Review - The Dark Tower

I'm still sort-of picking my way through the book series, although I've come slightly adrift halfway through book four, and so I finally decided to sit down and watch the movie.

Now - I love Idris Elba. He's my pretend husband, my hall pass. He's everything. And as the Gunslinger, he's GREAT.

However - that's where the greatness ends.

Stephen King has an exceptional narrative touch when he's truly on his game, and that's exhibited clearly - for me - in the first three books (again, so far the only books I've finished)  - and that deftness is just ... missing. It's almost like whoever adapted the screenplay missed the point.

I can understand leaving out Eddie and Suzanne - from a strictly narrative point of view movie-wise that makes sense. But I couldn't understand why they altered Jake's storyline so drastically. Not only that, but they ignored his most compelling line: "Go, then. There are other worlds than these", which packs a real emotional wallop in context.

Matthew McConaughey is fine as the Man in Black, but the movie as a whole left me feeling cold.

1. As long and as epic and weird as The Dark Tower book series is, it still has an emotional core, which, unfortunately, is missing from the movie.