The Dark Tower

There are some films that you just have to see. It doesn't matter how many bad reviews there are, how many people you know tell you not to bother, or how much you just know it probably wont be any good. You just have to see for yourself.

The Dark Tower was one of those movies for me.

I picked up the first book The Gunslinger in an airport when it first came out. Probably because I had heard of Stephen King and thought it was about cowboys. I loved it. But is was ages until the next one came out... about 5 years I think. I loved that too. Then another 5 years. Loved book 3. Then another 5 years...

Book 4 was massive, about 800 pages, and what with all the stuff going on in my life at that time, I never finished it. End of story.

But I was intrigued by the prospect of a movie. Then horrified when it seemed that everyone hated it. Just like another of my favourite book series (His Dark Materials) it looks like we just get the one movie... then nothing. The fickle public vote with their feet after the "introduction".

For what it is worth I quite enjoyed the movie. It was very short (94 mins) both in time and on explanation. I can understand why people who had not read any of the books might feel a bit lost. I couldn't actually remember any of the plot but some of the performances resonated with the impressions I retained of the main characters.

Maybe it would have been better if Netflix had commissioned a TV series instead. A run of 13 episodes would have the time to build the story that is needed here. In a short movie most people are just going to be left asking why the cowboy was weird and why the bad magician couldn't just kill him like he did everyone else.