USA 2017 95m Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel. Starring: Katheryn Winnick, Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Jackie Earle Haley, Abbey Lee, Tom Taylor, Nicholas Hamilton, Claudia Kim, Dennis Haysbert, Fran Kranz, José Zúñiga, Victoria Nowak, Michael Barbieri. Music by: Junkie XL.
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.
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Long story short, the Dark Tower, is a tower that protects the worlds from darkness, and the only way the dark tower can fall is using the mind of a kid and strapping them in this chair, and then they vibe off some sort of energy that hits the tower and basically there's the character Roland played by Idris Elba, and he's the last of these lost warriors who protected the tower, then there's Jake (who I'll talk about later) he's from earth and he's got physic powers, basically Jake has these nightmares and dreams of other worlds, and so the villain of the film known as the man in black played by Matthew McConaughey is trying destroy the tower, by abducting kid's from earth who have "special abilities". Also keep in mind everyone thinks Jake is crazy. Fast forward a bit, Jake and Roland meet up, and they travel across a world (Roland's World) trying to kill the man in black and save the tower. I'm sure you can guess the ending.
{Intro}. Honestly I had no expectations whatsoever entering the theater, I hadn't read the books, and was not at all keeping up with the early reviews coming in online, so my mind was cleared and didn't know what to expect after glimpsing parts of the advertisements I thought the movie looks okay, so I went into theaters only to be disappointed to be watching another Hollywood Déja Vu.
1. The film started off with full of surprises and suspense taking the audience to an unknown atmosphere putting them on the edge of their seats for around 15 seconds before the scene cuts to a Kid, (the kid, the gifted outcast, misfit, who has such amazing powers) But yet I didn't give up, I didn't know the whole story so I was let that little (big) cliché slide. Then we got introduced to Idris Elba's character after getting a better picture on Jake (who is the KID) anyways not deep into the film yet, the audience still trying to figure out the whole story on what exactly is happening here, if this is like a modern Lord of the Rings or just straight up The Dark Tower story ripped from the books. Which brings me to part 2.
2. Not having read the books, I do not know if this story is accurate to its Origin, after coming back from the of film I read some reviews to find a mix emotion of The Dark Tower saying it stayed true to the novels, some people loved it and some hated it. Two sides, always two sides. I'm going to be straight up honest, this was one of the most modern clichés I've ever watched it my life, I mean the whole multiple earth and friends who now have turned into enemies who are trying to destroy each other was unbearable to watch it was like reliving some of the worst movie moments in your life. I found Jake to be very close to Harry Potter at some points in the film, people will argue that there was no connection between the two whatsoever but in this split second of the movie I really felt like this Kid was just a big knockoff version of Harry. Then we have the friendship gone to enemies problem, a story which all of us have seen to many times to admit, honestly the only thing that made this The Dark Tower's friendship and enemy scenario bearable to sit through was Idris Elba, I mean for real, that was the only reason I gave this movie such a high rating, It deserves so much lower, but Idris was the only thing keeping this pile of rubble from crumbling down. Which gets us to our third point.
3. I really felt a the beginning that this movie very much potential to grow into a ongoing series like the comic book adaptions, but it failed so terribly. When they introduced the villain I was thinking on leaving the theater, I mean Matthew McConaughey is a great actor no question, but there was nothing unique about his character at all. Absolutely nothing, he was just like taking all the bad parts of what makes a great villain and them putting them into a blender to make the Man in Black (who if you haven't caught already, is the villain of the film) and seriously The Man in Black how much more cheesier can you get. For me it really felt like the director thought the whole audience watching were kids, I would've liked it more if they added a little bit of violence to spice things up.
4. Lastly, the scenario, it hurts me to even talk about it. Destroy a tower that keeps all darkness away from the worlds in this "realm" really Hollywood you couldn't have the thought of a better way to approach that Plot, Oh my bad I forgot you guys just released the emoji movie, so there's no way that could be possible.
Anyways that brings an end to my review, hope you liked it, if you didn't I couldn't care less, I you did then click YES button. And if you are a fan of the books, I'd encourage you to see it and hear your take on how Hollywood tackled this adaption.
Review by Zephrey from the Internet Movie Database.