Jackie Earle Haley gives what he has to a throw-away role, as does Claudia Kim. Idris Elba is great as always, Matt McConaughey is silky-smooth, Katheryn Winnick (aka Lagertha of Vikings fame) is nearly perfect, and Lucas Hamilton does a great job of balancing Jake’s psychological “troubles” with a sense of awe and understanding of his destiny. As a final (and positive) note, the cast is fantastic. Walter is evil, but so completely and casually so that we can’t be frightened (and who doesn’t want to destroy a cinematic universe these days? The action is fantastic, but how many other times have we seen someone in a leather duster shoot up a room full of bad guys? The film resolves, but there are a ton of contrived plot devices which cause the movie to skip anything interesting or character-defining (and let’s not forget that one of Steven King’s greatest skills is character development over long periods). The vistas are magnificent, but give way to village scenes that look straight out of Costner’s Postman. As for the rest of the film, I’d call it “adequate.” Jake’s earlier scenes are great, but wasted as the troubled-but-visionary character trope gives way to a straight-forward fantasy quest. I don’t blame the filmmakers here, but I do blame the preview editors. The best example is when Roland blind-shoots Jake’s would-be captor: the scene is filmed to perfection, but we aren’t on the edge of our seats because it is effectively a re-run. This is a bad thing – what little chance the movie has for awe, wonder, and suspense is blown since we already know what will happen at crucial moments. We’ve seen Roland’s otherworldly (literally) skills, and we’ve seen most of Walter’s magic tricks on Youtube, Apple Trailers, etc. Leaving aside the feeling that the best stuff happened before the film starts, the second thing to understand is that any sense of awe and wonder is undercut by the previews. The rest of the world may be left scratching its collective head. True fans looking for a continuation of the story might be rewarded. Instead, it is a continuation of the story from the point at which Roland walks out of the Tower in Book 7. True fans looking for a The first thing to understand about the film is that it is not an adaption of The Dark Tower in its entirety, or any of the component books in part. The first thing to understand about the film is that it is not an adaption of The Dark Tower in its entirety, or any of the component books in part. I’m super bummed about the bad reviews and the low box office, because now I fear this project will be abandoned… I certainly hope not. Unfortunately, and through no fault of their own, the viewers just had no idea what to expect going in, and were turned off by a simple quick storyline, huge themes and mysteries being mentioned and then never addressed again, and feeling like they were JUST getting to know the characters just as the thing ended. If a person knows all that going in, there is a much better chance that they could just relax and enjoy the show. It should have been made clear that the characters, themes, and mysteries that were introduced in this movie were not going to be addressed in depth in this film, but instead, will be fleshed out through upcoming TV series and movie sequels. It should have been made clear that this was an introduction to this universe, and not the beginning, middle and end of it. It should have been made crystal clear that this was not an attempt to tell the stories from the novels, but rather, an attempt to tell a simple story that will introduce key characters, themes, and mysteries that exist in the Dark Tower universe. I think SONY did a very awful job of properly promoting this project, and properly setting the audience’s expectations. We barely see the Dark Tower, and no action whatever takes place there. Calling the movie “The Dark Tower” sets up the expectation that the movie will be about the Dark Tower, but its not. And it does a good job of telling that story. I feel like I’m not allowed to say that unless I explain myself, so here goes: I think this movie should have been called “The Gunslinger” because it was about a gunslinger rescuing a boy from a bad guy.
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