The Cambridge Geek

The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower

POSSIBLY SPOILERS

Confession time first. I've only actually read "The Gunslinger", so I suspect there is a lot of this film that I missed. Which is sort of the problem with the entire film. The Dark Tower in this form is both a sequel to the main book series, but because of the nature of the series, it is also a distillation/re-telling of the series proper. It's trying to appeal to two distinct sets of people, both newcomers to the franchise and the fans who've got through the entire work, and it struggles a bit because of that.

As a standalone film, it's really not bad. The action is fast and smooth, and the plot hangs together rather well. I do wish that it had been allowed a bit more room to breathe, as at 95 minutes, everything feels a little rushed. I would have loved to have seen more of the darkness beyond the universe, rather than the couple of bits of horror film sort of mashed into the main plot. The major events of the film did tend to seem a little shallow, with relatively little justification for what's going on. I still don't quite know why Walter was trying to do what he was trying to do.

Speaking of Walter though, Matthew McConaughey was fantastic as the dread villain. He was obviously having a lot of fun with it, and was possibly the best thing in the film. Second best would have to be Idris Elba. (Though I'm sure you can swing back and forth on that one based on personal preference.) Honestly, the cast in general was great. They can all act, and I wish they'd been given more plot to work with. You can see bits of an astounding film in here. Just more time might have solved it. Part of me suspects that given the troubled history of it, they just wanted the bloody thing out of the door.

It has however re-ignited my interest in the Dark Tower series, so I'll have to go dig out book two and have another run at it.

If you like the series, you probably should go watch it. Otherwise, it's definitely one for fans of people who live in each others' skins.

Recommended.

Tagged: Film Fantasy Adaptation Fiction Cinema