, is older and his situation is vastly different, yet Ka has put them together again.

Additionally, I reminded myself that the Dark Tower is the "lynch pin" of reality. It holds together all worlds and all times, and is the genesis point for new possibilities. Just as Jake says to Roland in the first book "there are other worlds than these.".

Finally, I embraced the notion that all realities are possible, just not probable. In essence, it's just one possible reality that we are witnessing up on the screen, a different shade/flavor/coloration/configuration of the motifs and unfurling complexities of all realities intertwining.

From that perspective, I went into the film with few expectations, but when the dust cleared I found that I had actually enjoyed the film. Idris Elba did a fantastic job, Tom Taylor did well for a young actor, and though Matthew McConaughey struggles to be anyone other than Matthew McConaughey, he convincingly played a dark and vindictive antagonist. The action scenes were pretty good as well. The way the gunplay was arranged was very good. They highlighted Roland's legendary weapons and his legendary skill with said weapons, and dedicated at least some time to showing his tenacity.

That's not to say there weren't drawbacks to the film. Much of it felt rushed. There is clearly a lot that is not explained or introduced in a potentially confusing manner. The script could have benefited from some additional encounters, as well as character and relationship development. Roland has a history that you sense, but is never explored. They set Jake up to become a gunslinger, showed he had the decisiveness and canniness, then only had him shoot two bottles. They introduced the low-men but never elaborated. There was plenty of potential for more of everything; more drama, more horror, more action.

This film has received far more negative attention than positive, but I think it's somewhat a victim of the snowball effect in that regard, as well as the judgement of elitist readers that are predisposed to be disparaging of any attempted adaptation of the Dark Tower mythos. It wasn't a stellar or particularly memorable film, but it most certainly did not deserve the miserable reception it has experienced. Give the film a chance to entertain.