The Dark Tower | August 4, 2017 | McConaughey, Elba | Reviews coming in, it's a bomb etc. etc. - we know this drill by now

[Mike Branson]

Would've been better without the kid

[4815162342]

I went in expecting terrible.

 

It was not terrible. But utterly thoroughly generic without an ounce of the magic, feel, style, etc of the novels. Tried so hard to do a new spin on it it lost track of what made the novels what they were.

[filmnerdjamie]

31 minutes ago, Mike Branson said:

Would've been better without the kid

Completely disagree, and I say this having not read the books (I tried in high school as both a devotee of fantasy and King).

 

As I've said elsewhere on this forum, the introductory film needs to be as simple and easy to asses as possible. Clearly this kid was meant to be the audience avatar. Someone to go through all this crazy other-worldly stuff and have everything explained to him (and thus we the audience). Stuff like Star Wars and The Matrix were successful at doing this. Starting off with a basic story that served its purpose but also surrounded itself with a deep mythology to explore later, if at all. The fact they had this kid and it still failed to make sense is totally on them. 

[4815162342]

Without actually spoiling the first novel, I will just say that the same kid character is in it.

 

But the kid's role is very different in it.

[4815162342]

That said, the first novel, aside from a few elements, is a pretty simple and straightforward story: The gunslinger tracks the Man in Black across the desert and wilderness and encounters obstacles along the way. It's actually easier to process and digest world-building wise compared to the film in a number of respects.

 

It's the second book where shit starts getting pretty weird.

[Plain Old Tele]

25 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

That said, the first novel, aside from a few elements, is a pretty simple and straightforward story: The gunslinger tracks the Man in Black across the desert and wilderness and encounters obstacles along the way. It's actually easier to process and digest world-building wise compared to the film in a number of respects.

 

It's the second book where shit starts getting pretty weird.

 

....and you haven't even gotten to the third book.  

[Mike Branson]

Only a $18 million weekend

[Halba]

one of the worst major studio films ever made in the last 10 years. runtime is a joke, only 80 odd minutes excluding credits(for a 7 part book series) and RT is only 19% 

 

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dark_tower_2017/

 

http:// ssl image

[holcs]

On 8/3/2017 at 9:20 PM, DAJK said:

Damn... I actually kinda enjoyed this

Me too.  Elba was awesome...tho I could just watch Elba gunslinging for 2 hours and have a good time

[4815162342]

7 hours ago, Squadron Leader Tele said:

 

....and you haven't even gotten to the third book.  

 

Hush grandpa

[Deep Wang]

8 hours ago, Squadron Leader Tele said:

 

....and you haven't even gotten to the third book.  

 

And nobody new to the series will understand the struggle of getting to the end of The Wastelands and then seeing it's a cliffhanger and having to wait YEARS for book 4.

[4815162342]

2 hours ago, Boner Omega said:

 

And nobody new to the series will understand the struggle of getting to the end of The Wastelands and then seeing it's a cliffhanger and having to wait YEARS for book 4.

I understand the struggle....until Game of Thrones officially leaped ahead of the books last season and spoiled some cliffhangers 

[AJG]

10 hours ago, Halba said:

one of the worst major studio films ever made in the last 10 years. runtime is a joke, only 80 odd minutes excluding credits(for a 7 part book series) and RT is only 19% 

 

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dark_tower_2017/

 

http:// ssl image

 

Delete that Utorrent.

 

There's so many better options.

[robertman2]

10 hours ago, Boner Omega said:

 

And nobody new to the series will understand the struggle of getting to the end of The Wastelands and then seeing it's a cliffhanger and having to wait YEARS for book 4.

I know that feeling.

 

One day, maybe Half-Life 3 will happen.

 

Oh who the hell am I kidding

[The Panda]

I saw this movie at the Alamo Drafthouse, the little pre-show where they do lists, countdowns and interviews was better than the movie imo.

 

The movie is fine until you realize it's a Dark Tower adaption and the material deserves a movie 1000x better than this manufactured contraption.

 

It's pretty meh and tries to cover way to much plot ground due to the short run time that it leaves no time for actual character or world building.

[AndyLL]

Not sure why the critics trashed this so much.  Unless it did a poor job of adapted the book which I haven't read.

 

Certainly was a great movie but also not a sub 20% 

 

B- 

[Rman823]

I gotta say I was pretty surprised with how subdued McConaughey's performance ended up being.  

Edited August 6, 2017 by Rman823

[Twelve]

Thought this was pretty meh. Some parts were really boring and bland which is surprising when you consider how much material the book provided. Idris Elba's character was enjoyable but only because he was played by Idris Elba not because he was actually well written. Overall I didn't hate it but I'll probably never watch it again.

[Wrath]

16 hours ago, Boner Omega said:

 

And nobody new to the series will understand the struggle of getting to the end of The Wastelands and then seeing it's a cliffhanger and having to wait YEARS for book 4.

Eh, anyone who tried to actually READ GoT knows this pain and then some.

[The Panda]

7 hours ago, AndyLL said:

Not sure why the critics trashed this so much.  Unless it did a poor job of adapted the book which I haven't read.

 

Certainly was a great movie but also not a sub 20% 

 

B- 

I think it's more that it's a poor adaption of the series.