BillyJoynt17 CabellVildibill17 GerardoDavila17 JonathanJimenez17 Reviews17 The Dark Tower - Review August 04, 2017 Read Mind on Movies review of THE DARK TOWER, in theaters August 4. Have you forgotten the face of your father?" R: August 4th, 2017 | R: 93 minutes | R: PG-13 Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, at first, you might be like, 'sign me up' but maybe you need to take a second look at the trailer before you do so. The movie has too much hype, and for this reason it is raising everyones standards. This isn't a good thing. With high exceptions comes high responsibilities with the film makers. Ok, so this movie isn't all bad. It has some interesting aspects that help the movie carry itself into your imagination. The movie wants you to fill in some blanks, this way you can create your own thoughts on the movie. This became the interesting idea, because maybe you thought something different than the person who you came with thought. Continue Reading... Matthew McConaughey as a bad guy... I'm not sure they hit the mark with that. I'm not saying he was bad, I just think we are all use to Matthew McConaughey being the good guy, the guy who is happy and in luck with life. This movie was a different role for him, and I'm thinking they could have gotten someone better for the role. Plus, Matthew McConaughey gets way too close in the faces of everyone in the movie. I'm thinking they should have had him back up maybe two, three, or ten feet. I think if you're looking for a popcorn flick with your friends, this might be a movie you want to see, but you could always wait until it's on bluray and just watch it at home. Rating: 3 out of 5 Billy (Editor) - Billy has seen many movies over the years. He enjoys comedies and anything action, including the summer blockbuster movies. You can follow Billy on Twitter here.Click Here to check out Billy's Articles. A dark, epic fantasy film with source material from Stephen King has absolutely no business being this bland. I have personally never read the series of books in which director Nikolaj Arcel based his film on; but I refuse to believe that King's "magnum opus," as he himself describes it, is as unimaginative as co-writer Akiva Goldsman's screenplay lets on. THE DARK TOWER is a frustrating and disappointing film with two great leads and a muddled plot. If there is something redeemable about this film, that would be the casting choice of Idris Elba, who excels at the lead role of Roland 'The Gunslinger' Deschain, a peacekeeper tasked with defending the titular tower from Walter. Elba brings badass coolness, especially during the action scenes, and some funny moments to the film, but he lacks proper backstory as to why he protects the tower or why he is the only one able to resist the darkness. Matthew McConaughey plays Walter, also known as The Man in Black, a dark force whose reasons to exist are to attack the tower and spread evilness through over-the-top commands like "stop breathing," but the film never really explains the motives for his actions other than inexplicably pointing him to be the bad guy, or why he tries to attack the Dark Tower the way he does, which is revealed early in the film. Continue Reading... It pains me to write a negative review of such a long-awaited film, which most of us thought had the potential to launch a franchise rich in world-building and storytelling. However, confusing storylines, dull and cardboard characters, and a structural clutter with a rushed ending sink this into a tasteless mess with barely any interesting concepts whatsoever. While not entirely boring due to Elba, THE DARK TOWER is an annoyingly short and underwhelmingly forgettable experience. Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Gerardo (Contributor) is a film student living in Philadelphia. He usually prefers independent and classic films, but he will watch anything in theaters. Click Here to check out Gerardo's Articles. Stephen King adaptations are largely hit or miss. A vast majority of these adaptations have failed to captivate audiences, but those that do succeed have become cultural classics that are considered hallmarks of the movie industry such as Carrie, The Shining, and The Shawshank Redemption. The first of two major King inspired movies this year, does The Dark Tower fade into obscurity like most live action versions of his novels or does it have the staying power to inspire for generations? At the center of the universe lies a mythical tower that protects all worlds from being consumed by darkness. Yet the safety provided by the tower is under attack as a warlock sets out to destroy it. A young boy facing premonitions of this battle finds himself in much deeper than he expected when he attempts to find a man from his visions – a “gunslinger”. Together, they must work together to save all life as we know it. The world envisioned by Stephen King is truly captivating and imaginative. The Dark Tower presents a compelling fantasy environment that both feels new and mysterious. This world, however, takes a backseat to a rather lackluster young adult plot. The Dark Tower suffers by following the formula and popularity from recent young adult franchises such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. Almost exclusively focusing on the struggles of an adolescent boy, The Dark Tower