Click here for a video version of this review: https://youtu.be/V_PCAIQ7AvE
I’ve not read a lot of Stephen King books, but one which I read and loved was The Gunslinger which is the first book in The Dark Tower series. In 2017 a movie adaptation came out and was named after the series. Starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey it was hotly anticipated but was met with bad reviews on release.
Having loved The Gunslinger and hearing those reviews it’s taken me a long time to get around to watching this. Having now seen it, I gotta say, I agree with those reviews. It’s not a trash movie, but it is also not even close to being a good movie.
The core problem is that there are eight books of source material, and for some reason they try to distil all that lore and world building into one 95min film. For that reason alone it was doomed from the start, but add in hilariously uncharismatic acting, shoddy CGI, and a copy pasted plot from 100 other sci-fi or fantasy films, and you have a recipe for mediocrity.
Now I will say, I am not a fan of Idris Elba, but I actually thought he played the part of Roland, the Gunslinger, quite well. As for McConaughey, all this did was confirm for me that he is one of the most overrated actors of our generation.
My suggestion would be to avoid the movie and pick up the books, because the books will take you away on an epic journey much much more than this movie ever does.