The Dark Tower

"The Dark Tower" did not work. It must be said honestly, directly and at the very beginning. Then you can go to the reservations. For example, recognize that it turned out she could not. To do this, she had to be not a full-length film for an hour and a half, but a thorough series of seasons, at least five, with a budget twice as much as "Game of Thrones" and Clint Eastwoodin the lead role. In addition, not the current strong old man, but the Nameless Man, whom the actor played in "Dollars Trilogy" Sergio Leone in the 1960s. After all, Stephen King wrote to him and Roland Deschain, shooter from his "The Dark Tower".

In other words, the probability of the birth of an adequate film adaptation was initially close to zero, and the authors of this film are to blame for almost nothing. Is that in greed. However, this can be understood. Stephen King is not only one of the best writers of modern America (and remains so for many decades), but also one of the most ekranizirovannymi. Yes, there are relatively few successful films in his prose, as many as unsuccessful ones. However, The Shawshank Redemption, for example, contrived to become the most beloved movie of all time, according to user ratings of popular movie websites. Well, in general, such masters as David Cronenberg, Brian De Palma and Stanley Kubrick could not resist the temptation to film Stephen King. So what to take from the modest Danish Nikolaj Arcel: even if he knew in advance what his "The Dark Tower" would or wouldn’t work, how could he have missed such a chance?

In addition, she gives the impression of the pilot of the unwary series - and if he is ever made, the producers will be able to attain some sins (just what about the final, which has already been placed in a full meter?). The series is rather spectacular, in all respects qualitative, but inconsistent, boring, secondary - and therefore has not received the green light from the producers to continue.

As intriguing strings of yet untapped storylines, many of the film’s scenes work well. They cause a lot of questions, and that's great. What is the Dark Tower, where did it come from? What is inside? Who reigns in it and how governs the universe? Who is Crimson King? What is Radiance? How can baby brain energy destroy buildings? Where did the shooter's come from and their code? Why don't they exist anymore? Well, and so on. Of course, there are no answers in the film. They were not intended. But this is not a majestic irresponsibility, but the usual negligence and schematism of a confused retelling of a giant multi-volume epic, which is not amenable to retelling in principle. Because of this, it is impossible to empathize with the main character - no, not Idris Elba or Matthew McConaughey, but a boy with paranormal abilities Jake, who has fallen from modern New York to a parallel post-apocalyptic world. In general be interested in who these people are on the screen, what they are doing and what will happen next with them.

Here it would be good to retell the difficult background of the project, which they managed to hold in the hands of J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard (he ended up being a producer here) and Nikolaj Arcel, who "didn’t manage", was supposed to kick on duty. However, who would manage? Some books have no need to turn into films, the main advantage of the worlds described there is in their irreproducibility: the imagination of every reader must solve this problem by itself. "The Dark Tower" is one of them. There is too much abstract and metaphysical in it, and for such matters not a simple director is needed, but a genius. However, why would a genius get involved in a production project, even with such a complicated fate?

Just a whisper, you can add something else. Stephen King is undoubtedly a genius in his field - only those who have never read it for some reason can doubt it. However, dearly loved by them magnum opus "The Dark Tower" does not belong and never belonged to the number of its strongest things. Stephen King is ideally given a horror, he is working powerfully with psychological realism, but fantasy is not his element. Therefore, the epic of the modern knight-cowboy, who fights in obscure wastes with the all-powerful Satan or his envoy (he is the Man in Black), defending from him the focus of worlds - the notorious Dark Tower - is shamelessly stretched over thirty years of work and eight weighty volumes. In some places it is too detailed, sometimes, on the contrary, blurred and speculative. In addition, all her worst sides were transferred to the film.

This does not mean that the film has no better sides. All three central actors are amazing, and not just performers are good, but characters created by the authors. By the way, Nikolaj Arcel, who had previously shot a traditional but touching costume melodrama "A Royal Affair" in his native Denmark, is able to do just that - create excellent movie characters. Idris Elba outwardly is a clot of darkness (not in the sense of skin color, but of character and behavior), but his soul is transparent and pure, as befits a shooter: having nothing to do with his character, you instinctively trust him. On the contrary, light-skinned, smiling and not raising the voices of Matthew McConaughey is the most convincing on-screen embodiment of Evil (the case when this word should be written with a capital letter) in a long time. Well, the debutant Tom Taylor did not shame partners. Speaking in the language of the film, "I did not forget the face of my father".

https://youtu.be/GjwfqXTebIY[THE DARK TOWER - Official Trailer (HD)](https://youtu.be/GjwfqXTebIY)

Great casting, unique potential. Maybe someone else will be able to use it sensibly. However, most likely, it will not succeed, and this does not matter. Some towers are not destined to be completed to the end - a simple truth known since the times of ancient Babylon.

The illustrations are used in agreement with the Depositphotos photobank

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The screen versions of Stephen King's books go one by one in the form of series and films. I know about the bad reviews that flooded the Internet, and it's time to watch The Dark Tower myself and make my own opinion.

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While watching, I tried not to think about the book, but to perceive the movie as a separate product. In fact, the movie has nothing to do with the book, except for names, a couple of quotes devoid of context, and a boy who sees a Gunslinger in his dreams.

The narrative is conducted on behalf of a boy who has problems at school, with his mother and stepfather. He draws a Gunslinger and a Man in Black all day, and at night sees The Dark Tower in his dreams. In his spare time, he tells others about his dreams and parents understand that he requires psychiatric attention. But he manages to escape.

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Stephen King has been writing The Dark Tower for 30 years. It consists of 8 books. And all this the director tried to fit in an hour and a half of the film. So it looks like a music clip. Secondly, the film is very similar to Divergent. It's a teenage drama and maybe the film will appeal to young audiences. Thirdly, the film is a prequel to the series, which will be released in the future. And maybe that's why the film looks like a long trailer.

Well, let's just back up.

The second actor is Matthew McConaughey. He is starring as a Man in Black. He's great for this role, but he's not scary at all. He looks like a standard antagonist from the comics of Marvel, but not a single character from the books of Stephen King. I remember how my nerves were strained every time a Man in Black was mentioned in the book. Here I was yawning at every appearance of McConaughey. But at the same time I was happy with every appearance of a Man in Black. In the few minutes that he was shown, McConaughey amazes with acting talent. He managed to show the absence of humaneness and the existence of the goal to which he was moving.

Idris Elba is a very charismatic actor. However, he is not suitable for this role of a Gunslinger. Elba is very good-natured. He talks about wanting revenge throughout the film, but I do not see revenge in his eyes. I do not see the obsession that drives him. All his desires are heard only in words. He is too positive.

Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba have too little screen time to reveal their characters. We always see a boy with a half-open mouth.

The words "the face of his father" sounded very foolish throughout the film.

They tried to show too much in the film. As a result, the viewer did not receive a decent script, no great picture, no logic, no high-quality characters. And for people who have not read the book, there will be too many questions. What kind of tower, why they want to destroy it, what kind of world it is, what past does a Gunslinger and the a Man in Black have?

After the end of the film, I want to immediately forget what I saw and open the book to read a great story.

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RATINGS

IMDb 6 // Rotten Tomatoes 18% // Metacritic 34

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