What went wrong?

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

Feb 4, 2017
14
58
44
After reading the reviews and the rotten tomatoes score of 18%, I decided not to watch the movie. I wanted so hard for this movie to be good and the disappointment is huge. Here is what I would have done different.

The source material for the first book is so good, why go make something different? Sony suffered from a lack of vision and faith in the source material. Why try to remake the wheel?

The first book in the series should have been the easiest to portray on the big screen because of the episodic nature of the "The Gunslinger".

I would have set out to make a six movie series based on books 1-3 and 5-7. I agree that W&G should be made into a TV series. That is one thing that the producers got right.

There is enough material in the first book for a 2 hour movie. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm guessing that a lot of elements of the first book didn't make it to the movie. The incident in Tull and the attack under the mountain by the Slow Mutants were what I was most looking forward to.

Could you imagine how fun it would be to watch the gunslinger murder everybody in a town? This would have established Roland's anti-hero's credentials. The only thing I would have changed from the book is that I would end it with the story of how Roland won his guns. I would have the scene where Roland finally catches up to the Man in Black, and Walter reads Roland's future. I would end the movie in a dream sequence, showing how he first began his quest.

This would set up the second movie with the attack on Roland by the Lobstrosities and his trek along the Clean Sea. The second movie would roughly coincide with "A Drawing of the Three" Susannah Dean would be the star of the second movie. The third movie would include most of what happened in "The Wastelands" This would probably be a little longer than the first two movies, due to the length of the book. I always thought that "The Wastelands" was one of the strongest book in the series and the one that really hooked me.

The Dark Tower had potential of becoming another LOTR or Star Wars, but that dream appears dead. I can only hope that one day someone will either make a television series about the Dark Tower or another studio will take another shot at it (pun intended).

I've often heard at how difficult it would be to portray a story as rich as "The Dark Tower" on the big screen. I disagree because of LOTR and Harry Potter series. Both of those books were big in scale, with a rich well of source material. Both of those series were exceptional. Why should the "Dark Tower" be any different?

I'm not sure if the movie did well enough to warrant a sequel, but if not, I think that the next producer and director who decides to tackle the story, be a fan of the series. They need Stephen King in the studio to ensure that the movie does the book some sort of justice.

So the question remains.....what do you think went wrong with the first portrayal of the one of greatest fantasy series in modern literature? I'm especially interested in the opinions of those who saw the movie.
 
Feb 4, 2017
14
58
44
So you decided to listen to the negative reviews instead of going to see it & form your own opinions, then post a lengthy description of how you would have done it?

LOL
I listen to all reviews and the majority of them were overwhelmingly negative. And from what I've read, the movie is a totally different animal than the book. I refuse to see any film that cannot even garner over 20% at Rotten Tomatoes. RT is fairly accurate when it comes to movie reviews. Spending movie to see a movie as poorly reviewed as the "Dark Tower" is akin to spending money on a prostitute that you know have AIDS.

If they would have made the movie that the book fans deserve, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
I listen to all reviews and the majority of them were overwhelmingly negative. And from what I've read, the movie is a totally different animal than the book. I refuse to see any film that cannot even garner over 20% at Rotten Tomatoes. RT is fairly accurate when it comes to movie reviews. Spending movie to see a movie as poorly reviewed as the "Dark Tower" is akin to spending money on a prostitute that you know have AIDS.

If they would have made the movie that the book fans deserve, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
I'd like to see reviews by people who have NOT read the books and aren't stephen king fans. Of course purists are going to gnash their teeth and clutch their pearls. So they will trash the movie just so they can say, "I told you so" and feel all superior. And who are the people flooding the review market right now. Dark Tower fans.

I totally understand the disappoint some feel that the book wasn't followed word for word. This is a beloved series of books. But this wailing and lamenting doesn't change the fact that the world just got turned on to the Dark Tower and we will have a whole new group of people taking the journey by picking up the source material. That's a great thing!
 
Feb 4, 2017
14
58
44
I'd like to see reviews by people who have NOT read the books and aren't stephen king fans. Of course purists are going to gnash their teeth and clutch their pearls. So they will trash the movie just so they can say, "I told you so" and feel all superior. And who are the people flooding the review market right now. Dark Tower fans.

I totally understand the disappoint some feel that the book wasn't followed word for word. This is a beloved series of books. But this wailing and lamenting doesn't change the fact that the world just got turned on to the Dark Tower and we will have a whole new group of people taking the journey by picking up the source material. That's a great thing!

