Dark Tower falls apart

Idris Elba in The Dark Tower. Image courtesy Columbia Pictures.

The Dark Tower teases with hints of how great it could, or rather should, be. The Stephen King adaptation has several fascinating magical bits and a typically great, understated lead performance by Idris Elba as weary gunslinger Roland Deschain that it could very well serve as the start of a great fantasy series on par with the Lord of the Ring. But it doesn't come particularly close to reaching those heights, stuck with just those glimmers of quality in an otherwise dire screenplay that lifts elements from, of all movies, Super Mario Bros. courtesy a brain trust led by the inconsistent Akiva Goldsman. What viewers get is a mishmash of concepts and tones, with a story carried by the wrong character and few positives from an abbreviated movie.

At the heart of Dark Tower is a simple good versus evil story between the troubled, tired fighter Deschain and giddy, evil wizard Walter (a wicked hammy Matthew McConaughey). Enough parallels exist to make the two mirror images of the other, the gunslinger's shooting prowess canceling out the sorcerer's epic magic abilities, who seeks some sense of revenge by taunting poor Deschain. Traces of that concept carry the film to as close to watchable as it can get, along with the hints about Walter's true powers and the skosh of mythology about the eponymous tower, the gunslinger legend, and the creatures that serve Walter's orders to destroy the sole boundary keeping the dark from cascading into the light.

Somehow most of that is sidelined to focus on some preteen kid (Tom Taylor) discover his psychic powers, or in King’s terms shine. With so many great options to choose from involving a brilliant gunfighter and a wizard, Goldsman and crew opted to center The Dark Tower on the adolescent coming of age story in which his powers (poorly) represent some sort of awakening. They effectively made an escort mission where Deschain grumpily but still lovingly protects the kid from the evils around him. That the movie doesn't leave enough time for their relationship to grow (let alone enough time to believe how quickly the boy's powers increase) exacerbates the problem. It's not the worst route this movie could have veered toward with its narrative; it just ranks pretty low on the list for what is or is not interesting with a story about a mystical gun fighter.

It's just frustrating watching Dark Tower and waiting for director Nikolaj Arcel and multitude of screenwriters to build some sort of a universe. There are a lot of little elements that crop up hinting at what could have been, some cool little bits of magic performed by an almost unstoppable being, and the general concept of Deschain's gunslinger legacy. What this movie needs more than anything is a well-plotted mythology to explain the movie's machinations and provide viewers some context as to what's happening. The battle between Elba's Deschain and an appropriately enthused McConaughey would make for a remarkable movie, with Elba's quiet intensity contrasting greatly with McConaughey's slightly menacing charisma. Dark Tower offers little aside from formulaic snippets of exposition and a ton of logical leaps the viewer has to make to fill in the gaps otherwise. Little explanation is offered for the existence of the movie's multiple worlds, the eponymous tower, or even the war between the gunslingers and McConaughey's dark wizard Walter. Viewership of what sounds like on paper to be an incredible experience is instead abbreviated to post-battle flashbacks (proper battle sequences are a little too pricy for this movie) and some mediocre world jumping that skimp on the special effects. Some of that would get built upon through the addition of some hypothetical sequels, but Dark Tower leaves viewers wanting far more from the movie they've watched.

Then again, building a world as elaborate as the one required for Dark Tower is difficult for a movie that lasts all of 95 minutes (end credits included). Ninety-five minutes is not long enough to establish a universe appropriate for this movie. Goldsman and company attempt to fill in the gaps with exposition and a whole lot of assumptions, leading to the aforementioned mythological holes and some rather notable plot holes to boot. Cutting corners has its consequences, in this case a less than engaging film and what is probably an early end to what should have been a great franchise.

Review: One and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 95 minutes

Genre: Fantasy

Ask Away

Target audience: People who have read the book series and folks down to watch Idris Elba be awesome.

Take the whole family?: The content is too dark for young kids. Keep it at age 10 and up.

Theater or Netflix?: Netflix if at all.

Should this franchise continue?: Ideally this would be rebooted immediately, with only Elba carried over to whatever comes next. It's easy to appreciate what this movie could have been even without reading the books, so perhaps a new round of talent can maximize this movie's potential.

Watch this instead?: Stephen King adaptations are pretty hit or miss. The Shining, The Dead Zone, The Shawshank Redemption, Carrie and Stand By Me are all pretty great, due in part to the respective directors taking liberties with the material. Also worth a read is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon