Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel
Written by: Nikolaj Arcel, Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner, Anders Thomas Jensen
Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor
IMDb Link
I hadn't read the Stephen King novel series that this film is based on, but now I want to, because all I got from this movie was hints that their's a better story here than what I was shown.
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
The premise is one of the strongest things about the movie. A kid named Jake has visions of a revolver-toting badass Gunslinger named Roland (Elba) and a stand-in for Satan named Walter (McConaughey). The visions lead Jake to a portal, and we're off to another world. Had the film focused on just this premise and the interactions of Roland and Walter, we might've had a better movie. Unfortunately, the film has a heap of other subplots and ideas for subplots that, while on their own are good ideas, do not get explored and end up having little-to-no effect on the plot and just weigh the film down.
The other strongest parts of this movie are McConaughey and Elba. While there's a conflict between the self-serious tone of the movie and the unfitting dialogue they speak, both of the men's natural charisma allows them to carry each role and make them credible to watch. McConaughey playing a seemingly all-powerful being who casually causes people to stop breathing just by speaking to them, carried by his usual swagger, is just sickeningly joyful to watch. Elba moving with shifts between slow calm and sudden rage is equally appreciable, and the film's best moments are when the two interact. What they said was awkward at times, conveying exposition and using terms that probably seem less silly in the King novels, but the general air of tension, and a perceivable history between the two, left a genuine disappointment that the entire film wasn't about them.
Outside of the premise and the two adult leads, the movie is just poorly-developed ideas, forced character development, questionable acting, and setpieces that show the limits of the film's budget. A distinct moment that stood out to me was when Jake is attacked by a house demon made of the house's materials. It breaks the build up to adventure for a quick monster moment that looks bizarrely fake and pulled me out of the movie, and it's emblematic of the later effects-heavy action sequences which seem like they're trying to look like a blockbuster but have to hide it with dark lighting or it just looks unbelievable. Tom Taylor as Jake isn't bad for a young actor, but standing next to Elba and McConaughey it's hard to ignore that he's out of his league; that said, so is just about everyone else. The story has so many extra ideas that don't go anywhere, and Elba's Roland has to go from vaguely cold to caring without much time spent showing how.
The Verdict: The Dark Tower seems like a lot of wasted potential. While the movie is engrossing whenever it focuses on Elba and McConaughey, it has so many ideas which it does almost nothing with that the most this film succeeds in doing is making me want to read the books.
Rating: 4.5/10
Published August 24th, 2017
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