Share your thoughts after viewing the movie **DEFINITE SPOILERS**

okay, first off. Has anyone on this forum read the books? If you had you would know that racism plays a huge part in the series with Susannah (aka Odetta walker) and it is one of the challenges that the characters face and overcome. So having Idris Elba playing the character Roland just removes that challenge from the story. I am really hoping that HBO takes the reigns and turns this incredible story into a HBO series and does it justice. I've seen the movie and it was actually okay, it was nothing like the books and I really hope they don't try making a sequel for it.

Second. They don't have Eddie in the movie either, and if they did they probably would not have him as a recovering heroin addict. What the producers of this movie have done is the same thing they did to the 4 book trilogy of Eragon, anyone remember that series? Of course not because cinematics destroyed that work of art as well by turning it into a movie.

Third. Roland should have been white and played by either Josh Brolin or Javier Bardem. You wouldn't cast Jaden Smith to play the part of Harry Potter would you?

Besides all that have been set about the movie I think, for the fans, the most enjoyable aspect of the film was the Easter Eggs.

BIG SPOILERS AHEAD....


For Easter eggs, of the many, I loved three in particular: one was at the very begging, before the title screen, where one of the production companies is called Tet Corporation with a picture of a small Maturin, the other was at the end, when they exit the Dixie Pig, there's a sign at the left side of them walking that read Barlow and *something else* (it was too fast), obviously referencing the grandfather vampire from Salem's Lot .
The third and most awesome Easter Egg is the appearance of The Pusher. Those who saw him could notice that he was actually sticking out like a sour thumb. He was a tall, slender man with a blue suit. He was standing next to Jake when he was waiting for the bus. He stood with Jake all the way to the inside of the bus. It was terrifying, I thought something was definitely going to happen, but alas nothing did.

Coyo-T said:

Rereading others' reactions, I think I also want to emphasize that while I "get" that it's billed as a sequel rather than a true adaptation, I don't find that that changes the film's flaws- it doesn't really add anything to the original story or characters, and while it's fun, it relies too heavily on viewers having read the books rather than fleshing things out for the people who haven't. (And has also been stated, it was called The Dark Tower; of course people are a little miffed that instead of adapting its namesake series it's an original story that essentially just uses the names.)

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Great take.

beelzebubinblue said:

okay, first off. Has anyone on this forum read the books? If you had you would know that racism plays a huge part in the series with Susannah (aka Odetta walker) and it is one of the challenges that the characters face and overcome. So having Idris Elba playing the character Roland just removes that challenge from the story. I am really hoping that HBO takes the reigns and turns this incredible story into a HBO series and does it justice. I've seen the movie and it was actually okay, it was nothing like the books and I really hope they don't try making a sequel for it.

Second. They don't have Eddie in the movie either, and if they did they probably would not have him as a recovering heroin addict. What the producers of this movie have done is the same thing they did to the 4 book trilogy of Eragon, anyone remember that series? Of course not because cinematics destroyed that work of art as well by turning it into a movie.

Third. Roland should have been white and played by either Josh Brolin or Javier Bardem. You wouldn't cast Jaden Smith to play the part of Harry Potter would you?

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...would have addressed your points, but you lost me after asking if anyone had read the books...might help if you looked around at the various Threads before insulting all of us...

GNTLGNT said:

...would have addressed your points, but you lost me after asking if anyone had read the books...might help if you looked around at the various Threads before insulting all of us...

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it seemed like too much of a drag to read through all 6 pages of the thread, I generally went off of the first post in this thread when the Red Queen said that Idris Elba would be great for the role of Roland. I apologize if anyone was offended, but I've been very upset ever since I first saw the first trailer for the Dark Tower movie. I don't think I lost you since you replied back to my post...

I always thought book 1 was the worst of the bunch and it did not pick up until drawing of the 3.So hopefully it can make it there.If not at ;east the IT movie looks like a keeper lol

Once they showed the house on Niebolt street i was hopeful

Dana Jean said:

I do have ONE thing about the movie that just sort of was my own quirky thing -- I couldn't help it. It is such a brief thing, but still... if you want to know what that was, read spoiler, if you don't want to know, don't.

Spoiler

Accident forgiveness.

That's all I'm going to say. When you see the movie, you should understand if you've been on the planet for 2 seconds, live in the United States and watch any sort of TV.

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I guess Morgan Freeman wasn't available.....

