THE DARK TOWER Starring Idris Elba And Matthew McConaughey - What Are The Critics Saying?
The first wave of reviews for The Dark Tower have found their way online and amid reports of some major issues behind the scenes, it sounds like fans of the novel will definitely find the movie a let down.
Stephen King's series of The Dark Tower novels are epic in scope and almost impossible to bring to the big screen. Filmmakers have been trying for over a decade to make it happen, though, and it finally has thanks to Sony Pictures. Unfortunately, the first wave of reviews point to this adaptation being a disappointment, particularly for those of you who have spent the time to read the lengthy series.
Some critics liked it but everyone seems to agree that it's deeply flawed while some just tear it to pieces. Idris Elba mostly emerges unscathed but the same can't be said for Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey after his critically acclaimed turns in the likes of Interstellar and True Detective.
The movie could, of course, still succeed at the box office and both sequels and the long rumoured TV series might ultimately happen at some point. We're going to find out this weekend whether or not The Dark Tower really is a let down but you can check out a selection of the first reviews below.
I've waited most of my life to see this story told onscreen, and figured I'd be willing to forgive...well, quite a lot! The one thing I didn't anticipate, though, was to feel so unmoved by the film, to flatline my way through scene after scene. I appreciate what Arcel and company were going for here - and I'd encourage all Dark Tower fans to see it, if only to be informed enough to join the conversation that will surely surround this film for years - but I wish more than anything that I could say it worked for me.
SOURCE: B.M.D.
While The Dark Tower may leave a little more to be desired, it's a pretty strong start to a promising series. Most importantly, it's a visual spectacle of action and fantasy that leaves the audience wanting more, while delivering one of the last thrills in store for this summer's box office season.
SOURCE: Cinema Blend
Though far from the muddled train wreck we've been led to expect, this Tower lacks the world-constructing gravitas of either the Tolkien books that inspired King or the franchise-launching movies that Sony execs surely have in mind. Though satisfying enough to please many casual moviegoers drawn in by King's name and stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, it will likely disappoint many serious fans and leave other newbies underwhelmed.
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter
The Dark Tower is a thoroughly average take on some truly incredible source material. While the fantastic leads do the best with what they’re given, it’s ultimately not enough to compensate for a lack of time spent building characters and their motivations in the script. A good-looking shell of an great epic is all here, but peeling back the veneer reveals that there’s not a whole lot going on underneath. For a story where the literal fate of the universe is at stake, it’s disappointingly easy to not really care about anything that’s happening on screen.
SOURCE: IGN
The Dark Tower isn't really a movie for people who've never read Stephen King's Dark Tower books. It hardly bothers to serve up any exposition, so newbies are thrown right into the deep end of its convoluted mythology. But it's probably not for people who have read the books, either. The movie version is disappointingly lacking in the magic of King's novels. (The metaphorical, literary kind of magic, I mean – there's still plenty of magic in the plot, which the characters talk about constantly.)
SOURCE: Mashable
This isn’t to say the movie isn’t enjoyable to watch, because it is — Idris Elba and Tom Taylor have a wonderful dynamic together, and the gunslinging action scenes are appropriately cool. But it all feels strangely… conventional, somehow. Considering that the series is so beloved precisely for its indescribably epic qualities, that might be a kiss of death for some fans. But for those who are content to hear Roland evoke the Gunslinger’s creed on screen for the first time, or those who’ve always been just a little too intimidated by the series to dig into it (guilty as charged), the movie makes for an extremely accessible jumping-on point.
SOURCE: Nerdist
The Dark Tower is so astoundingly awful that when you leave the theater you’ll likely be less mad you wasted your time than flabbergasted that something like this could a) happen and b) be released as something that, theoretically, is going to launch a multi-platform franchise. The Dark Tower has been in production for around ten years in some form or another. This final product reminds me a lot of the GOP healthcare plan: You’ve had all this time and THIS is what you come up with?
SOURCE: Uproxx
"The Dark Tower" has been plagued by tales of last-minute re-editing and multiple cooks in the kitchen, but the movie that’s come out of all this is no shambles. It aims low and hits (sort of). It’s a competent and watchable paranoid metaphysical video game that doesn’t overstay its welcome, includes some luridly entertaining visual effects, and — it has to be said — summons an emotional impact of close to zero. Which in a film like this one isn’t necessarily a disadvantage.
SOURCE: Variety
"The Dark Tower" is mainly noteworthy for McConaughey’s enjoyably bad performance as a force of evil who can set things on fire with his hands, order people to stop breathing, and grab bullets as they fly through the air. As McConaughey swans through scene after ridiculous scene, it’s almost as if he is deliberately aiming for a Razzie Award to go with his Oscar.
SOURCE: The Wrap