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

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guernso

New Member
Jan 18, 2018
1
7
68
I just watched this at home last night.
1) If I didn't already know the finer details of the story, I think I would have been lost. There was zero build up to who is who, and what is what. Did everyone catch Charlie the choo choo in the park? I did think that was a nice touch.

2) Walter was right when he was talking to Jake about the story. The Gunslinger was just a peripheral character. The story was about Jake and Walter.

3) I can honestly say that this is one of the worst films (along with Cell) that has SK's name attached to it.
I think that HBO should take this book and run with it. It could be like another Game of Thrones.
 

Tery

Say hello to my fishy buddy
Moderator
Apr 12, 2006
15,304
44,712
Bremerton, Washington, United States
I think that HBO should take this book and run with it. It could be like another Game of Thrones.

It's probably what should have happened in the first place. This tale needs a very long series to do it right.

Absolutely! I can't for the life of me figure out why this wasn't done in the first damn place.
 

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
Absolutely! I can't for the life of me figure out why this wasn't done in the first damn place.

I think, by in large, it is because Hollywood treats the process of making most films like making hot dogs. There is a big slurry machine which is designed to produce a standard dog with a standardized taste which is only aimed at being "passable" for most hot dog consumers. Thus, it doesn't matter how good the source material, the quality of the actors, or whatever... the same mediocre to bad slurry comes out of the machine. :)

So why wasn't The Dark Tower a proper series to begin with? Well the quality and domination of the cable/online series is relatively new and the rights to do The Dark Tower have been owned prior to that innovation. I fully expect The Dark Tower to be done properly in a series, a total reboot (hopefully true to the source) getting started at least within two years. Knock on wood. What it needs (requires in fact) is a team that sees its job as bringing the books to the screen, not re-imagining the books for another medium. The latter has always been an arrogant approach.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
So while going through the Art Of The Dark Tower book there is a picture of a scene they shot with Jake in water up to his hips while making his journey to Lud that is nowhere in the movie or in the deleted scenes. He is giving a thumbs up sign to the director while there are crew members standing around him close by. Anyone know anything about this? Moderator
 

mjs9153

Peripherally known member..
Nov 21, 2014
3,494
22,165
Finally got around to seeing this movie over the weekend, and overall I thought it was pretty good. Idris Elba was fine as the Gunslinger, as was Tom Taylor the kid who played Jake, though he was a little older and bigger than what I envisioned.. Matthew McConaughey was very good as Walter, I thought. One thing I kind of wish they'd Incorporated was the singing Rose at the corner of 46th and second in New York City, I would think that with today's technology they could produce something very cool. Out of curiosity I Googled 46th and 2nd and checked out the street view, it looks like there is a small park or apartment house garden on one of the corners, I wonder if they have roses LOL.. maybe they will feature it in a sequel.. the gun that Elba was using looks like an 1861 Navy Colt 45 single action, or modeled similarly, only problem with that is to fire it you have to pull the hammer back with your thumb or fan it with your hand to fire it.. I was kind of chuckling at the speed that he reloaded with, I started out carrying one of those, a revolver that is, wish I had that kind of speed.. the one I had had nice cherry hand grips, I wish I hadn't sold it that was a nice little gun.. here's a picture of the Navy Colt, and a close version to the one I used to carry,a Smith & Wesson model 19.. about as good of an adaptation as you can get in an hour and a half with that much to try and deal with../SPOILER]
 

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Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
It just premiered here on the movie channel I'm subscribed to. I'm glad I didn't pay extra money for it on blu-ray, or went to see it at the cinema. It wasn't particularly worse than I expected, but unfortunately also not better. It's real flimsy as a film. The central conflict is explained easy enough in the simplest terms (the map Roland draws), so, yes, it's understandable to those with no prior knowledge of it. But any other specifics beside that central idea of the Man in Black wanting to rule over the darkness, are left out: who are these creatures working for him, how did he set up his whole operation etc.

I think the best part was what took place in Mid-World, but this was the smallest part of the movie unfortunately. Even though none of the characters get fleshed out, I thought Claudia Kim as Arra stood out positively. Some locations looked nice, but they had already been shown in the trailer, there was not much new.
The whole film missed a kind of vision or feel, it was all presented in such a matter-of-fact way. I think in the wastes of the amusement park, you see very shortly a glimpse of a Charlie the Choo Choo train, but it's hardly noticeable.