Dana Jean said:

When i saw his face and heard his voice, that's all I could think about. Bad Dana Jean, bad!

Oh, also, I stayed until the ending credits finished to make sure there was no last minute scene. At the very end was whistling, Roland I'm assuming, but no scene. So, feel free to leave the theater when credits start to roll unless you want to hear the whistle and comment about it?

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I waited till the end, too. I did catch Robin Furth's name in the credits as 'Dark Tower Consultant' and kept looking for Marsha's name to show up but I never saw hers.

beelzebubinblue said:

okay, first off. Has anyone on this forum read the books? If you had you would know that racism plays a huge part in the series with Susannah (aka Odetta walker) and it is one of the challenges that the characters face and overcome. So having Idris Elba playing the character Roland just removes that challenge from the story. I am really hoping that HBO takes the reigns and turns this incredible story into a HBO series and does it justice. I've seen the movie and it was actually okay, it was nothing like the books and I really hope they don't try making a sequel for it.

Second. They don't have Eddie in the movie either, and if they did they probably would not have him as a recovering heroin addict. What the producers of this movie have done is the same thing they did to the 4 book trilogy of Eragon, anyone remember that series? Of course not because cinematics destroyed that work of art as well by turning it into a movie.

Third. Roland should have been white and played by either Josh Brolin or Javier Bardem. You wouldn't cast Jaden Smith to play the part of Harry Potter would you?

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Good Gan we have all read the books. What were you thinking by asking that?

Dana Jean said:

this is not Roland's story at all. This is Jake's story.

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I read this elsewhere earlier today. That it is Jake's story. Probably the most interesting comment I've read about the movie.

There is to much about the movie that I would not enjoy, so I'm still not interested in going. But if I were on the fence about it....Jake's story instead of Roland's story would win me over.

~~~

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope all that go do enjoy it.

skimom2 said:

D-Box made my daughter queasy, so be aware if you don't handle being shaken around well I won't pay the extra for a vibrating seat--lol

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I found it to be more of a gimmick than anything - it might have been better for the type of movie where you are flying (pilots eye view, for example)

I saw it this afternoon with my lovely wife (she is a King fan, but has not read the DT series). I walked out of the movie with a mixed sense of being entertained, but also conflicted about how I felt about it. I agree with Dana that it is a great concept to view this from Jake's perspective, and Idris does pull off a convincing Roland (despite his phenotypic traits varying from what we know from the books). I enjoyed the Easter eggs, hearing the gunslinger's creed, Roland's shooting prowess, and many more aspects. I also though McConaughey did a pretty good job as Flagg. I went in with an open mind about this being another trip around the wheel, and wasn't utterly disappointed. However, I still wasn't sure how I felt about it. My wife really enjoyed the movie, but she wanted more back story and pointed out how much of the explanation (where there was any) came after the fact. She really was very satisfied and wants to start reading the novels. I think those who read the books have the luxury of understanding the back story while simultaneously being confused about how they are meshing the story together. I left the theater with more questions than anything....wondering what direction future movies will take. I always try to enter a movie based on a novel i love with an open mind, very few actually live up to my expectations. Lonesome dove was one of the only movies that was almost as good as the book for me. I feel like i have just vomited a bunch of statements on this post....forgive me. Bottom line, I thought it was a decent movie with some good casting choices. I will continue to watch any further films and enter those with the same open mind.

GNTLGNT said:

....Looks like it barely made it to the top of Box Office Revenue.....and at 18 million or so, a tepid winner at that in an uninspired Summer movie season....not that any of that crap matters to me, just tossing it up there.....

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Heart officially broken

I truly tried to keep an open mind but they have turned our beloved story into a bad cartoon and a running joke to the critics, although I did see an uptick from 17% to 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. For comparison, Maximum Overdrive has a 17% rating.

I just couldn't convince myself that Idris Elba is Roland. Did he do a great acting job??? Yes. He a great actor. He is just not Roland. If they had presented this as a movie occurring in the DT universe with Elba as some other gunslinger it would have worked much better.

Anyway, I am hurt but moving on with my life and hoping I live long enough to see a proper translation on HBO or Netflix. Maybe by that time Scott Eastwood will have some wrinkles and some acting credentials under his belt.

Now I am focused on a movie that I am excited about....IT! Maybe we will get some nice DT references like the origin of the creature coming from todash space or a reference to the IT creature being related to Dandelo.

See you on the IT message board!