Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

The Dark Tower (2017)

MarkHB

By MarkHB
in Movies

  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

MarkHB

MarkHB

Quote

It's just your typical post-apocalyptic Western with robots, magic, demons, interdimensional travel... and it's based on an 8-book work by Stephen King.*  You know, boilerplate stuff.

Cast:

Idris Elba : Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger

Matthew McConaghey : Walter, the Man in Black

Tom Taylor : Jake Chambers

Abbey Lee : Tirana

Jackie Earle Haley : Richard Sayre

 

Directed by Nikolaj Arcel

Anticipated release date: July 28, 2017.

* - Provisional synopsis

Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author

The first footage is due next Sunday, at EW Popfest, so I'm creating this thread now.

ETA: That footage release didn't happen and the movie has been postponed until July, so I'm locking the thread for now.

Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author

First, the fact that Roland's speed-reloading trick was in the preview was amazingly cool and I can't wait to see it.

Second, one of the articles said that Sony has come right out and stated that the reason they delayed the movie was to control the budget and avoid paying rush fees to the FX rendering houses.  I thought it was something like that, but it's interesting to get confirmation.

Link to comment
Joe

Joe

I'm not into horror, but this looks to be an entertaining action movie. Does anyone know if that's what they're going for? Also, I'm all up for endless amounts of sci-fi and fantasy, are the books like that, or the regular King horror?

The tinkly music stands out at me. I think it's the music box from For a Few Dollars More.

Link to comment
ae2

ae2

5 hours ago, Joe said:

I'm not into horror, but this looks to be an entertaining action movie. Does anyone know if that's what they're going for? Also, I'm all up for endless amounts of sci-fi and fantasy, are the books like that, or the regular King horror?

The tinkly music stands out at me. I think it's the music box from For a Few Dollars More.

It's not typical King horror at all. There are a few moments throughout the book series that could be described that way, but 80% of the story would best be described as a fantasy-western mashup. (And about 15% weird meta-fiction that makes complete sense in context, sort of.)

You nailed the music. Much of Roland's character (Idris Elba) is based on Clint Eastwood westerns, and the influence in the book series is very prevalent.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
jenrising

jenrising

Just watched the trailer and I'm actually pretty happy with how it looks. And that they are referring to this as a "sequel" to the series of books. 

Book spoilers:

Spoiler

If you read the series you know Ka is a wheel and watching Roland go around again will be interesting. Does he make the same mistakes? New ones?

It seems like this direction is a way to pick the best from the books. Also... Idris Elba. I was really questioning McConaughey and the trailer didn't have enough of him to change my mind either way, but it looks like good fun and lots of action, which I'll take. 

Link to comment
theredhead77

theredhead77

6 hours ago, Joe said:

I'm not into horror, but this looks to be an entertaining action movie. Does anyone know if that's what they're going for? Also, I'm all up for endless amounts of sci-fi and fantasy, are the books like that, or the regular King horror?

The tinkly music stands out at me. I think it's the music box from For a Few Dollars More.

 

1 hour ago, ae2 said:

It's not typical King horror at all. There are a few moments throughout the book series that could be described that way, but 80% of the story would best be described as a fantasy-western mashup. (And about 15% weird meta-fiction that makes complete sense in context, sort of.)

I don't do scary / horror. I second @ae2 in this is not typical King horror. There are only a few parts of the entire saga, toward the end that bordered on horror and really creeped me out. Compared to what passes as horror these days, on the violence level this won't shouldn't be torture porn or unnecessary violence for the sake of violence. It's really a western/scifi-fantasy that spans a couple decades of King's writing (pre and post accident) and gets very, very bizarre towards the end.

Link to comment
theredhead77

theredhead77

My buddy pointed out we didn't see Eddie, Susannah or Oy but it looked like there may have been a shot of

Spoiler

Mordred

[shudder]. Upon second viewing it looks like we may have seen a glimpse of Eddie, while they were eating and Jake says "you're going to love earth". There was someone with long hair out of frame.

