I can be astonishingly and unpredictably merciful, which is probably why I paid to see The Dark Tower in theaters during opening weekend and watched it again at home. Even without all the drama behind the production, it would be difficult for anyone to adapt a seven book series with a sidequel novel by Stephen King. He writes enormous standalone books on a bad day, and here he kind of created a new genre, the Western sci-fi horror, long before Firefly existed. The film adaptation was likely to fall short so I’m not surprised that filmmakers did a reboot instead of an adaptation, which actually makes sense if you read the end of the ninth book in the series.
In this world, The Dark Tower draws elements from the entire King universe to create a new story about three of the characters from the series: Jake, Walter and Roland. The Dark Tower drew from other King stories such as Cell and It, which you should watch before this film, to add texture and provide an entry point for viewers who may be more familiar with those books than this series. Of the three, Jake is substantially different from the book. The film makes two crucial mistakes. If you have two flavors of hotness and magnetic characters played by Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, have enough confidence that your audience will be interested in them and do not need a relatable Alice in Wonderland character to find an entry point into this world. The books don’t do it, and the movies should not either. We’re here for Roland. I applaud the casting. It is the main thing that works in this film, but if the filmmakers’ courage failed them at the last minute, and they were concerned that Elba would not draw the big bucks, hello, you have McConaughey! Tom Taylor does a good job, but no one in the US knows who the hell he is. I don’t know who he is.
The Jake that we get is not substantially similar to the Jake that we know. I don’t mind that The Dark Tower mines The Shining to make him special. This Jake’s childhood bears more of a resemblance to Roland’s childhood in the books with a hard left at a trope that I despise. This trope basically involves someone who is different and special, but everyone thinks that the person is crazy. The solution is to not get medical treatment, but plunge deeper into your delusions for vindication. As someone who has had to urge people whom I love to get medical treatment for mental illness and has seen the quality of life dramatically improve once the person is willing to accept treatment even if not willing to admit that he or she has a problem, this trope is incredibly harmful. It also is overused in movies and television shows.
If you are not familiar with King’s stories, I don’t think that The Dark Tower explains anything and will leave you confused or disinterested. They show things and discuss them later, but I can’t imagine that without subtitles, you will understand what they are saying initially such as Taheen even though you get the general concept. Then an unfamiliar viewer will just skim the surface and just think it is a traditional apocalyptic, stop the bad guy scenario, but miss a lot of the neat visual and acting elements that make the film interesting.
I am convinced that if you went through all of The Dark Tower footage, there is a good movie. Nikolaj Arcei is a great filmmaker who made an amazing Danish historical epic, A Royal Affair. The majority of the book series is strong so for all of the flaws of the source material, King is blameless. Clearly evil has been winning, and Roland’s existence brings hope and fear depending on the audience, but the film does not fortify this concept emotionally. Emphasizing the earthquakes is easier. Because we understand how an antagonist and a protagonist works, we never truly believe that Roland is not going to do his job. There is no tension, but a world with no gunslingers or even Jake misunderstanding his vision that there are no gunslingers raises the stakes so when Roland first appears, THAT should be the earthquake.
The Dark Tower should make us feel how the characters feel when they realize that Roland is a gunslinger, alive and not a legend. The bleak, hopelessness of a world in which evil can’t be stopped except by a special someone is a trope that resonates and helps us understand this world and ours. I think that the film was right to start by showing that the tower is coming down. The Taheen’s underground is represented early as a comfortable, celebratory atmosphere so their alarm at his existence should have been more pronounced. Watching a bunch of random people in a village that I’m not invested in debating about whether or not Roland can stop Walter does nothing for me. Instead of using Jake as the entry point, the movie should have started with Walter basically winning and on a number of children’s heels, including Jake. We should not know that Jake is the one, which further deflates any tension. The first time that we meet Roland, it should not be in a vision.
Elba is Roland. I believe that when he enters a room, everyone knows that he is different and special: stronger, more agile, heals quickly, ages differently, super hearing, resistant to “magics.” He takes us on an emotional journey and develops the character in ways that the story rushes over: initially hostile and gruff, uncomfortable in the presence of people, overwhelmed then reinvigorated by experiencing a world filled with life then filled with empathy and feeling again. Elba gives an emotionally nuanced performance, and I don’t think that the film showcases it for the viewers until the last half hour. By the end of the film, to humorous effect, he has reclaimed his mantle as a commanding figure to the astonishment and confusion of those around him.
McConaughey wisely draws on Walter’s character as developed in the books, including The Stand. His performance is sleeker and more restrained than Jamey Sheridan’s performance, which is more folksy and incognito. McConaughey’s Walter is out and proud as an evil mastermind and is done trying to convince people that he is right. He is at the finish line and is more like Vader on the Death Star. He is economical and expert in his approach. He still invokes that ability to fit into his surroundings, be comfortable and disturbingly and simultaneously sexy and threatening like Sheridan, which makes the apartment scene notable and chilling. Note to self: if McConaughey suddenly appears in your kitchen cooking chicken, do not think that all your dreams have come true though that is completely understandable. A hot man cooking is anyone’s dream. Bye, Lon! Sadly The Dark Tower rushes over the best elements of his performance.
In one diner scene, he commands two characters to kill each other then when other people are about to intervene, he tells the bystanders to calm down and ignore the violence. Even though he can induce people to act against their will, they know it so it is torture on two levels, and I do not think that the way that the scenes are shot convey that effectively until his meeting with a certain someone’s mother, which is too late. During the second viewing, I noticed that he burned one Taheen’s face to punish another Taheen for failing to close the portal to prevent Jake from leaving. The actors, which include Dollhouse’s Fran Kranz, convey in that brief moment the relationship between the two, and how much Walter enjoys destroying relationships and hope. He literally loves nothing and enjoys death. It was what was missing in the earlier diner scene-all the supporting actors and extras were not given enough instructions or failed to follow them to quickly evoke this emotional dimension to Walter’s cruelty. I think the story’s handling of Walter obliterates any franchise hopes.
Even with all of my criticism of The Dark Tower, I think that you’re a savage if you get 90 minutes of hotness and still can’t enjoy it. You were never going to get the books so if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with. And Hollywood, please, no more adaptations. I am grateful to Elba, McConaughey and everyone else for giving us everything even if it only resulted in a slight movie.