I've been watching movies for all my life and I typically only consider reviews when they are really good or really bad. The reviews for DT are brutal. During the lead up to the DT movie being released, I was skeptical because of the studio producing the movie. Sony is one of the worst and is known for putting out inferior movies. The first warning bell was the fact that the movie had a lot of re-shoots. I really became worried when they didn't release the reviews until the day before the movie was released. This usually happens when the studio knows that the movie is crap, and they want to minimize the impact of negative reviews.

I"m worried that this movie will do so poorly that it will turn people off of the greatness that is the "Dark Tower". I really, really want this movie to do well because I want to see the television series and sequels to the movie that does the book justice. I don't care if the adaption isn't word for word. I'm a huge GOT fan and the liberties that HBO series took with the source material is legendary.Though the GOT books are vastly superior to the show, I still watch the show because it is well produced and well acted. I"m not one of those book snobs who refuse to see any adaption.

With that said, the reviews are saying that the movie is poorly produced, poorly paced, and suffers from a horrible script. I always thought that the run time was way too short for a fantasy epic. I'm trying to convince myself to go see the movie, and I imagine that my curiosity will eventually outweigh my disappointment.
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
After reading the reviews and the rotten tomatoes score of 18%, I decided not to watch the movie. I wanted so hard for this movie to be good and the disappointment is huge. Here is what I would have done different.

The source material for the first book is so good, why go make something different? Sony suffered from a lack of vision and faith in the source material. Why try to remake the wheel?

The first book in the series should have been the easiest to portray on the big screen because of the episodic nature of the "The Gunslinger".

I would have set out to make a six movie series based on books 1-3 and 5-7. I agree that W&G should be made into a TV series. That is one thing that the producers got right.

There is enough material in the first book for a 2 hour movie. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm guessing that a lot of elements of the first book didn't make it to the movie. The incident in Tull and the attack under the mountain by the Slow Mutants were what I was most looking forward to.

Could you imagine how fun it would be to watch the gunslinger murder everybody in a town? This would have established Roland's anti-hero's credentials. The only thing I would have changed from the book is that I would end it with the story of how Roland won his guns. I would have the scene where Roland finally catches up to the Man in Black, and Walter reads Roland's future. I would end the movie in a dream sequence, showing how he first began his quest.

This would set up the second movie with the attack on Roland by the Lobstrosities and his trek along the Clean Sea. The second movie would roughly coincide with "A Drawing of the Three" Susannah Dean would be the star of the second movie. The third movie would include most of what happened in "The Wastelands" This would probably be a little longer than the first two movies, due to the length of the book. I always thought that "The Wastelands" was one of the strongest book in the series and the one that really hooked me.

The Dark Tower had potential of becoming another LOTR or Star Wars, but that dream appears dead. I can only hope that one day someone will either make a television series about the Dark Tower or another studio will take another shot at it (pun intended).

I've often heard at how difficult it would be to portray a story as rich as "The Dark Tower" on the big screen. I disagree because of LOTR and Harry Potter series. Both of those books were big in scale, with a rich well of source material. Both of those series were exceptional. Why should the "Dark Tower" be any different?

I'm not sure if the movie did well enough to warrant a sequel, but if not, I think that the next producer and director who decides to tackle the story, be a fan of the series. They need Stephen King in the studio to ensure that the movie does the book some sort of justice.

So the question remains.....what do you think went wrong with the first portrayal of the one of greatest fantasy series in modern literature? I'm especially interested in the opinions of those who saw the movie.

Sooooo... you haven't seen it and have no plans to see it... but somehow you know something 'went wrong'?
Cool story, bro.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
I've been watching movies for all my life and I typically only consider reviews when they are really good or really bad. The reviews for DT are brutal. During the lead up to the DT movie being released, I was skeptical because of the studio producing the movie. Sony is one of the worst and is known for putting out inferior movies. The first warning bell was the fact that the movie had a lot of re-shoots. I really became worried when they didn't release the reviews until the day before the movie was released. This usually happens when the studio knows that the movie is crap, and they want to minimize the impact of negative reviews.

I"m worried that this movie will do so poorly that it will turn people off of the greatness that is the "Dark Tower". I really, really want this movie to do well because I want to see the television series and sequels to the movie that does the book justice. I don't care if the adaption isn't word for word. I'm a huge GOT fan and the liberties that HBO series took with the source material is legendary.Though the GOT books are vastly superior to the show, I still watch the show because it is well produced and well acted. I"m not one of those book snobs who refuse to see any adaption.