Link to comment
ae2

ae2

8 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

My buddy pointed out we didn't see Eddie, Susannah or Oy but it looked like there may have been a shot of

  Reveal hidden contents

Mordred

[shudder]. Upon second viewing it looks like we may have seen a glimpse of Eddie, while they were eating and Jake says "you're going to love earth". There was someone with long hair out of frame.

I'm thinking this movie will be all about Jake, Roland, and the man in Black, and they're saving Eddie and Susannah (and maybe Oy?) for the TV show they still want to do if the movie is a success. Maybe bring Jake in, and an occasional visit from Idris Elba.

Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author
10 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

My buddy pointed out we didn't see Eddie, Susannah or Oy but it looked like there may have been a shot of

  Reveal hidden contents

Mordred

[shudder]. Upon second viewing it looks like we may have seen a glimpse of Eddie, while they were eating and Jake says "you're going to love earth". There was someone with long hair out of frame.

I'm pretty sure that was still in Mid-World, so I doubt it was anyone from our side.

 

56 minutes ago, ae2 said:

I'm thinking this movie will be all about Jake, Roland, and the man in Black, and they're saving Eddie and Susannah (and maybe Oy?) for the TV show they still want to do if the movie is a success. Maybe bring Jake in, and an occasional visit from Idris Elba.

My understanding is that the TV show is going to cover the backstory from The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass, with the main narrative poised to continue in a sequel movie.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author

Folks, since this movie apparently doesn't include the protagonists that were introduced after the first book, I've added the "No Book Talk" tag to avoid potential spoilers (so, let's stop talking about characters who aren't going to be in the movie :).  I've also created a new thread in Books specifically for the series, so feel free to use that within the rules for that forum.

And the Tower is closer....

Link to comment
Bruinsfan

Bruinsfan

I just saw the trailer in front of Spider Man: Homecoming, and my thought was "So it's The Last Action Hero with all the funny stuff removed?" Well, that and a hearty "Oh HELL no!" when I saw that the main character is apparently a special moody little boy whose visions actually lead him to a fantasy world.

Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author
On 7/11/2017 at 0:19 PM, Bruinsfan said:

I just saw the trailer in front of Spider Man: Homecoming, and my thought was "So it's The Last Action Hero with all the funny stuff removed?" Well, that and a hearty "Oh HELL no!" when I saw that the main character is apparently a special moody little boy whose visions actually lead him to a fantasy world.

It's Stephen King; suffice to say it's a multiverse (that can very much affect our own world) rather than a "fantasy world", and the boy is a companion rather than the central character (that's Roland).

New feature:

Link to comment
paramitch

paramitch

The initial trailers look absolutely fantastic, and Idris has such incredible grace and charisma. Perfect casting as Roland.

To say that I'm excited for this is the understatement of the year -- I really enjoyed the books (well, until 6 and 7), but honestly, I'm guardedly hoping this movie is actually better and improves upon the book (in that Good Stephen King Adaptation way -- i.e., Green Mile, Shawshank, etc.).

The trailer is genuinely beautiful, and the casting of Jake and the Man in Black are both very strong for me as well. (I have more thoughts but will look forward to a bookwalker thread.)

  • Love 1
Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author

My brother and his wife went to Comic-Con last week, and while they didn't get to any of the big presentations, they did get to eat, and get sloshed, at The Dixie Pig that Sony had set up in the Gaslight!

 

Also, the director did an AMA on Reddit, and many of the key points are summarized here.   Some big takeaways: yes, they want to do more movies, but ending the movie the way The Gunslinger ends would have been.... unsatisfying as a standalone movie.

Also also, I just looked at that AMA.  The first question was how much interaction did he have with Stephen King.  He said "a ton," and then added this:

"The biggest moment for me was about a week ago when [King] saw the finished film and wrote me an email with the words 'As far as I'm concerned, you have remembered the face of your father.'"

Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author
4 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

@MarkHB the video is unavailable. What should one search the Tubes of You for?

Try Dark Tower Stephen Kingdom in Google video search. Look for the 1 minute version; Nerdist has it among others.

Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author

I saw it at the 19:19 showing last night. If you're a Stephen King fan, there are a ton of Easter eggs, embracing the idea that the Tower stands at the heart of his universe. Also, the movie doesn't say it, but in the books it's made clear that the Man in Black is the original, purest form of Randall Flagg.  For fans of the books, it's a stripped down version of the Roland- Walter arc from the mainline of the books, with room to go back in the TV show and tell the backstory from The Gunslinger and W&G or to go forward (say, to the beach) in a sequel. For everyone else, while it doesn't have the epic feel I had hoped for, it's not a mess (once you accept that it's a post-apocalyptic Western with inter-dimensional travel, sorcery and references to Arthurian legend), and I'd call it an enjoyable B-movie.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
Matt K

Matt K

9 hours ago, millennium said:

It's getting killed by the critics.   Currently an 18% all-reviews rating on rottentomatoes.com after 76 reviews; 15% when filtered by top critics only.

I read a few and now I'll probably check out the movie when it comes out on one of the streaming/premium cable platforms.  I also heard from some site that rumor is there was a lot of studio interference when it came to this movie (so not a huge surprise if that's the case that it's not a great movie).  Things like Roland can't wear a hat because movies with cowboys that wear hats do poorly at the box office.  They apparently were very worried the movie would do poorly (especially since it had a"cowboy" as a lead) which is funny since now it might, given the reviews, due to their own meddling. 

Link to comment
Lugal

Lugal

6 hours ago, millennium said:

The instant I saw King had given it his blessing, I knew it was doomed.  The man has a tin ear for film.

Not just movies, see Under the Dome.  I always thought it's a matter of "Your check cleared, do what you want."

  • Love 2
Link to comment
millennium

millennium

The Dark Tower is a convoluted, pretentious tale, a patchwork crazy quilt derived from other people's ideas, first stitched together by a college student and later carried forward by King's success rather than its own merit.   That it doesn't readily translate to film isn't much of a surprise.   JMO.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author

I think Elba's essentially going to bookend it, that they'll set it up as him telling his backstory (from The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass) to Jake.

Also, I saw this (PDF) linked on Reddit, and having seen the movie I think it's a legit early draft of the script.  There are some things where I liked the movie version better, but others where I liked the direction they took here.  It definitely puts Roland in more of a leading role, and hits more points from the book.  Interested in hearing what you all think.

Also,

On 7/23/2017 at 3:56 PM, paramitch said:

(I have more thoughts but will look forward to a bookwalker thread.)

I asked the lead mods for Movies, and we typically don't do separate bookwalker threads.  Please spoiler-tag anything major from the books, and alternatively there's a thread for the books themselves here.

Link to comment
ae2

ae2

2 hours ago, MarkHB said:

I think Elba's essentially going to bookend it, that they'll set it up as him telling his backstory (from The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass) to Jake.

Also, I saw this (PDF) linked on Reddit, and having seen the movie I think it's a legit early draft of the script.  There are some things where I liked the movie version better, but others where I liked the direction they took here.  It definitely puts Roland in more of a leading role, and hits more points from the book.  Interested in hearing what you all think.

Also,

I asked the lead mods for Movies, and we typically don't do separate bookwalker threads.  Please spoiler-tag anything major from the books, and alternatively there's a thread for the books themselves here.

I only read the beginning and the end, will give it more time later. But holy crap... I sure like that ending a whole lot better than what we got. As in... it might have actually redeemed the movie, even if just a bit, and lent a bit of hope to the continuation of the franchise.

