An epic sci-fi fantasy and western, The Dark Tower artfully combines all three genres to produce an engaging, interesting and riveting story.
Based on Stephen King’s eight-book saga, The Dark Tower tells the story of Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) a young boy plagued by nightmares about the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey).
No one believes Jake and he is taken to a number of shrinks, meanwhile New York experiences a strange phenomenon of earthquakes, which are connected to Jake’s dreams.
Desperate to find the answers Jake leaves home and is teleported to another world where he teams up with Roland (Idris Elba) a legendary gunslinger.
Jake soon realises he must defeat The Man in Black if he is to save earth and multiple universes before the darkness takes over.
Although there is nothing original about the story, which follows your standard fantasy format of good fighting darkness, The Dark Tower was great.
The story draws on myths and legends including King Arthur as Roland’s bullets are forged from steel which also created Excalibur, and it puts a fresh spin on familiar story lines of fulfilling your destiny, fighting forces of evil and never losing hope.
The strength of the movie lies in the relationship between Jake and Roland; both of them are struggling with the recent deaths of their parents but have to put their fears aside and face The Man in Black.
Their bond is perfectly captured when Roland teaches Jack the gunslinger’s creed and while fans of the book may be left disappointed as eight books were crammed into one film, The Dark Tower is definitely worth a watch.
Also starring Claudia Kim, Abbey Lee, Katheryn Winnick and Dennis Haysbert.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Rated: M
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
In cinemas now