Overall the film just seemed to lack the money to do it properly (60 million is not a lot for a big fantasy film, for example Warcraft had a 100 million more), so you get something that only gets halfway there.
For example, if this was really Jake's film it should have included Oy, since he's so linked to him. But it had to be done as CGI in many scenes, so it was probably too expensive. Roland refers to some raccoons talking on tv, and it only makes the omission of Oy more poignant.

I thought the film became worse when they go through the portal and Roland sees New York for the first time. He is alarmed by seeing a cook with a knife, but surely he can understand that - there were cooks in Mid-World (like Hax). The film almost becomes a comedy here: he was surprised by many things in our world in the books, but here he almost seems dumb. He says 'You have forgotten the face of your father,' to some prostitutes, but he himself lost his virginity to a prostitute. It just doesn't make sense within the character.

On the positive, I liked the soundtrack by Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg, he was a very well known DJ here, I've seen him do a live set) - it managed to still slightly give the film the feeling of something epic. Also nice to see Katheryn Winnick in something contemporary, as I love Vikings.
The film also has quite a tempo and you can accuse it of many things, but it's not boring - it still manages to cram a lot into what's only 85 minutes (there's 5 minutes of end titles). But the thing is that it was inspired by Italian westerns (as still evidenced in the film on the cinema marquee in the final scene) and those are generally slow, with gun fights being stretched out to the maximum, not at all like the fast action you see in the film.

There was potential here. Even while Idris Elba remains an odd choice, the three main actors are good. I think even though they tried to make the most out of what was too limited a budget, it ends up truly mediocre.
 
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Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
That last scene actually makes it feel very much like a pilot of a tv-series, that from now on these two are gonna have many adventures together. So I suppose that was what they meant with saying this was only an introductory film, but if you consider it as a pilot for a cinematic series it just falls short - if you want people to come back you got to show them something more impressive. For example, the first Lord of the Rings film isn't the most impressive and spectacular of the three, but you seen enough to want to come back.
 

Cueball703

New Member
Jun 27, 2018
3
22
65
As a Stephen King fan, I was very disappointed in the movie. I was expecting it to be the original story (starting from the first book in the series). I had already known that I was going to be disappointed in the movie (for that reason), because, when I saw the trailers, I was already saying, "That never happened in the book.".

Now, discounting the fact that I had read the book/s many years ago, and discounting my expectations of this movie to be the same as the book, the movie DID stand up on its own as far as movies go. It might not become a cult classic like "The Shing," but it did hold its own as a decent movie.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
As a Stephen King fan, I was very disappointed in the movie. I was expecting it to be the original story (starting from the first book in the series). I had already known that I was going to be disappointed in the movie (for that reason), because, when I saw the trailers, I was already saying, "That never happened in the book.".

Now, discounting the fact that I had read the book/s many years ago, and discounting my expectations of this movie to be the same as the book, the movie DID stand up on its own as far as movies go. It might not become a cult classic like "The Shing," but it did hold its own as a decent movie.
...Hiya Cueball!....
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
79
Just north of Duma Key
As a Stephen King fan, I was very disappointed in the movie. I was expecting it to be the original story (starting from the first book in the series). I had already known that I was going to be disappointed in the movie (for that reason), because, when I saw the trailers, I was already saying, "That never happened in the book.".

Now, discounting the fact that I had read the book/s many years ago, and discounting my expectations of this movie to be the same as the book, the movie DID stand up on its own as far as movies go. It might not become a cult classic like "The Shing," but it did hold its own as a decent movie.

Hi and welcome. Think of the movie as "another level " of the Tower. The books/ journey will always remain as written and enjoyed by the constant readers.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
As a Stephen King fan, I was very disappointed in the movie. I was expecting it to be the original story (starting from the first book in the series). I had already known that I was going to be disappointed in the movie (for that reason), because, when I saw the trailers, I was already saying, "That never happened in the book.".

