Amph The Dark Tower

Gunslinger was my favorite of the series. I think they are still planning on developing a t.v. series, if the film is successful. Maybe we'll get lucky and that adaptation will cover more of the first novel (not counting on it though).

 

Don't get he Jurassic World ref (didn't it make a billion $$?), but I agree that I think DT will be a flop. I am still gonna go see it, and I certainly hope it captures the spirit, thrill and adventure of the books, but even if it is a good film I can see it being passed up by audiences (prove me wrong universe, please!). Though I think King Arthur will surpass it as the bigger flop.

 

Yeah - it's interesting that even many series consider Gunslinger a difficult read and one of the worst parts of the series. Not only is it my favorite, I consider it one of the best books I have ever read. It's extremely visceral... perhaps not as refined as King's later work, but the force of his imagination is breaking out of every page.


If the film is at least good I think it will do ok financially since it supposedly only cost 60 million to make. The built in fan base of readers should help.

Interestingly enough, I think it might be the kind of film that could do well internationally.

 

I have this weird feeling the movie itself will be good but Sony are a bunch of braindead hack frauds who don't know how to successfully market a movie.

 

Idris Elba has charisma. I mean, what I saw of Luther was incredibly stupid, but he and Ruth Wilson made it watchable despite some very dubious plotting. Idris might well manage to carry this film even if the creative choices are weak.

 

I just...this looks bad.

 

Eddie Dean: I'll be damned If that isn't Velcro Fly by ZZ Top!


this movie looks horrible.

 

So... yeah. Not the book. The sequel to the book which makes sense in a perverse way...

http://io9.gizmodo.com/yes-the-dark-tower-movie-is-a-sequel-to-the-books-1796235912

 

I don't that perverse at all.

 

(If this should be under a different subforum, please move it. I was having trouble differentiating between the threads in the JCC compared to those in the Amphitheater).

I actually wanted to see this movie in theaters, which I only save for movies I am looking forward to.

Spoiler

That was a great disappointment. I don't think this is what fans have been looking for for almost 20 years.

The effects were great; the script not so much.

I didn't think McConaughey was a villain aside from his lines; there was no mention beyond a "Spark" (I don't really remember that from the books, but I do remember those of the ka-tet having something extra about them) being the reason why Jake knew of Mid-World; the entire basis as to how the Tower could be destroyed was mediocre, at best.
Roland and the state of Mid-World were pretty much the only things I liked about it. The effects showed a gunslinger's skills very well.

My friend saw it without reading any books and she felt it was childish - and honestly believed it was a book series geared towards middle grades/young adults. That's how I felt about the movie too.

 

Thanks! I searched for 8 pages and even did a google search and couldn't find it.

 

It wasn't a bad film, but it was a bad Dark Tower film.

 

Flick is mostly bunk, mostly because it's a giant exposition bomb when not doing pretty lame action sequences. But I do like the performances of all 3 actors and I got some yuks here and there like Roland and the doctors. Man in Black telling the two goons to kill each other in the restaurant was awesome. Kind of wish Walter did more than just hang around his office and bark at his underlings. Also I actually loved the opening scene and early stuff when they cut between Jake going batty and random unexplained weirdness in the other world. the more they explain stuff (and explain stuff, and explain stuff) the more dull it gets.

What's neat is it's kind of technically a sequel to The Shining since Jake has The Shine. A crummy sequel, true, but counts enough. there is some really in depth worldbuilding underneath the film but it keeps dragging to a halt to explain stuff / motivations / backstory, etc. Like did we really need all that chatty nonsense with the poor unwashed masses in the Random Town of Dank that Jake and Roland sort of stumble on to.

I know this is a "Sequel" moreso than an adaptation but, having not read the book, I didn't see much of a shout-out aside from that horn in Roland's back pack and Man in Black saying "Another turn of the wheel, my friend" which makes it seem like he's been doing this over and over for lifetimes. And, aside from The Shining and the number above a portal door, I didn't catch much of any other references to King flicks in here.

 

Does the movie make any more sense if you know there is a tv series to follow it?

 

No, it's self contained.

 

Aren't you glad we moved to the new boards?

 

Apparently that's a prequel TV series. This flick has a pretty definitive ending. Which I actually don't mind considering the constant state of cliffhanger post-credit-ness that infects almost every franchise film.

Actually according to the film, it seems like this is Roland's first time on Earth, which would be a shame cuz it's great fodder for a TV series cuz some of the movie's best stuff is just him reacting to NYC with his gruff weird way of talking. Of course, I'm a sucker for stranger in a strange land stuff like that and Thor, Wonder Woman, etc.

 

Well, in board search is now enabled. Naturally I assume you'll claim not to understand how to use the simplistic system.

 

At least everyone following the film had plenty of warning that it was going to be a disaster.

 

I would dearly love HBO or some such to buy the rights.

 

Love the books, will probably watch this out of curiosity at some point but you couldn't drag me to the theater b/c of... everything

 

The movie wasn't good, although the actors were perfect for their respective roles. I will say that the director's claims of a "sequel" to the books doesn't wash. If you've read the series you know that it ends exactly where it began each and every time. None of that fits into the narrative provided by the film. Roland's past never changes (apart from the appearance of the Horn of Deschain).