The Dark Tower Review

     "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed" is a something all Stephen King fans know as the opening line of The Dark Tower series. King himself has described the series as his magnum opus and a live adaptation whether that be through the big screen or the silver screen of television has been sought after for years. After a through obstacles, Sony has finally brought the series to the big screen. I myself have never read the series so I went into the film without prior knowledge of the source material. Although the movie had potential to go into a really neat direction, it completely mishandles the stories and gives the audiences very one dimesional characters.

     When Walter O'Dim (Matthew McConaughey), the man in black, is determined to destroy the dark tower that holds the universe together, it's up the last gunslinger Roland (Idris Elba) and mid-world newcomer Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) to defeat him.
     King was heavily inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien when The Dark Tower series was released and you can tell there elements of that in this movie. Elba and McConaughey both do an adequate job with the script that is giving them and they set up the conflict between the two characters well. Elba also has a good dynamic with Taylor throughout the film.
     There are some really cool gunplay sequences in the movie with Elba. The backstory of the gunslingers had me very intrigued and they could've definitely dove more into it. The script is ultimately where this movie falls apart.

     The script is ultimately where this movie falls apart. This movie is very formulaic but does not set up the mythology of the world at all. It's understandable that this series has a rich mythology but the script does not even crack into it. The plot is incredibly muddled and confusing. There are rumors of a potential TV show going forward with this cast and I am actually all for it because this content would probably play better on a 10 episode arc. This movie attempts to cram a lot within 95 minutes and it will leave audiences questioning a lot of aspects of the film.
     There's really not too much to say about this movie because it's certainly not the worst movie of the summer. The story tends to take a halt in multiple sections which hinders it greatly. This is definitely one you can wait on.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10