The Dark Tower

Name: The Dark Tower
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror
Released: August 4, 2017
Duration: 95 min
Rating: 34
Cast: Abbey Lee, Ben Gavin, Dennis Haysbert, Fran Kranz, Idris Elba

2017

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 391 Ratings

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4.5

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4.5	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 391 Ratings

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The Dark Tower

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: August 4, 2017 | PG-13

Starring: Abbey Lee, Ben Gavin, Dennis Haysbert, Fran Kranz, Idris Elba, Jackie Earle Haley, Katheryn Winnick, Matthew McConaughey, Nicholas Hamilton, Soo-hyun Kim, Tom Taylor

Summary: The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O'Dim, also known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O'Dim, also known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.… Expand

Director: Nikolaj Arcel

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Western

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 95 min

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Critic Reviews

Soren Andersen

Aug 3, 2017

In the vast canon of King-derived movies, “Tower” belongs in the upper ranks. Read full review

Steve Persall

Aug 3, 2017

From the impure perspective of someone who hasn't read King's series, The Dark Tower isn't half-bad. Faint praise, but this movie will take all it can get. Read full review

Michael Phillips

Aug 3, 2017

Is the movie good enough to do what it’s designed to do? Not really. It’s designed as a launching pad for a “Dark Tower” television series, scheduled to star Elba and Taylor. So this is an hour-and-a-half TV pilot; it just happens to be a big summer movie too. Read full review

Matt Donato

Aug 3, 2017

Director Nikolaj Arcel blends dystopian weirdness and temporal hellbeasts until all that remains is an emulsified, grey gunk, which is then forced down our throats for 95 minutes. Flavor gone, identifiers eviscerated. Read full review

Gary Thompson

Aug 3, 2017

I give Elba enormous credit for maintaining a straight face — he and Taylor account for the movie’s few good moments — but the silly script seems to have awakened the dormant ham in McConaughey. Read full review

Manohla Dargis

Aug 3, 2017

About the only thing holding it together is Idris Elba, whose irrepressible magnetism and man-of-stone solidity anchors this mess but can’t redeem it. Read full review

Dan Callahan

Aug 2, 2017

With fantasy material like this, we need to be made to believe in the inventions and the conceits, and we cannot do that if they are shot and staged in such a truncated and perfunctory way. Read full review

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User Reviews

samforsyth

Aug 10, 2017

The Dark Tower was a good movie. I feel like I’m not allowed to say that unless I explain myself, so here goes:
I think this movie should have been called “The Gunslinger” because it was about a gunslinger rescuing a boy from a bad guy. And it does a good job of telling that story.
CallingThe Dark Tower was a good movie. I feel like I’m not allowed to say that unless I explain myself, so here goes:
I think this movie should have been called “The Gunslinger” because it was about a gunslinger rescuing a boy from a bad guy. And it does a good job of telling that story.
Calling the movie “The Dark Tower” sets up the expectation that the movie will be about the Dark Tower, but its not. We barely see the Dark Tower, and no action whatever takes place there.
I think SONY did a very awful job of properly promoting this project, and properly setting the audience’s expectations. It should have been made crystal clear that this was not an attempt to tell the stories from the novels, but rather, an attempt to tell a simple story that will introduce key characters, themes, and mysteries that exist in the Dark Tower universe.
It should have been made clear that this was an introduction to this universe, and not the beginning, middle and end of it.
It should have been made clear that the characters, themes, and mysteries that were introduced in this movie were not going to be addressed in depth in this film, but instead, will be fleshed out through upcoming TV series and movie sequels.
If a person knows all that going in, there is a much better chance that they could just relax and enjoy the show. Unfortunately, and through no fault of their own, the viewers just had no idea what to expect going in, and were turned off by a simple quick storyline, huge themes and mysteries being mentioned and then never addressed again, and feeling like they were JUST getting to know the characters just as the thing ended.
I’m super bummed about the bad reviews and the low box office, because now I fear this project will be abandoned… I certainly hope not. But Sony really screwed up.… Expand

9 of 23 users found this helpful914

ibrahimik

Sep 15, 2017

this is quite an interesting project, but this film only at one time and the film is not associated with Roman only indirectly. P.S i'ts my mind

2 of 6 users found this helpful24

yesterdayatnoon

Aug 5, 2017

Having never read the books, I found the movie quite enjoyable. The action is solid, the story doesn't drag on, it sticks to one type of story without switching modes constantly and the acting is solid. The script isn't amazing. The audio effects are astounding. I didn't really expect toHaving never read the books, I found the movie quite enjoyable. The action is solid, the story doesn't drag on, it sticks to one type of story without switching modes constantly and the acting is solid. The script isn't amazing. The audio effects are astounding. I didn't really expect to see extreme reviews of this movie one way or the other. I recommend it if you're in the mood for straightforward action/fantasy/horror.… Expand

