Review of The Dark Tower (2017) by Jv T — 03 Sep 2017

Taken for what it is, The Dark Tower is a slightly diverting fantasy thriller that has ambitions of becoming Star Wars crossed with Lord of the Rings. Instead, it's more Last Action Hero and Thor. If that's something that appeals to you then this movie will work for you.

Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are decent in their roles and the action (when it gets going) is exciting to watch. Dark Tower fans will be very disappointed by this adaptation, which seems to be a victim of the movie studio trying to appeal to a mass market, rendering this movie a pale imitation of the Stephen King books.

The Dark Tower book series was a dark and adult fantasy epic before Game of Thrones ever existed. It had surreal and mystical powerful moments throughout its story beyond people's wildest imagination.

None of which make it to the movie. The closest they do is in that poster where they invert the New York skyline to create an image of the Tower (this imagery does not make it into the film). The adaptation could have used more of this kind of creativity.

Instead, it adapts some scenes from the books, stringing them along on a by-the-numbers plot, without truly bringing the books' true essence to life. Here's hoping that five years down the road, HBO develop the books into a television series that adheres a lot closer to what makes the source material brilliant in the first place.