The screen versions of Stephen King's books go one by one in the form of series and films. I know about the bad reviews that flooded the Internet, and it's time to watch The Dark Tower myself and make my own opinion.
While watching, I tried not to think about the book, but to perceive the movie as a separate product. In fact, the movie has nothing to do with the book, except for names, a couple of quotes devoid of context, and a boy who sees a Gunslinger in his dreams.
The narrative is conducted on behalf of a boy who has problems at school, with his mother and stepfather. He draws a Gunslinger and a Man in Black all day, and at night sees The Dark Tower in his dreams. In his spare time, he tells others about his dreams and parents understand that he requires psychiatric attention. But he manages to escape.
Stephen King has been writing The Dark Tower for 30 years. It consists of 8 books. And all this the director tried to fit in an hour and a half of the film. So it looks like a music clip. Secondly, the film is very similar to Divergent. It's a teenage drama and maybe the film will appeal to young audiences. Thirdly, the film is a prequel to the series, which will be released in the future. And maybe that's why the film looks like a long trailer.
Well, let's just back up.
The second actor is Matthew McConaughey. He is starring as a Man in Black. He's great for this role, but he's not scary at all. He looks like a standard antagonist from the comics of Marvel, but not a single character from the books of Stephen King. I remember how my nerves were strained every time a Man in Black was mentioned in the book. Here I was yawning at every appearance of McConaughey. But at the same time I was happy with every appearance of a Man in Black. In the few minutes that he was shown, McConaughey amazes with acting talent. He managed to show the absence of humaneness and the existence of the goal to which he was moving.
Idris Elba is a very charismatic actor. However, he is not suitable for this role of a Gunslinger. Elba is very good-natured. He talks about wanting revenge throughout the film, but I do not see revenge in his eyes. I do not see the obsession that drives him. All his desires are heard only in words. He is too positive.
Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba have too little screen time to reveal their characters. We always see a boy with a half-open mouth.
The words "the face of his father" sounded very foolish throughout the film.
They tried to show too much in the film. As a result, the viewer did not receive a decent script, no great picture, no logic, no high-quality characters. And for people who have not read the book, there will be too many questions. What kind of tower, why they want to destroy it, what kind of world it is, what past does a Gunslinger and the a Man in Black have?
After the end of the film, I want to immediately forget what I saw and open the book to read a great story.
IMDb 6 // Rotten Tomatoes 18% // Metacritic 34
