Dark Tower

[amberdreams]

Has anyone else seen the Dark Tower yet, and if so, what did you think of it?

I haven't read the books so everything I knew about it beforehand came from seeing pictures of the Gunslinger and the Man in Black, and the trailers. I really enjoyed the film. Idris Elba is one of those actors who somehow expresses a gamut of emotions without actually doing anything more than raising an eyebrow or narrowing his eyes. I have no idea how he does it - Mark Rylance is the same. The kid in the story is excellent too, I was rooting for him right away and he kept my attention whenever he was on screen, which is no mean feat when half his scenes are with Idris. Added to which, I thought several of the supporting characters were really strong - the mother and the psychic in the village in particular.

The sorcerous Man in Black was chilling. His powers were just so casual, and so devastatingly effective. I never really got a sense of why he was so determined to loose the apocalypse on all the worlds but that didn't really matter. He was genuinely scary, all the more so because he didn't appear to be bat-shit crazy.

Oh and I loved all the drawings.

So anyway, I'd be interested to know what other people think, especially as my cinema buddy didn't like it and said she got bored halfway through. Probably around about the time I was thinking, well, this is tense.

Comments

[be-my-precious.livejournal.com]

that's out right now?! omg...

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

It is indeed!

[kuwlshadow.livejournal.com]

I saw it and I did like it. But you come out asking yourself "did they not read the book?" My hubby and I are going to see It tomorrow. Hope it stays true to the book more so than this one.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Hang on - are there two? What are you going to see with the hubster?

[kuwlshadow.livejournal.com]

I'm going to see the movie "IT" also a novel written by Stephen King. :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh of course! Doh!

[jimbobjoe.livejournal.com]

I have not seen the movie, but I've read all the books a couple times.
I think this is one movie that a person will like better if they have not read the books, so score for you!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

yeah I got that impression. I've seen how thick the books are and there's no way you can cover that in one two hour film!

[jimbobjoe.livejournal.com]

And I was under the impression that they were doing one book = one movie. Since I learned they aren't, I can't imagine how squashed together it must be!

[hugemind.livejournal.com]

It was playing here in a weekly slot reserved for movies shown in original language just before my b-day, but the showing was starting kind of late, had no subtitles for hb, and I read some reviews which were pretty polarized, so I skipped it. I'm probably buying the dvd, though, because I really liked the books and the dvd will probably cost less than two movie tickets anyway. As I understand, the movie's more a continuation of the books rather than a pure adaptation, but for the book-readers it's easy to feel cheated by the movie because the story in the books is just so massive.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I'd have thought this will probably be one of those where it's best to forget what you know and go with the flow.

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it yet, I want to, Steve's a huge fan of Idris and the books themselves, but we just haven't had chance to go and see it. However from your descriptions I think we're going to have to make sure we do.

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, good thing you asked for opinions since I've wanted to talk to someone about it immediately after seeing it and nobody presented themselves, LOL.
I was actually of two very differents minds about it because I very definitely wanted to watch it once I'd seen the trailer (Idris, Matthew, the gunslinging effects, the credo, just masterful) but I do normally try to read the book before I watch a movie just on a matter of principle. So I got the book, but I neither realized until then that it was actually a series and Stephen King's most epic work (in the literary sense of the word) nor that the movie was coming out so soon after I remembered so I didn't have time to read the first book completely before I needed to go see the movie (and I have to be pretty quick about it since they only show Original Language Versions reliably at the beginning of a films run here at our theater) which was kind of a blessing.
I did enjoy the book and got about three quarters through the first one before I watched the movie, but I realized right away that there was no possible way they could make one movie based on that book alone given the content of the trailers so I checked and when I found out that the movie was supposed to cover the whole story I lowered my expectations considerably - and I think people who loved the book series for its style and form (which is awesome) wouldn't like it too much because the film clearly had a very different language. Nevertheless having read some of the book gave me a bit more backstory that I think I might have sorely missed if I had just watched the movie, but I wasn't as immersed in the books as a fan to be unable to appreciate the stunning visuals and the absolutely mindblowing character performances we got in the movie.
So, long story short, I think the absolutely terrific cast saved the movie for me when the fact of matter was that the story could and should have had a bit more breathing room (Like, the motivation for the Man in Black, the fact that we never really got to know what the tower was all about except for some rather crammed exposition dumps and how all the children and psychic powers fit together etc.) But Matthew really chilled me to the bone in his performance as the Man in Black, with like you said, that brilliant casualness and disregard for life that made him a terrifying villian because you can't bargain with him and there's no way out once he gets to you. And Idris, man, that man is fabulous in his delivery and quite made for the role both in terms of the action stuff and the moral Shakesperean weight of the character. And true, that kid totally held his own with those two heavy weights, which is no small thing, I wager he'll be going places. Same goes for psychic villager girl, she really was a scene stealer.

So yeah, I enjoyed it in the sense that it gave a frame to a world
and very fitting faces to characters that I found much more compelling in the book, which I think I'm going to enjoy more once I revisit them with a bit of distance from the movie. But I think that isn't the movies fault so much as it was conceived and very well executed as a summer action blockbuster when the book is a true epic of the style and magnitude of a norse Edda or a greek Odysee - the origin story of a whole universe/civilisation encapsulated in a hero's journey, steeped in deep philosophical themes that just don't lend themselves to that kind of cinema. But then, sadly, there is no provision for a big budget, special effectsladen nine-(or at least six)-movie series arthaus film in this industry today, so we take what we get. LOL, well that was quite a bit more rambling thought than I've put together in what must be weeks at least, I'm so sorry about that.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting! I totally agree about the acting and the visuals - and now you've whetted my appetite more to read the series. I shall have to sort that out soon!