The Man in Black is going to bring down the Tower via anemic ticket sales? Clever.
I actually quite liked it and will see it again. You just have to let go of any expectation that it will bear more than a passing resemblance to the source material.
I too would very much like to see a closer adaptation made someday, but that would just take too many movies for a studio to commit to before seeing how the first one did, and as someone said above, the first book by itself would be a horribly uncommercial film.
I thought all three lead actors were excellent. I was happy that it wasn’t as unremittingly violent as I had feared based on the trailer. There were a lot of hints at the broader backstory for the Tower fans, but they weren’t essential to the story. Many scenes evoked imagery from various parts of the books.
More details on the ending:
Roland doesn’t get to the Tower, and indeed there’s no suggestion that he has any desire to do so. His only stated motivation throughout the film is killing Walter, but he doesn’t seem more than mildly pleased when he actually does so (maybe suggesting that he doesn’t think the death will last).
I read this morning that the opening weekend was sufficient to keep the next phase of the project greenlighted, a 10-13 episode miniseries adaptation of** Wizard and Glass** which is supposed to film at some point in 2018 and subsequently air on a network TBA. At some point thereafter there is supposed to be another theatrical release which will introduce the rest of the ka-tet. First come smiles…
I tried to do that, but at least in my case, it didn’t help. There’s too much that just felt introduced into the story by fiat, rather than organically developing. So Walter can kill people by telling them to stop breathing, but he can’t do that to Roland, who’s immune to his magic for… reasons?
I felt little to no connection to the main characters, I thought the pacing was off—when I was just about ready for the movie to start in earnest, it ended—, most parts just seemed badly strung together. By the end of the movie, I didn’t have any emotional investment into the characters at all.
So, as a summer action blockbuster, it was at best lackluster. As an adaptation of King’s Dark Tower-series, well, it wasn’t one.
I would have found it perfectly legitimate to tell a different sort of story, kind of an echo or distorted reflection of King’s, in roughly the same universe—that sort of thing is part of the overall theme of the books, anyway. The problem is just that they didn’t do that very well. Plot elements appear out of nowhere and are dropped just as soon (what was the point of Jack’s firefighter father?), elements are connected solely to get people where they need to be to further the plot, it all just seems dreadfully lazy and by-the-numbers.
Finally saw it today. What a roller-coaster!
No, not a roller-coaster of action and emotion. A roller-coaster of my own feelings about the movie.
I hated the opening 25 minutes or so. It felt like a young adult novel about a boy who finds a new world. We definitely should have started with Roland and had Jake enter from his point-of-view.
However, I believe that the emphasis on Jake could be forgiven if Jake died at the end/climax of the movie as he does in the book. Actually, setting up the way they did could have made the climax really surprising to the audience unfamiliar with the book.
I did, however, enjoy the final 30 minutes and I do see potential for sequels. I’m stunned that I felt the final 30 minutes were OK. If this is re-telling of the story and is another cycle of Roland’s journey, I could almost accept that he saved Jake in this version.
I’m totally all over the place. I both hated and accept this movie. I do hope they continue. I want to see the rest. Maybe he’ll even be successful in finishing his quest in this cycle.
What an odd movie. I’m kind of flummoxed. I give it both an D- and a B+.
I presume that the bad box office have canceled all future plans?
I think they said recently that it did well enough (overseas sales?) for them to move on ahead.
Absolutely no idea how Detta Walker can work in this specific iteration of the timeline, if they put her in at all.
I’m fine with changes, including dropping her “hate white people” trait.
I think the last 30 minutes really redeemed this movie enough for me to want to go forward. I hope they do.