The Dark Tower (Nikolaj Arcel, 2017, USA)

The Dark Tower is certainly one of the biggest what-if stories in Hollywood history. Based on Stephen King’s legendary fantasy series and intended to be the start of a major franchise, the 2017 Nikolaj Arcel film seemed to have a lot going for it - a talented director, major cast, and Ron Howard producing. It is hard to determine where things went wrong precisely, though one can see that the project went through multiple starts and stops, and a number of other writers were brought on board - notably, Akiva Goldsman. The resulting film feels incredibly short and rushed, compiled together in the editing room.

The film is intended as an origin story for the franchise, but largely dispenses with the events of the first Dark Tower book. The film compiles several elements from the Dark Tower series. Perhaps the film format with the Dark Tower was always destined to fail given the depth and breadth of the universe, but a straight adaptation of the first novel could have been successful. Given the darkness and grittiness of that original source material, it is perhaps surprising that the project was shepherded by Ron Howard.

Idris Elba as Roland, our hero, is probably the strongest element of the film. Matthew McConaughey as Walter, the Man in Black, feels as though he is going through the motions. Tom Taylor does a decent job as Jake, the New York City kid who gets roped into the world of the Dark Tower. One wonders if the Dark Tower had been adapted earlier, what would have happened. Perhaps the themes and motifs of the novels are so routine now, in our fantasy and comic-book saturated world, that they appear less original than they did when the novels were newer on the scene. One wonders if the Dark Tower will ever be resurrected on the screen.

4/10