The Dark Tower (2017)

[Predatorix38417]

I actually enjoyed the movie. It wasn't perfect but it had enough entertainment that I felt satisfied with the end result. Elba as Roland the Gunslinger was pretty good, he felt faithful to the book's depiction. I particularly liked it when he

[Show spoiler]arrives in NYC

. He has good chemistry with the kid too. Man in Black felt a bit wonky and McConaughey felt sorta miscast but I liked his scenes with Roland. CGI was hit and miss, but considering the cost of the film it was good enough. Overall I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Trailers (was running late): Kingsman 2, Last Jedi, Flatliners, It

[Lacit170]

so, a huge fan of the books and got to see it last week...

overall, i was happy with it as it was just cool finally seeing some sort of adaptation on the big screen. seeing the dark tower world was just fun to watch...so, taking the movie as is, it was entertaining and i enjoyed it. loved the references to other King works. only spotted a few but hoping i pick up on more during future viewings. notables are the shine (The Shining), Pennywise (It) and 1408. also liked some referenced for the book readers that otherwise people wouldnt know what they are....Roses throughout the movie and the #19 being prevalent throughout as well.

the bad...as mentioned, the whole things is just way too rushed....too short...essentially no backstory on the gunslingers. going more in depth, if this was the start of a movie series, i dont understand what direction they are going. SPOILERS

[Show spoiler]how does the story continue if the Man in Black is dead? i assume it will be a journey straight to the tower to take on the crimson king after realizing the tower is still in danger? with introductions of Susannah and Eddie?

Edris was fantastic...Jake was great... Mcconaughey wasnt bad i guess but more of an issue of being miscast...i wouldnt have picked him...

overall, i had a fun time watching the dark tower universe finally make it to the big screen but it obviously was not the movie fans of the book have been waiting for...it is what it is

[drush9999]

I'm a fan of the first four or five books, before it became too meta. If you like the books, I don't think you're going to like this. Was too brief and missed a lot of what was great in the books. It misses two major characters that make up the Gunslinger's Posse, which was a let down for me. Would have been a lot better if it was more of an epic.
Having said all that, I enjoyed Idris in the part.

[Shingster]

Let's face it, this should never have been a Hollywood film series because the story starts off slow and low-key. When you look at the series as a whole, it's a slow burner, the early books are character driven mystery sci-fi action thrillers, they methodically flesh out the characters and sketch out this huge multiverse. Perfect for a Netflix/HBO TV series where you can start off with a relatively low budget (the first book definitely doesn't need much to adapt) and if it takes off, then ramp up the spectacle in subsequent seasons, but to start off as a big flashy summer popcorn actioner? How the **** do you do that and remain faithful to the source?

The film trundles along but has the same problem as movies like The Great Wall and World of Warcraft where the narrative just keeps moving and moving at the expense of vital characterisation and world-building. By the end you're not bored, you just don't give a shit about anything or anyone in it.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Predatorix38417

I actually enjoyed the movie. It wasn't perfect but it had enough entertainment that I felt satisfied with the end result. Elba as Roland the Gunslinger was pretty good, he felt faithful to the book's depiction. I particularly liked it when he

[Show spoiler]arrives in NYC

. He has good chemistry with the kid too. Man in Black felt a bit wonky and McConaughey felt sorta miscast but I liked his scenes with Roland. CGI was hit and miss, but considering the cost of the film it was good enough. Overall I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Trailers (was running late): Kingsman 2, Last Jedi, Flatliners, It

Originally Posted by Lacit170

so, a huge fan of the books and got to see it last week...

overall, i was happy with it as it was just cool finally seeing some sort of adaptation on the big screen. seeing the dark tower world was just fun to watch...so, taking the movie as is, it was entertaining and i enjoyed it. loved the references to other King works. only spotted a few but hoping i pick up on more during future viewings. notables are the shine (The Shining), Pennywise (It) and 1408. also liked some referenced for the book readers that otherwise people wouldnt know what they are....Roses throughout the movie and the #19 being prevalent throughout as well.

the bad...as mentioned, the whole things is just way too rushed....too short...essentially no backstory on the gunslingers. going more in depth, if this was the start of a movie series, i dont understand what direction they are going. SPOILERS

[Show spoiler]how does the story continue if the Man in Black is dead? i assume it will be a journey straight to the tower to take on the crimson king after realizing the tower is still in danger? with introductions of Susannah and Eddie?

Edris was fantastic...Jake was great... Mcconaughey wasnt bad i guess but more of an issue of being miscast...i wouldnt have picked him...

overall, i had a fun time watching the dark tower universe finally make it to the big screen but it obviously was not the movie fans of the book have been waiting for...it is what it is

Agreed with you both that it was entertaining even though it wasn't perfect. I didn't read the books, but I did enjoy the movie in terms of fantasy/sci-fi action entertainment. Idris Elba kicked some @ss.

[sandman slim]

In the dictionary, under "ffs"...

http://www.darkhorizons.com/the-dark...a-full-reboot/

[235to1]

That's great news if the TV series is a complete reboot.
They need to completely ignore every aspect of the film abomination.

