Review: The Dark Tower (2017)

The Dark Tower

Rating

Director

Nikolaj Arcel

Screenplay

Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinker, Anders Thomas Jensen, Nikolaj Arcel (Novel Series: Stephen King)

Length

1h 35min

Starring

Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Dennis Haysbert, Claudia Kim, Jackie Earle Haley, Fran Kranz, Abbey Lee, Katheryn Winnick, Nicholas Pauling, Michael Barbieri, Jose Zuniga, Nicholas Hamilton,

MPAA Rating

PG-13 for thematic material including sequences of gun violence and action.

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Review

When every studio is chomping at the bit to pick up any novel series it can in an attempt to capture the zeitgeist franchise success of a handful of popular films of the 21st century, it’s surprising to note that the very popular Gunslinger novels have only now been adapted to the big screen with mixed success as simply The Dark Tower.

In 1982, after the successful translation of his novels Carrie and The Shining to the big screen, King embarked on a new journey, one which felt at once different and a part of his prior books. The Gunslinger, the first in his Dark Tower saga, the story of a Gunslinger and his quest towards the eponymous tower. Although the film is based on the novels, it is not a direct adaptation, focusing on elements that are present in the other stories, but which aren’t specifically pulled from The Gunslinger or the subsequent seven books.

Idris Elba stars as Roland Deschain, the last Gunslinger whose task is to protect the multiverse from destruction at the hands of the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey). In that quest, he teams up with a young boy (Tom Taylor) whose “shine,” which could be called magical sight, is quite powerful. The boy has dreamed about the various realms and his shining capability could also destroy the tower, thus setting him up as a target of the Man in Black’s nefarious plans.

The writers have included occasional bits of humor that help elevate the rather cheaply constructed narrative. Not that the Dark Tower series isn’t a most fascinating subject for mass market entertainment, but the film is conventional to a fault. Writer and producer Akiva Goldsman is the culprit. His screenwriting capabilities are perfunctory at best and although the film moves smoothly over the course of its hour-thirty-five length, it feels like each event is haphazardly connected and designed not necessarily to further the plot, but to create tension where it doesn’t feel natural.

With such a broad, multi-novel narrative available to screenwriters Goldsman and company, it’s surprising that they chose to go with a new story. By not actively adapting the books, they risked losing the interest of fans of the novels, while potentially confusing those not already familiar with the characters and concepts that they do pick out.

For his part, director Nikolaj Arcel does a satisfactory job shepherding the film to its conclusion, infusing the occasional Easter eggs of events and characters from across the Stephen King multiverse, including The Shining (pictures of the Overlook Hotel, references to the Shine, twin girls), It (the Pennywise amusement park sign), Cujo (a Saint Bernard being walked down the sidewalk), and others. This bit cleverly hints to the interconnected nature of all of the novels Stephen King has ever written, a multiverse he has intentionally fostered through the Dark Tower series and others.

Those kinds of details go a long way in fostering an appreciation among King fans, but don’t add much to the depth of the film. That lack of depth hinders the audience’s ability to enjoy more than the spectacle of the narrative and form connections that are more than routine. This is a novel that needed to feel more steeped in the multiverse it inhabits, but Arcel doesn’t seem quite interested in moving beyond what is required of him by the script and the studio.

For a film that spans two worlds, production designer Christopher Glass’ work is admirable. Capturing the mundanity of our world while crafting the hopelessness of the dying planet from which the Gunslinger hails. The images are balanced visually helping us understand, with simple and sometimes elegant details, just what kind of universe we are in. The costume design by Trish Summerville and cinematography from Rasmus Videbaek help in this. Editors Alan Edward Ball and Dan Zimmerman have kept the film moving well, shepherding a typically bloated Stephen King production into a surprisingly brief runtime.

As fascinating as the premises behind The Dark Tower are, they are only marginally explored, left for the audience to extrapolate, but failing to engage their desire to anticipate a sequel or the expected television series (or limited series, all things depending). It’s a film with wonderful intentions, but shackled by the mediocrity of one of its principle creators. Goldsman has a history of turning exciting material into leaden productions. His aesthetic style is muted and his writing capabilities are simplistic and unexceptional. What succeeds about this film is borne more out of the inherent creativity at the heart of the material than by any engaging input of Goldsman and his team.