Directed by:
Nikolaj ArcelCinematography:
Rasmus VidebækComposer:
Tom HolkenborgCast:
Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Katheryn Winnick, Claudia Kim, Jackie Earle Haley, Abbey Lee, Dennis Haysbert, Nicholas Hamilton, Fran Kranz (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
There are other worlds than these. The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O'Dim, also known as the Man in Black, 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 ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black. (Sony Pictures)
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Reviews (13)
I haven't read the book, but I believe that it is definitely more interesting. The film feels very rushed in places and what can we say, cramming seven books into ninety minutes is impossible, a longer running time would have been better. I have no complaints about the acting, Idris Elba is a proper hero and Matthew McConaughey as the bad guy is excellent – it's a wonder that A-list actors are in such a B-movie. The action is decent, nicely shot, only the scene with the demons was too dark. There’s almost no atmosphere, so I wouldn't describe the film as horror even though it is labelled as such here, but for one viewing I think it's decent, inoffensive fun. 65%
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If Stephen King fans go to see the film expecting an adaptation of his favorite book series, they will be exposed to an outright hellish experience. The Dark Tower, however, is not an adaptation, but rather an alternative variation on the first part of King's opus, which its creators also try to pass off as a kind of canonical continuation of these books (and yeah, it makes sense, but it's just something substantially different than most people were hoping for). The film evokes the feeling that this is an incoherent concoction of the motifs adopted from the books, entwined in a hasty and extremely condensed shapeless form, which seems terribly abbreviated and incomprehensible, and which most of all resembles various recent adaptations of fantasy novels for teenagers from The Giver to The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. Although The Dark Tower is not worse than these films, given the quality, meaning and scope of King's masterpiece, this devaluation is truly terrible.
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It wasn’t as terrible as all the negative, almost hysterical responses had made me fear. Overall, it’s rather ordinary, unambitious and unremarkable. The casting is good, even the main boy, who didn’t annoy me, which in this kind of role it’s always a success. The special effects are pretty lame, most of the scenes are covered in darkness (for instance, the fight with the demon in the woods, that one was so dark that I thought the projector had broken down), and the entire film feels terribly rushed, like a fragment of a bigger whole. This is perhaps understandable, given the length of the book it’s based on, but, as a viewer who hasn’t read it, I’d appreciate the adaptation not making it so awfully clear. I don’t see the reason to make much of a fuss, but rather to sigh over the unfulfilled potential.
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Not great, not terrible, rather an average film that only very theoretically could have been better. I didn't expect that The Dark Tower could be filmed better than in an average way. For those unfamiliar with the book (or in this case rather “drafts") will probably be more conciliatory. Connoisseurs may like the introduction with Jake, and then various allusions to Mid-World (talking raccoons in a commercial, Walter's Glass Balls, 19-19...) and to King's other works (The Shining, It, Christine, The Shawshank Redemption, 1408, Salem's Lot...); however, the film won't offer them much more than that. Perhaps just the surprise that, God knows why, the screenwriters changed the function of the Tower or the Rays. Idris Elba is almost uninteresting as Roland and has almost no motivation, the actor playing Jake is also bland, and Matthew McConaughey plays Walter like Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate, but the directing or the script do not help him too much, the spark of atmosphere only shines every now and then, and there no fear emanating from it. The final battle wants to be flashy, but is instead rather awkward. I'm not offended, but if the film hadn't been made, it would not have mattered.
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A fantasy flick akin to Equilibrium and Dark City, which have the stench of B-movies, but benefit from good casting, an
effective fantasy atmosphere and, above all, deal with a really intriguing idea. Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are well-suited to
their roles and the little boy is also good. In other words, The Dark Tower is an okay movie in my opinion.
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