[testmon112]

The Dark Tower " The Creed " ( Tom Holkenborg ) - YouTube

I liked this moment between Jake and Roland, but their wasn't enough of them. The focus should have been on Roland as a mentor.

[ArrestedDevelopment]

Le sigh...

[235to1]

Just watched this. Free Redbox rental with the RETURN text code.

The Dark tower book series may be my favorite series of books. I've read the entire series twice and have read the concordances and graphic novels as well.

What this film is is not any Dark Tower I've ever known. Its Dark tower in name and characters only. It feels like a teen fantasy movie from the late nineties or something.
I did not like making the lead character the boy .
I did not like that Roland has only one two minute scene in the first 26 minutes of this 87 minute movie .

I did not like Elba in the role. Maybe if he was given better material I would have warmed to him. He doesn't do a bad job but he doesn't do anything especial and he never feels like the gunslinger of the books to me.

Actually there really isn't much to like in here. The generic , cheap look of the film (Arcel is a filmmaker I lost any and all respect for after this ), the lame superhero-esque score , and maybe most offensive of all is the lazy script that does justice to not one part of any of the novels.
This could have been an amazing film with the amazingly rich novels they had to work from. They chose to make decisions that were just about the worst decisions that could have been made and I will never understand why.
I was kind and gave this two stars because at least it flows and isn't hard to watch.
Let's hope for a TV adaptation (with a complete new cast and set of filmmakers) that respects the source material.

[Janjira54]

Originally Posted by 235to1

Just watched this. Free Redbox rental with the RETURN text code.

The Dark tower book series may be my favorite series of books. I've read the entire series twice and have read the concordances and graphic novels as well.

What this film is is not any Dark Tower I've ever known. Its Dark tower in name and characters only. It feels like a teen fantasy movie from the late nineties or something.
I did not like making the lead character the boy .
I did not like that Roland has only one two minute scene in the first 26 minutes of this 87 minute movie .

I did not like Elba in the role. Maybe if he was given better material I would have warmed to him. He doesn't do a bad job but he doesn't do anything especial and he never feels like the gunslinger of the books to me.

Actually there really isn't much to like in here. The generic , cheap look of the film (Arcel is a filmmaker I lost any and all respect for after this ), the lame superhero-esque score , and maybe most offensive of all is the lazy script that does justice to not one part of any of the novels.
This could have been an amazing film with the amazingly rich novels they had to work from. They chose to make decisions that were just about the worst decisions that could have been made and I will never understand why.
I was kind and gave this two stars because at least it flows and isn't hard to watch.
Let's hope for a TV adaptation (with a complete new cast and set of filmmakers) that respects the source material.

Arcel wasn't the problem, it was Sony and the execs breathing down his back. He loves The Dark Tower and wanted to do it right, but Sony, the hacks they are, pushed him into a corner and butchered his film.

[casey76]

Originally Posted by sandman slim

In the dictionary, under "ffs"...

http://www.darkhorizons.com/the-dark...a-full-reboot/

A TV series should have been the approach from the beginning. This movie had no chance to do justice to the source material in a 90 minute movie. On its own, it's a passably entertaining movie but it is an awful adaptation of the books.

[Hellraiserfan]

Originally Posted by Janjira54

Arcel wasn't the problem, it was Sony and the execs breathing down his back. He loves The Dark Tower and wanted to do it right, but Sony, the hacks they are, pushed him into a corner and butchered his film.

This. It reeks of Tom Rothman's penny pinching controlling ass. He screwed so many directors and movies over at Fox for a good two decades or so.

If you look at a lot of other Sony films they tend to lack a true cinematic look. Just from the trailer The Dark Tower had more of a TV movie look when it came to the cinematography. I still haven't watched this yet but will get around to it eventually.

[Mr. Chaverria]

I've never read a King book. Just so much that I do read that it's hard to get off course. But he's very tempting to read.

I've seen a lot of movies based off his stuff.

Immediately safe to say that it's got such a Sony sound and look to it. It's an okay film. It almost feels like a Sony film from the 2000s. Just a mess all around in the technical aspect.

It's got a lot of things that I could see could lead to something to good. Movie feels like it was cut or just built up very oddly. Cutting corners or something? Even visually in design, pieces of it don't fit together for me. Weird looking film to me.

Elba and McConaughey are solid actors, so they're trying their best w/ what they got. Roland has potential to be something but it never really feels impactful. McConaughey's character while not maybe the best written one. Has more to chew on for him to do something solid on. Everything and everyone else just isn't written well.

Really weird film that I'll never see again. Funny. I ALMOST thought to buy the BB UHD Steelbook cuz I was hoping it wasn't as dull as it ended up being? Glad that I didn't.

Question: The designs and characters in the film, was the book like that? I ask cuz again it just feels like some those creative designs (among other things) were done to just get it made cheaper or cut a corner. Really weird visual aesthetic that doesn't feel earnest, kind of soulless even. I dunno.

EDIT: Also...McConaughey's hair. Is that a wig?! What the hell am I seeing on his head?

[Joey9775]

As a massive Dark Tower fan...it took me a good couple of weeks to stop being angry after sitting through this.

[Monterey Jack]

Movie's a flaming dumpster fire.