The Dark Tower Review

The Dark Tower Review

I first picked up The Gunslinger (volume I in Stephen King’s epic fantasy series collectively called The Dark Tower) at the beginning of summer 2014. Since then, I’ve been reading the series on and off, and completed the seventh/final book just a few days ago (though I haven’t yet read The Wind Through the Keyhole, an entry written after King concluded the series, which fits in between volumes four and five). 

A while back, I wrote a top ten list of books I’d like to see adapted to film, and The Dark Tower series was one of them, so I was pretty excited when I heard the long-in-development film was finally getting made, though as the release date kept getting pushed, unusual casting and writing/directing announcements were made, and a lackluster marketing campaign started up mere months before the release, I grew more and more concerned this adaptation would not be worthy of the source material. 

The Dark Tower is not so much a direct adaption of The Gunslinger, of any one of the novels, for that matter, but more of an interpretation of the series as a whole, though it’s been talked about in some promotional materials as being a sequel of sorts to the book series—a concept that intrigued me from the moment I heard it (and what compelled me to finish reading the series prior to its release). The movie sort of is a sequel, but won’t spoil the book series if you haven’t read it. 

As someone who has read the books, my thoughts on this movie will undoubtedly be different than someone who hasn’t, but I’ll avoid spoiling either the movie or the books. 

So, what did I think? 

I liked it. 

This is by no means a definitive adaptation of the source material, but it’s an interesting interpretation, and it works…sort of. Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) is having nightmares/visions of Mid-World—another where and when, different from earth, but also similar, and he sees three main things: a monolithic black tower in the sky, the villainous Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), and The Gunslinger Roland Deschain (Idris Elba). Of course, everyone thinks Jake is crazy, but when malicious creatures come for him, he makes an escape and goes through a portal into Mid-World: the very place he’s been seeing, where he discovers The Gunslinger is hunting down the Man in Black, because he seeks to destroy the Dark Tower, which is the nexus point for all worlds, and if it falls, the evil in the darkness beyond will take over. 

The film’s setup is quite good. One of the many concerns I had was how they expected to pack in seven-plus books-worth of backstory and setup and mythology into a measly 90 minutes, but because this isn’t a direct adaptation, they…don’t. Not everything is incorporated—numerous major characters from the book series are nowhere to be seen. The premise still pulls largely from the first book, with the main characters being Jake, Roland, and Walter (Man in Black’s alias), but it also uses important parts of books three and five (The Wastelands and Wolves of the Calla, respectively) and even incorporates elements from other Stephen King works, like The Mist and The Shining. 

I thought Tom Taylor did a really good job as Jake, especially given it’s his first major film role; it was actually like seeing the character from the books come alive. As for Idris Elba, I was surprised but pleased with his casting upon first announcement, and he was Roland. The chemistry between Roland and Jake was great. Matthew McConaughey as Walter was a fine bit of casting, but he played the character of Walter quite close to the way he’s depicted in the books: an evil, powerful being who is also cocky and playful, which didn’t always work for me. At times he went too far and lost any sense of dread, instead coming off as silly instead of villainous. 

Given the goldmine of source material, this movie definitely could’ve been bigger and better, and channelled the western genre more strongly, but instead it focuses more on the fantasy elements, which was fine, I just wanted more of a western feel, which I felt lacking. But to be fair, for what the movie is, it’s not bad. I got a bit of a late 80’s/early 90’s feel from it at points—perhaps it was the pacing, or cheesy moments, or dialogue (much of which sounds just like lines straight out of the books), but it was also well-adapted to the modern day (the book series never progresses past the year 1999 on earth). 

I get why the studio/creators went the direction they did with the story and didn’t do a more literal adaptation of The Gunslinger, and while I would’ve preferred that, I can’t really fault them for trying it the way they did. There are a lot of big, philosophical ideas at play here, but it also incorporates the action elements too, and while I didn’t care for the majority of the action scenes, a couple of them were quite well done, and didn’t feel like pandering to a wide audience (until the ending—again, no spoilers). I wondered if viewers not familiar with the books would have trouble interpreting some of the concepts in the movie, but for the most part, the meat of the story is well explained, with lots of fun references for book fans to pick up on. 

Speaking of which, there are an absurd number of references to other Stephen King novels/movies scattered throughout. It briefly reminded me of all the unnecessary references in the latest Star Wars movies. However, I enjoyed Dark Tower’s references a lot more, because they were lower key (most, at least) and more creative. 

I know the response to this movie has been mainly negative, and I understand why. Most Stephen King film adaptations have been looked down on in the past, even though a number of them have actually been pretty good, or even great, but people only seem to remember the bad. This is among the most-original films based on his work that I can think of in recent years, but it isn’t without major problems. 

I admire the short runtime and tight editing, but at points it’s so tight it feels jarring in some scene transitions. Without spoiling it, there’s a scene toward the middle that felt a little out of place, almost like it was from a different movie, and then things slow down in the second act, before ramping back up to a pretty good third act, but the ending was not at all satisfying. The music, too, was disappointing, considering it was Tom Holkenberg (A.K.A Junkie XL) who has composed some great scores in recent years—not bad, just nothing amazing. 

The visuals, though surprisingly good throughout, didn’t wow me, but not in the way you may think. The cgi was good, but I didn’t feel like the full scope of Mid-World was captured particularly well, especially considering a decent chunk of the film takes place there. I would’ve liked more time spent with Roland and Jake in the desert and wastelands, instead of with the Man in Black and his disciples in his lair. Though, to be fair, the balance between them as far as screen time felt adequate. There’s lots to unpack with this movie, which I’m glad of, but I also can’t help but feel there were numerous missed opportunities. 

Ultimately, I’d call The Dark Tower a slightly above-average film in the library of Stephen King adaptations, but I think this initial backlash from critics and some fans is a little overly harsh. It won’t go down as a classic, but might earn a cult status one day. 

As for the future of the series, I’m curious to see where (if anywhere) it will go. The tie-in TV series will adapt book four, Wizard and Glass, which is a prequel, telling of Roland’s early life, so we’ll see how that turns out. Perhaps they plan to directly adapt the books only on the small screen, and use the film series to incorporate elements that wouldn’t be as easily achieved with a smaller budget, while telling a modified version of the storyline. 

Whatever happens, I hope the series continues, and improves, but as a first go at bringing the Gunslinger’s story to the big screen, it was a solid effort that I found quite entertaining. Check it out, even if you haven’t read the books.