The Dark Tower (2017)

[IRONicmerMAN 391]

It comes out tomorrow. I am yet to read a good review. Looks like another Stephen King trainwreck. It's amazing how films based on his books can either be amazing...or hot garbage.

• They somehow condensed eight or so books into a 95-minute film instead of a longer movie (it was originally over 2.5 hours) or GOT-like series. A series is going to be developed later, which makes one wonder why they bothered with a film at all. ($$$$$)
  
• It's been in development since 2007, and this is the result.
  
• Not only was it in years-long development hell, but there were also significant post-production issues (see below).
  
• Test audiences in October 2016 gave it such poor marks (too confusing) that Sony spent $6 million for reshoots to give Idris Elba's character more back story.
  
• It went through three directors...J.J. Abrams, Ron Howard, Nikolaj Arcel.
  
• It also churned through production companies.
  
• Stephen King had final veto power over creative decisions. Per the first link below, he's a fan of the final cut.
  

 

More from Slashfilm: http://www.slashfilm...ost-production/

Variety: http://variety.com/2...ing-1202511835/

[DavidRosen 40]

Just saw it and laughed nonstop. It reminded me of Jupiter Ascending a little bit in how bad it was. I would LOVE for them to do this movie.

[RyanSz 3140]

Okay, as a lover of the series I can say that I really enjoyed this movie. I noticed in a lot of the reviews I read that many reviewers were expecting this to be an adaptation of the books, but this is not trying to condense 4500+ pages of story into 90 minutes, this is a SEQUEL to the series. Now while that may seem backwards to make a sequel to a series that many viewers may not have seen, it works perfectly for this movie because it allowed the studio to have its cake and eat it to as new viewers would be seeing a story that they wouldn't know was a sequel as at the end of the series

Roland makes it to the top of the Dark Tower only to realize that he has been trapped in an infinite loop of this journey, having to repeat it over and over until he changes himself as a person and succeeding in completing the original task set before him in getting to the Tower. So the final page of the story is him back at the very beginning of the first book with no memory of his prior journey as he once again chases after the Man in Black.

This also allows for lovers of the series like myself to come in not expecting it to follow the books to the letter and get a new chapter in the series that we love.

 

The 90 minute run time could have been extended a bit to further explain some of the world and its inhabitants, but it seemed that they were more focused on setting up the future chapters with references to the Crimson King and other members of Roland's group of travelers. I am perplexed by the movie to miniseries to movie format as I'm assuming some brainchild thought they could beat Marvel to the punch in combining a cinematic universe with its TV counterpart, as having it on a channel like HBO or AMC would have better suited a straight adaptation. Overall though it doesn't come off as bad as other King adaptations like Dreamcatcher or Thinner, but it's not near the best like Carrie or the Shining.

[IRONicmerMAN 391]

Okay, as a lover of the series I can say that I really enjoyed this movie. I noticed in a lot of the reviews I read that many reviewers were expecting this to be an adaptation of the books, but this is not trying to condense 4500+ pages of story into 90 minutes, this is a SEQUEL to the series. Now while that may seem backwards to make a sequel to a series that many viewers may not have seen, it works perfectly for this movie because it allowed the studio to have its cake and eat it to as new viewers would be seeing a story that they wouldn't know was a sequel as at the end of the series

Roland makes it to the top of the Dark Tower only to realize that he has been trapped in an infinite loop of this journey, having to repeat it over and over until he changes himself as a person and succeeding in completing the original task set before him in getting to the Tower. So the final page of the story is him back at the very beginning of the first book with no memory of his prior journey as he once again chases after the Man in Black.

This also allows for lovers of the series like myself to come in not expecting it to follow the books to the letter and get a new chapter in the series that we love.

 

The 90 minute run time could have been extended a bit to further explain some of the world and its inhabitants, but it seemed that they were more focused on setting up the future chapters with references to the Crimson King and other members of Roland's group of travelers. I am perplexed by the movie to miniseries to movie format as I'm assuming some brainchild thought they could beat Marvel to the punch in combining a cinematic universe with its TV counterpart, as having it on a channel like HBO or AMC would have better suited a straight adaptation. Overall though it doesn't come off as bad as other King adaptations like Dreamcatcher or Thinner, but it's not near the best like Carrie or the Shining.

This is good context. I didn't realize that the intention is as a sequel to the books rather than a film of the books. Regardless, it sounds like the longer, 2 1/2-hour version would have been more appropriate to tell the story. I still think a better format would be doing more books as a series would have been ideal...start with a condensed version of the books and then get into the sequel. Overall, it just feels like this was made overly complicated by too many hands and minds in the proverbial kitchen.

[RyanSz 3140]

This is good context. I didn't realize that the intention is as a sequel to the books rather than a film of the books. Regardless, it sounds like the longer, 2 1/2-hour version would have been more appropriate to tell the story. I still think a better format would be doing more books as a series would have been ideal...start with a condensed version of the books and then get into the sequel. Overall, it just feels like this was made overly complicated by too many hands and minds in the proverbial kitchen.

Of for sure there have been too many changing opinions in making this as it had been development for so long, though I know that when Ron Howard and Brian Grazer were attached they only backed out because of other projects coming up at a faster pace than this was, which is apparently what has been happening on the It remake, which itself is not a complete adaptation of the novel, but only the first half which focuses solely on the Losers Club as kids when they first encounter It. When I first started hearing about this movie and what characters were being featured I was a bit concerned and angry as characters like the ones Jackie Earle Haley and Abbie Lee play aren't in the book series until the final couple books, and there was no mention of other members of Roland's group that were there for 90% of the books, but when I read that it was a sequel and why they were doing it I was fine with it.

[NundercoverBrother 174]

The Dark Tower is strange. And a long 88 minutes (with credits)

Its been so long since I've read the 1st two books.

Its like The Neverending Story, The Dark Crystal, Lord of the Rings, Stargate, King Arthur, 300, Ronin, Lone Wolf and Cub, Terminator 2, Dark City with a dash of Jessica Jones, nightmare on elm st and The Bodyguard