is a major departure from the source material and the marketing of the film. Continue Reading... Rather than focusing on many of the interesting aspects and fully exploring the fantasy environment, almost half of the film takes place in New York following the set-up of a teenage boy as he tries to prove to everyone in his life that he isn’t crazy. Although it served as an introduction to the world to the audience, the beginning exposition was extremely long for such a short film and occupied far too much real estate for a movie with a rich setting. Additionally, most of the movie concentrated on a boy with little to no interesting characteristics other than being ever-so- slightly psychic. Rather than utilizing its immense talent in Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey and in the deep and mysterious powers that their characters had, we instead got an extremely grounded and boring story about a slightly special boy. Most of the film begged the question of why even bother keeping the kid around as he ended up causing more trouble than he was worth. Unfortunately, the answer to that question is based in the movie’s goals. The Dark Tower does not seek to present a compelling story, but instead to set up several sequels for this young adult film franchise. The plot was flat with no real stakes or intrigue. The entire plot is revealed to us in the first few minutes of the film and at no point did it seem like the heroes were in any peril. The few attempts at garnering emotion in the audience either lacked the set up necessary to strike an sentimental chord or were poorly written and uninteresting. If anything, the plot felt like it had the same motivations as its audience: to just make it to the end of the film. Upon leaving New York, most of the film felt rushed and too intent on wrapping itself up in a way to set itself up for more sequels. The Dark Tower ultimately suffers from being forced into a genre it does not belong in. It is easy to see the potential in the film, and despite being at least mildly entertaining and watchable, it feels so wrong because it should have been so much better. The film does not do the “magnum opus” for Stephen King justice. Instead of the compelling fantasy series we craved, we instead were given yet another mediocre young adult franchise that was several years behind the times. Rating: 2 out of 5 Johnny (Senior Contributor) was born and raised in San Diego. He's been a fan of films the majority of his life. He enjoys the feeling it invokes and the power it has to take you to another place. Click Here to check out Johnny's Articles. The Dark Tower is the story of Jake Chambers (played by Tom Taylor), a young boy who has terrifyingly realistic dreams of a Dark Tower, a Man in Black (played by Matthew McConaughey) and the last Gunslinger (played by Idris Elba). But the problem is everyone thinks he is crazy, that is until the Man in Black attempts to kidnap young Jake. This causes Jake to enter the universe of The Dark Tower, and with assistance from the last Gunslinger, they attempt to stop the Man in Black from destroying the only thing holding the universes together; The Dark Tower. This Stephen King adaptation is directed by Nikolaj Arcel (who directed A Royal Affair and Island of Lost Souls) and I know this is definitely against what most critics would say, but I really enjoyed The Dark Tower. It had a very fun and emursive world, with a Steven Spielberg/J.J. Abrams style vibe. This film was shot very well and had some very kick-butt action sequences. At times this action packed, ninety five minute thrill ride did get over the top, but it worked for what it was going for. I did feel that it was a little overly condensed into such a short runtime and it could have used more screen time to build the universe, and explain the plot more clearly. Continue Reading... Now the plot of this film was very intriguing and fast paced. But while this was a fun storyline, it suffered in containing a large amount of plot holes and forced relationships. Disappointingly the plot holes really affected the structure of the film and stood out. It left audiences in question as to why certain things happened, or why new topics were brought up, but then never developed upon. The script did have some good humor, but at points seemed sloppy and rough. Although the acting by Tom Taylor did redeem some of the flaws. Also Idris Elba did a great job playing the last Gunslinger. On the other hand I did find Matthew McConaughey’s performance as the Man in Black to be very flavorless. I am not sure if he was sticking to the source material or if he just did not put effort into his role. Either way it resulted in a very bland performance. Over all, for what The Dark Tower was it succeeded. I know this is against most critics opinions due to the large amount of plot holes and story flaws. But I really had fun with this film, and it had a very interesting and new universe that I believe science fiction fans will love. I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a fun sci-fi film and will not take it too seriously. Rating: 3 out of 5 Cabell (Contributor) is a filmmaker from Tampa, Florida. He will watch just about any film but when he's not reviewing the latest hits he spends time directing films of his own. Click Here to check out Cabell's Articles.
