Film review: The Dark Tower (3 out of 5)

There has been much wringing of hands and general concern over the attempt to squash a host of Stephen King novels that make up The Dark Tower series into around 90 minutes of movie.
The Dark TowerThe Dark Tower
The Dark Tower

Perhaps it should have been done as a trilogy of films at least, maybe not attempted at all.

However, as someone who hasn’t read any of the source material, I quite enjoyed the film.

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The Dark Tower is at the centre of the universe, holding everything together across various worlds.

However, Walter O’Dim (Matthew McConaughey) is a sorcerer looking to destroy the tower and take control.

Opposing him is Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), also known as (the last) Gunslinger.

Walter uses the psychic powers of abducted children as a sort of mental battering ram and discovers that on Earth a young lad called Jake (Tom Taylor) has very strong powers.

So it’s an old-fashioned battle between good and evil.

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As such it does the job well enough with the film’s stars all providing a solid enough performance.

The special effects are good and the action sequences exciting.

I’m the first person to squeal if I think a movie is too long, but unusually I could have handled another half an hour of this.

Some of the characters could have been developed more and we could have been given more details about Walter who appears as a fully formed baddie with no back story (plus we know nothing about the tower itself)

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However, overall this is a decent action movie that many youngsters and adults alike will enjoy.

The Dark Tower enthusiasts should stick to the books though.

Film details: The Dark Tower (12A) 95mins

Directors: Nikolaj Arcel

Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor

Screening courtesy of Horsham Capitol

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