Spoiler

Jake is strapped to the chair and Roland can't stop Walter. So Jake gives him a look and a telepathic message, "There are other worlds than these." Roland immediately understands, fires one shot, straight into Jake's chest. Roland escapes through a doorway - yes, a good old fashioned, one-sided doorway, not a portal. He ends up back in the village, with one beam (hey! those are a thing!) overhead still intact. We then follow the beam into the Dark Tower and get a tease of the Crimson King watching the whole thing with Maerlyn's Rainbow. (It doesn't specify if he has all 13.) 

Meanwhile, Roland is dealing himself cards and turns over "The Boy", giving hope for Jake's return.

Fade to black as Roland starts following the beam, resuming his quest for the tower.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
theredhead77

theredhead77

I'm far from a Dark Tower book super-fan and aside from Star Wars, my movie expectations are never very high. I saw it last night with my friend who convinced me (after 8 years) to read the books and we really enjoyed it. I think keeping King's Tweet in mind helped with expectations. Loved how it incorporated several books instead of being the movie version of The Gunslinger. Elba was phenomenal as Roland and McConaughey was beyond creepy as The Man in Black. I told my friend he was so creepy that it was ruining my celeb-crush.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
nicepebbles

nicepebbles

I know nothing about the book series, I just went because Idris Elba and he looked cool in the trailers. I thought it was an enjoyable movie. Not great but good. I didn't feel like I wasted my movie. It definitely could've been more though. For instance, when Roland is on Earth-whatever he calls it, I chuckled at some of the jokes instead of full out laugh. They just didn't land all the way. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment
JenMcSnark

JenMcSnark

On 8/13/2017 at 9:09 AM, theredhead77 said:

I'm far from a Dark Tower book super-fan and aside from Star Wars, my movie expectations are never very high. I saw it last night with my friend who convinced me (after 8 years) to read the books and we really enjoyed it. I think keeping King's Tweet in mind helped with expectations. Loved how it incorporated several books instead of being the movie version of The Gunslinger. Elba was phenomenal as Roland and McConaughey was beyond creepy as The Man in Black. I told my friend he was so creepy that it was ruining my celeb-crush.

I agree with most of this, but I though McConaughey was the weakest link in the film.  Especially when he had to use his hands for magic.  I laughed and he reminded me of tiny-hands Trump.

I really enjoyed the movie as a whole though. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment
SherriAnt

SherriAnt

So I hated this because I read the books, and my husband hated it because it was shit. 

Spoiler

It was completely different, no Eddie, no Susannah, no Oy. Just garbled weirdness with no plot, no story, no history and absolute crap special effects. Why bother calling it The Dark Tower when it has no resemblance to the books?

I know Stephen King can't be hurting for money, so I don't know why he does projects like this. I sure hope It is better. 

Link to comment
raven

raven

I've never read the books and thought this seemed like a mash of two different movies.  We start off with the teen who is special (for some reason) so the bad guy, Matthew McConaughey, who always looks sleazy to me, is after him to destroy the world of course.   So that is typical and paint by the numbers.

Then we have Idris Elba, who looks great and does a decent job of portraying the last Gunslinger, a sad hero (Daddy!) who wants to get sleazy guy, but is weary and all of that.

If Idris Elba were not in this, I would not have bothered because I'm over the special teen thing.  Said special teen seemed to get over Mom's death pretty quickly.  I guess he had no other family since he went with Roland.

It just seemed like two movies spliced together. 

Link to comment
MarkHB

MarkHB

  • Author
On 11/19/2017 at 1:24 AM, SherriAnt said:

So I hated this because I read the books, and my husband hated it because it was shit. 

  Reveal hidden contents

It was completely different, no Eddie, no Susannah, no Oy. Just garbled weirdness with no plot, no story, no history and absolute crap special effects. Why bother calling it The Dark Tower when it has no resemblance to the books?

I know Stephen King can't be hurting for money, so I don't know why he does projects like this. I sure hope It is better. 

Yeah, it was originally just the setup, similar to The Gunslinger, but Sony essentially punted.  The leaked early draft of the script I referred to in this post did some things that were more like the books.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...