With that said, the reviews are saying that the movie is poorly produced, poorly paced, and suffers from a horrible script. I always thought that the run time was way too short for a fantasy epic. I'm trying to convince myself to go see the movie, and I imagine that my curiosity will eventually outweigh my disappointment.
I'd like to hear more of your thoughts after you see the movie. You still may feel exactly the same way and I respect that. The people moaning before even seeing the film, or who refuse to see the film and still kvetch are tiresome.
 

recitador

Speed Reader
Sep 3, 2016
1,750
8,264
41
I listen to all reviews and the majority of them were overwhelmingly negative. And from what I've read, the movie is a totally different animal than the book. I refuse to see any film that cannot even garner over 20% at Rotten Tomatoes. RT is fairly accurate when it comes to movie reviews. Spending movie to see a movie as poorly reviewed as the "Dark Tower" is akin to spending money on a prostitute that you know have AIDS.

If they would have made the movie that the book fans deserve, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

as someone who's seen the movie, that score is absolute crap. that puts it on par with the transformers franchise, and it's much better than that. it boils down to being a decent movie that's not a really faithful adaptation, and people are punishing it arbitrarily for that in their reviews. it tells the story in a different way, with a bit of hollywood thrown in, but that by no means makes it terrible.
 
Feb 4, 2017
14
58
44
Sooooo... you haven't seen it and have no plans to see it... but somehow you know something 'went wrong'?
Cool story, bro.
A good movie doesn't get 19% of RT.

And I never said that I had no plans to see it. I'm just not planning on spending any money on any movie that poorly reviewed. I'll catch it on redbox or wait until it hits HBO.

It's not like the movie got a 50% or even a 40% rating. It is currently sitting at 19% on RT, and that is very bad.

I don't need to see this movie to know that it's probably bad. I've read the synopsis and reviews. I can read the writing on the wall.

I'm curious to know your thoughts on the movie, bro.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mal and evrasno1

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
21952a640cc60f01c26343c0f7822d07--the-dark-tower-parallel-universe.jpg
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
A good movie doesn't get 19% of RT.

And I never said that I had no plans to see it. I'm just not planning on spending any money on any movie that poorly reviewed. I'll catch it on redbox or wait until it hits HBO.

It's not like the movie got a 50% or even a 40% rating. It is currently sitting at 19% on RT, and that is very bad.

I don't need to see this movie to know that it's probably bad. I've read the synopsis and reviews. I can read the writing on the wall.

I'm curious to know your thoughts on the movie, bro.
And again I'll say, that 18% is exactly what recitador said above, a punishment rating from all the Dark Tower fans who know how they personally could've done it better.

Wait until regular joes start seeing it. The rating may stay low because the well has been poisoned, but then again, it may go up. But I think it's really childish for people to give it such low ratings because they are butt hurt about the creative differences they perceive as unforgivable sins.

This is what creativity is. Again, many many people left their mark on this story.
 
Last edited:
Feb 4, 2017
14
58
44
And again I'll say, that 18% is exactly what recitador said above, a punishment rating from all the Dark Tower fans who know how they personally could've done it better.

Wait until regular joes start seeing it. The rating may stay low because the well has been poisoned, but then again, it may go up. But I think it's really childish for people to give it such low ratings because they are butt hurt about the creative differences they perceive as unforgivable sins.

This is what creativity is. Again, many many people left their mark on this story.

Great point. I'm going to check out the movie on Friday. I hope that the movie does well enough to warrant the television series and a sequel.
 

Mr. Chips

Well-Known Member
May 16, 2017
81
357
38
MS
I say go see it. It may or not be the worst adaptation you've seen! I've seen it and it isn't the DT movie I wanted, but it's far from awful. And if you're using ROtten tomatoes as your barometer....remember sharknado is rated fresh on that site. Also that site is full of critic slammed but audience acclaimed films. Bottom line it's not the movie we wanted but it's not an atrocious film. Not the best but okay.
 

chief4db

When it doubt, run!
Feb 11, 2015
733
2,676
whatsamatteru. usa
I read the reviews just to see what rotten tomatoes says but I never let that decide in whether I go and see it. There have been movies that got bad reviews that I like and vice versa. I disagree and agree with ya. I disagree that u really can't give an opinion without seeing it for yourself. But I agree with your suggestions bc u have obviously done your research about the movie. Definitely would have been awesome to see Roland killing the whole town and ur other suggestions. I wonder what king thinks. Has he put out his opinion? I personally haven't seen it yet. Plan on this weekend or next. But lee child made a great point when they finally did a reacher film. The book is still on the shelf. The words haven't changed. So basically a movie can't ruin a book. Just have to go with an open mind bc it is so easy to trash a movie when u go into it having a mindset that ur going to defend the book.