The Dark Tower

A tower at the centre of the universe protects various worlds from evil. In our world, aka Keystone Earth, a boy named Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) dreams about the tower and of a dark, cruel place where a Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) rules over people with fake skin and unwitting children. He is opposed by Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), the last gunslinger, who Jake seeks out when his world comes under threat.

If ever the term ‘development hell’ applied to a movie, The Dark Tower would be the epitome. Having gone through various delays and handed down from studio to studio and director to director (including J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard, the latter of whom stayed on as producer), it finally settled down with Sony Pictures and director Nikolaj Arcel (whose biggest credit to date is A Royal Affair, which while excellent, is a totally unrelated project to land a gig like The Dark Tower).

The movie additionally has a strange source material in that it is based on various episodes from Stephen King’s novel series of the same name, but also serves as a sequel to said series. That being said, the film itself is easy enough to follow, though it leaves certain questions about the universe unanswered. At 90 minutes in running length, there’s only so much one can cover.

The Dark Tower begins promisingly enough as we learn about Jake’s home and school troubles. Set-up wise, it feels like we’re getting into epic teen fantasy epic territory (think Percy Jackson or The Maze Runner), and yet the source material comes from an author who a lot of young people know little to nothing about. Moreover, while newcomer Tom Taylor is good and has that ‘average-kid-thrown-into-an-adventure-only-to-discover-he’s-far-from-ordinary’ cliché down, his character does become more irritating as the film progresses. Then again, this could also be down to the shoddy writing.

Next there’s the casting: Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, both great actors, and in fairness to them, both giving this film absolute socks. While Elba effortlessly pulls off the coolness of the lead and elevates him to an iconic status, McConaughey appears to have been given free rein in portraying his villain, playing it straight and hoping the dialogue and costume emit a natural sense of evilness (they don’t). The director seems to be unsure of what he wanted from his antagonist, leaving McConaughey freewheeling and freefalling.

What’s most disappointing about The Dark Tower is the story and action do absolutely nothing to excite the audience. There’s a large chunk in the film in which nothing happens (which you really can’t afford when your film is only an hour and a half long as it is) and the finale is a total let down. The showdown at the end of the movie, which everything has been building up to, feels like The Matrix only minus the creativity and on a smaller budget. Stephen King fans will feel unrequited and while the story seems to be geared towards teens, none of the marketing has been.