Fans of the novels have been clamoring for a legitimate glimpse at Sony‘s adaptation of The Dark Tower for months now. A leaked trailer late last year and word of footage shown at conventions only furthered the demand for a proper trailer. Now that one is finally here, how does writer/director Nikolaj Arcel’s take on Stephen King‘s wildly imaginative novels look? Let’s find out…
First thing’s first, kudos for using Ennio Morricone’s “La Resa Dei Conti” from For A Few Dollars More. It’s my favorite piece of Morricone spaghetti western music from my favorite Sergio Leone western. My nostalgia strings were instantly pulled. Moving beyond that…
This is incredibly different than what I imagined any adaptation of these novels would ever be. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however. Our three leads here look and sound great in their roles. The visuals are all intriguing and I recognize a large chunk of moments from the novels.
It’s not a straight adaptation, of course. While part of me will always want that, I get what they are going for here. Without giving anything away to those who haven’t read the novels, the source material gives the filmmakers an easy narrative excuse for any changes that they have made. They have taken it. As a result, both this film and any potential sequels to it will offer up something as familiar as it is new to King fans. It’s a risky gamble, but one they should be applauded for attempting. Let’s just hope it actually pays off. The last thing I want is an adaptation that pulls its punches, no matter how faithful it turns out to be.
The Dark Tower is based upon a series of novels by Stephen King. The film is directed by Nikolaj Arcel, from a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinker, Nikolaj Arcel, and Anders Thomas Jensen. The picture is produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsman, and Stephen King. It stars Idris Elba as ‘Roland Deschain’, Matthew McConaughey as ‘Walter Padick/The Man in Black’, Tom Taylor as ‘Jake Chambers’, Katheryn Winnick as ‘Laurie Chambers’, Jacke Earle Haley as ‘Sayre’, Fran Kranz as ‘Pimli’, Abbey Lee Kershaw as ‘Tirana’, Michael Barbieri as ‘Timmy’, Claudia Kim as ‘Arra Champignon’, Jose Zuniga as ‘Dr. Hotchkiss’, Alex McGregor as ‘Susan Delgado’, Nicholas Hamilton as ‘Lucas Hanson’, and Dennis Haysbert as ‘Stephen Deschain’.
The Dark Tower blasts its way into theaters on August 4th, 2017.
