Book to film adaptations have always been divisive but when you take a seven-book series and condense it into a 90-minute film, you’re setting yourself up for criticism; a tower of criticism.
But, I’m jumping ahead here. Let’s roll it back and look at the story.
The Dark Tower’s protagonist, Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor), was once a happy child but, he’s grown into a sullen teenager struggling to deal with people and life. The cause of his distress seems tied to the intense, realistic nightmares he suffers on an almost nightly basis. He keeps note of these nightmares by drawing everything he sees – an otherworldly planet, children being sacrificed, a dark tower under siege. However, a particularly intense dream about a gunslinger named Roland (Idris Elba) fighting a man wearing a false face leaves Jake pondering whether his dreams belie the reality of a faraway world. Jake’s mother believes there is a connection between these dreams and the unfortunate death of Jake’s father in a fire. She wants him to work through his issues so, Jake spends his days at school and his evenings visiting psychiatrists.
Jake tries to work out the mystery by looking for a house he saw in his dream but is thwarted by his mother and stepfather’s decision to send him to a new psychiatric centre. He is almost convinced to go until he meets the doctor and the driver who arrive to pick him up. They have the same tell-tale scars of the man with the false face. With absolute nobody to believe him, Jake must fend for himself. He finds the house from his dream which leads him to Roland. But, to Jake’s dismay, Roland is no longer the great gunslinger he used to be. Broken by loss and bent on revenge, Roland is a difficult ally. But, if Jake’s dreams are to be believed, the universe is in great danger. Can a former gunslinger and a teenager take down the enemy and save the universe?
The Dark Tower is based on the book series of the same name by master horror writer Stephen King. As such, there are easter eggs littered throughout the film harking back to King’s other famous novels and stories. The film also includes references to books that are directly connected to the Dark Tower series. Eagle-eyed King fans will have a blast with this one.
Our hero, Roland, is played by hot favourite Idris Elba, and he executes his role well. He isn’t given much to do bar being broody and vengeful, but he does get a couple of lighter moments which make for a fun watch. Elba also manages to get through the few action scenes he is given with poise and skill. It’s good to see him get a role that has him do more than just guard a door. Matthew McConaughey plays the role of the mysterious Man in Black. His job is mainly to look sinister and McConaughey does it quite well but his strong southern accent can’t help but peek through, and it took me out of the film every time I caught it.
I can still forgive the accent, but not McConaughey’s ‘fighting’ skills. The boss fight in this film was a complete let-down because McConaughey looked so uncomfortable throughout. Playing a being with powers can’t be easy but McConaughey seemed completely out of his depth. It’s a shame because Elba does a great job at the other end. The biggest disappointment in the acting department was Tom Taylor. There have been astounding child actors through the years but Taylor will not be joining their ranks, not with his performance in this film. He lacked any chemistry with his co-stars, emoted feebly and clearly struggled with being burdened with the majority of the screen time.
The only point when I felt that Taylor had come into his own was near the end, when he suffers a tragedy and lifts himself into Roland’s arms. It was the most natural moment in the entire film. I wish they had capitalised on it. I have not yet read the Dark Tower series, despite being a Stephen King fan. I just haven’t got around to it but I thought that having not read the books would give me an advantage while watching the film. I had no preconceived notions and was going into the film with fresh eyes. I was wrong.
The Dark Tower is, in a word, boring. How a film that manages to be of ideal viewing length and have abundant source material to fill out the plot still ends up being boring baffles me. It is also an egregious sin for a film to commit in the 21st century.
When I think about it, though, there is an easy explanation – the writers didn’t put enough story in it. As I said, the book series is seven volumes long. The more there is, the harder it is to edit down. For film scripts, the rule of thumb is that one page is equal to a minute. Seven books equals to a TV series, not a film. There were four screenplay writers for this film, including writer-director Nikolaj Arcel, best known for his excellent adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the Swedish version). How they collectively decided to simplify the seven books into this garden-variety adventure film is beyond me.
Which brings me to the other great crime that The Dark Tower commits – being incredibly generic. There’s absolutely nothing about this film that sets it apart from other films featuring fantastic worlds, superpowered children and their wizened, jaded mentors. The visuals are typically monochrome, locations are mostly sparse and, with backstories so severely limited, one struggles to care for the characters. Stephen King hasn’t had much luck with adaptations of his books and it’s sad to see yet another of his creations being butchered this way for the big screen.
While watching the film, I couldn’t help but think that a rich tapestry was left out in making the story accessible; almost as if the filmmakers were so worried about losing their audience that they lost the plot instead (literally). It felt like sitting down for a meal only to get a single dollop of paste in its place.
It’s disappointing to see a film pare down its source material so much that it ends up with barely a story. But, I hear that there is a Dark Tower television series in the offing, which fills me with hope. Perhaps it can erase the memory of this bland and uninspired offering.