2 of 13 users found this helpful211

ScrawnyPunk

Aug 4, 2017

The first thing to understand about the film is that it is not an adaption of The Dark Tower in its entirety, or any of the component books in part. Instead, it is a continuation of the story from the point at which Roland walks out of the Tower in Book 7. True fans looking for aThe first thing to understand about the film is that it is not an adaption of The Dark Tower in its entirety, or any of the component books in part. Instead, it is a continuation of the story from the point at which Roland walks out of the Tower in Book 7. True fans looking for a continuation of the story might be rewarded. The rest of the world may be left scratching its collective head.
Leaving aside the feeling that the best stuff happened before the film starts, the second thing to understand is that any sense of awe and wonder is undercut by the previews. We’ve seen Roland’s otherworldly (literally) skills, and we’ve seen most of Walter’s magic tricks on Youtube, Apple Trailers, etc. This is a bad thing – what little chance the movie has for awe, wonder, and suspense is blown since we already know what will happen at crucial moments. The best example is when Roland blind-shoots Jake’s would-be captor: the scene is filmed to perfection, but we aren’t on the edge of our seats because it is effectively a re-run. I don’t blame the filmmakers here, but I do blame the preview editors.
As for the rest of the film, I’d call it “adequate.” Jake’s earlier scenes are great, but wasted as the troubled-but-visionary character trope gives way to a straight-forward fantasy quest. The vistas are magnificent, but give way to village scenes that look straight out of Costner’s Postman. Walter is evil, but so completely and casually so that we can’t be frightened (and who doesn’t want to destroy a cinematic universe these days? The action is fantastic, but how many other times have we seen someone in a leather duster shoot up a room full of bad guys? The film resolves, but there are a ton of contrived plot devices which cause the movie to skip anything interesting or character-defining (and let’s not forget that one of Steven King’s greatest skills is character development over long periods).
As a final (and positive) note, the cast is fantastic. Idris Elba is great as always, Matt McConaughey is silky-smooth, Katheryn Winnick (aka Lagertha of Vikings fame) is nearly perfect, and Lucas Hamilton does a great job of balancing Jake’s psychological “troubles” with a sense of awe and understanding of his destiny. Jackie Earle Haley gives what he has to a throw-away role, as does Claudia Kim. The only weak link is Fran Kranz, whose screen time leaves him without his usual ability to put an indelible stamp on a character. He is woefully underused here, but that’s really the only issue I took with the cast. In the end, I think we deserved a multi-season epic covering the actual books, bringing to life a truly unique fantasy multiverse. I think what we got was something more like a coda: like 1998’s X-Files or Twin Peak’s Fire Walk With Me. Vaguely interesting, but not really satisfying.… Expand

3 of 6 users found this helpful33

CineAutoctono

Aug 17, 2017

"The Dark Tower" was a acceptable, but a lazy and boring movie, the only thing reddemable is the music, but the perfrmances, and the story are so boring an a little interesant, this adaptation of Stephen King is fail.

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

Michael_Stars_5

Aug 9, 2017

After watching 1 hour and a half of terribly handled action scenes, I can definitely say that Dark Tower is one of the worst films this year and probably the worst Stephen King adaptation. The very few parts that surprised me about this film is Matthew McConaughey's Man In Black, aAfter watching 1 hour and a half of terribly handled action scenes, I can definitely say that Dark Tower is one of the worst films this year and probably the worst Stephen King adaptation. The very few parts that surprised me about this film is Matthew McConaughey's Man In Black, a surprisingly memorable villain that will give kids nightmares!
Idris Elba's Gunslinger is weak, not memorable and just flat out disappointing, the story spans around 5 books or so, the plot is overstuffed and crammed into a complete disaster of a film, a few surprising scenes with good visuals can't save this terrible, boring attempt at recreating a fun book.… Expand

5 of 6 users found this helpful51

imthenoob

Nov 15, 2017

The story is all over the place and would only make sense to someone really familiar with the books. It's way too short and edits are all over the place. The performances were good but even the cast can't save this piece of junk. They should have simply adapted the first book and it wouldThe story is all over the place and would only make sense to someone really familiar with the books. It's way too short and edits are all over the place. The performances were good but even the cast can't save this piece of junk. They should have simply adapted the first book and it would have been so much better.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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