Now, discounting the fact that I had read the book/s many years ago, and discounting my expectations of this movie to be the same as the book, the movie DID stand up on its own as far as movies go. It might not become a cult classic like "The Shing," but it did hold its own as a decent movie.

Many people who haven't read it, like it. I suppose I can understand that: it is a fast-paced movie with a decent amount of action. Too bad so much was shown in the trailer.
It's just impossible to totally sever an adaptation from its origin - these characters have the same names after all and are supposed to be the original characters.
Even when separated from the source, I still feel it's very superficial - if only it had taken some time to explore some emotional depth of the characters, but it's in such a hurry to go to the next scene all the time.

I feel it's very average, but there are surely worse fantasy-films. I thought Seventh Son (2014) was a lot worse. I feel, no matter what, Dark Tower at least never becomes laughably bad - it succeeds at the basic level the makers seem to have intended it, a rather shallow (and alternative) introduction to the world and characters from the books.
 

the bookbinder

New Member
Sep 11, 2018
4
9
56
I want to emphasize again that for anyone who is expecting or disappointed that this is a straight adaptation, this isn't it. As has been reported, it is another journey on the wheel, one that takes place after the 7th book. Unless you can watch with an open mind and be receptive to that, you're probably not going to enjoy this.

Those who have read the books will recognize elements that have been included from several books in this journey and there were a few times when I would have an aha moment as I recognized a location or character. Not to mention all of the easter eggs of other books, and it would take me another time or two watching to catch them all.

I'll confess I was one of those who at first was disappointed with the casting as I'd been caught up in that iconic description of the blue eyes but I thought Idris Elba did a good job of capturing the steeliness of Roland. It didn't take long before I was able to embrace him as a different version of Roland on another level of the Tower. I didn't even notice until someone else mentioned afterwards that he never wore a hat as Roland did. He did well portraying Roland's unintended humor when commenting about keystone world so there are several scenes that will make you laugh just like you probably did when reading the books.

Tom Taylor did a terrific job as Jake and I hope they'll continue with him even though he's going through his teenage growth spurt in real life.

I think Matthew McConaughey got Walter's ruthlessness as that comes across front and center. Not having seen a lot of his other films that might have influenced me about his performance, I may not have caught his just being Matthew McConaughey that others have been concerned about.

Some have mentioned being concerned about the length of the film, but I really didn't even notice it as I was caught up in the story. There weren't any parts that seemed to drag for me. Overall, I think the film captures the essence of the story and works as a new journey for Roland.
Thank you for clarifying what the heck was going on. A movie based on what would happen after the 7th book? Disappointed..yes.
 

Edward John

Well-Known Member
Aug 15, 2019
4,004
18,785
23
I want to emphasize again that for anyone who is expecting or disappointed that this is a straight adaptation, this isn't it. As has been reported, it is another journey on the wheel, one that takes place after the 7th book. Unless you can watch with an open mind and be receptive to that, you're probably not going to enjoy this.

Those who have read the books will recognize elements that have been included from several books in this journey and there were a few times when I would have an aha moment as I recognized a location or character. Not to mention all of the easter eggs of other books, and it would take me another time or two watching to catch them all.

I'll confess I was one of those who at first was disappointed with the casting as I'd been caught up in that iconic description of the blue eyes but I thought Idris Elba did a good job of capturing the steeliness of Roland. It didn't take long before I was able to embrace him as a different version of Roland on another level of the Tower. I didn't even notice until someone else mentioned afterwards that he never wore a hat as Roland did. He did well portraying Roland's unintended humor when commenting about keystone world so there are several scenes that will make you laugh just like you probably did when reading the books.

Tom Taylor did a terrific job as Jake and I hope they'll continue with him even though he's going through his teenage growth spurt in real life.

I think Matthew McConaughey got Walter's ruthlessness as that comes across front and center. Not having seen a lot of his other films that might have influenced me about his performance, I may not have caught his just being Matthew McConaughey that others have been concerned about.

Some have mentioned being concerned about the length of the film, but I really didn't even notice it as I was caught up in the story. There weren't any parts that seemed to drag for me. Overall, I think the film captures the essence of the story and works as a new journey for Roland.

Loved it, great film.