The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower

Rating: 4.5/5

From IMDB:

The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black, determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.

Review:

I was really nervous about this one because I am a hardcore Stephen King fan and I had read a couple of nasty reviews about it. But you know what? I really enjoyed myself!

I mean, let’s face it, there is no way thousands of pages could be squeezed into 1h35m. The movie is based on the Dark Tower series, it is not supposed to portray it step by step. And I think the two main characters are as fairly portrayed as possible. Sure, Roland is a lot more talkative, there are some scenes clearly just for FX show and/or comedy, Jake learned to control his power much too quickly/easily and the gunslinger creed is a bit abused, but overall this was an exciting movie and I found myself enthralled.

I was particularly blown away by Matthew McConaughey. How the hell did he manage to create a character that is both so evil AND sexy? I have to admit I had some nasty thoughts watching him. My goodness, how can he just arrive into a room and with one look terrify me? I can’t even properly explain it. He’s all business. He owns his power and has this innate arrogance to him. Really, I can’t explain it, just know this is an incredibly built villain.

Gangly Jake was also a pleasant surprise but next to McConaughey and Elba it was difficult for the boy to shine.

I actually enjoyed the whole gunslinger’s purpose vs revenge. I cannot remember if that was present in the books, I read them quite a while ago, but I felt that was a good theme to serve as the film’s motto.

All in all, I am really happy with this adaptation and was thoroughly entertained. I definitely recommend it.