Review of The Dark Tower (2017) by Teddy F — 19 Aug 2017

One of my most anticipated movies of the summer, even after the critical condemnation I was still chomping at the bit to see "The Dark Tower"; I wish I hadn't. To start off with the few positives I could muster up about the movie, Idris Elba was great. Elba fit the role of gunslinger Roland very well and served as both a mentor and badass in this film. When he is in his world, Elba is a no-nonsense killing machine while on Earth he is a fish out of water. There is one scene where he is in a hospital that's quite funny and is one of the few interesting scenes in the entire movie. Tom Taylor plays Jake Chambers, the lead kid in the film, and is alright and gives a quality performance for the most part, especially for his age. Matthew McConaughey is fairly menacing and evil as the 'Man in Black' Walter; his performance was like if Matthew McConaughey played himself except he wears black clothing and kills people. The action sequences towards the end and the final fight scene between Elba and McConaughey were exceptional; the stunt work done for 'The Gunslinger' being the most impressive. Outside of a great performance from Idris Elba, this film was very lackluster.

The Dark Tower series includes eight books and over four thousand pages, and yet the first movie to a potential series based on the books is only ninety minutes long, really? Because of the movies short length, a lot gets crammed into a short time frame and forces us audience members who are being introduced to the Dark Tower series, in particular, to really pay attention to everything going on. This made the movie feel rushed and didn't allow you to immerse yourself into the story or the characters. Coming into this movie I thought Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of 'The Man in Black' could end up being a villain I really liked, one that I would refer to in future reviews as an example of a villain done right; I guess not. Walter is not complex, just killing people with his magic and not cunning or sly or devious, etc. I also never felt sympathetic for Jake, as I'm never really given a reason to. The writing is lazy and there is nothing spectacular about this movie whatsoever to the point where I began to doze off halfway through the movie. Good thing the rest of the Dark Tower movies, assuming they're made, are going to be released on television because outside of the big names, "The Dark Tower" felt like something you'd see on TV.

This movie was a big letdown for me but you might not end up feeling the same way, as there are some people who were able to enjoy the movie as a silly, action-fantasy movie; just don't get your hopes up, the critics are right about this one.