Keeping with the tradition of Stephen King’s books becoming not so fantastic movies we have the Dark Tower movie that came out in 2017. Even though it sported a star-studded cast of talented actors, such as Idris Elba (Roland; AKA the Gunslinger) and Matthew McConaughey, (The Man in Black) the movie fell flat with critics and fans alike.
One thing that I know that disappointed fans was the fact that they thoroughly changed the very premise of the novel. The novel is characterized as a fantasy western. As I said in my last blog post, I thought this was such a cool idea. However, instead, the cinematic version focused on the action that movies lately seem obsessed with. They took away the fun and creativity of the novel and made another run of the mill action flick with explosions and dynamic fight scenes.
Another thing that bothered me about the movie was the fact that they highly condensed it. The Dark Tower series is seven books long, (nine if count the novellas that go along with it) and they tried to make this into a two-hour movie. Leaving so much cut out it should be criminal. What was left was a boring and flat movie that could’ve been called anything else besides the Dark Tower.
I’ve heard that the director wanted to reimagine the Dark Tower novel into something newer and fresher for a new audience. However, I think they could have still at least tried to keep up with the source material instead of what they put together.
I hope in the future to see Stephen King’s magnum opus given the on-screen adaption it deserves. Something that the fans of the series could enjoy and not feel betrayed by Hollywood trying to make a quick buck off of a tired movie troupe.
There is talk of a sequel being made for the first movie, but that may not happen. One thing that I know about movies is that sometimes they aren’t sure if a sequel will be approved, so they cram as much as they can into one movie and hope it makes enough money. Since the movie got such mixed reviews, it is unlikely that a sequel will be made. Also, I’m not sure what they would make the story about since they strayed so far from the novel and changed many of the characters and the lore of the novel.
I also would’ve thought that they would make a good movie because of the actors they signed. It’s sad to see a book get poorly adapted especially as a fan. I still to this day am mad at the director of the Percy Jackson movie. That was so trash, and Percy Jackson was one of my favorite book series as a kid. I actually didn’t remember that this movie came out until I searched it up after I read your blog about it. I just remember seeing the trailer, which was not that bad in my opinion. Regardless thanks for saving my money if I ever came across this movie in a theater. Great review!
I’m unfamiliar with Stephen King’s novels as well as the movie made off of these books. Though as I was reading this it did sound like the directors strayed from the books for what they thought would be a popular appeal. Honestly, I understand why they do that, but I don’t think they should. People often go to these movies, because of their fascination with the fictional worlds in their novels. To try and alter that just ruins the beautiful picture that we have built in our heads.
I liked the post and can tell that you are passionate about this topic, but I would have liked more specifics, because of my lack of familiarity with your topic. I think that would help better engage all of your readers. Overall I did enjoy the post and think this will be a successful blog.
As you said, this definitely isn’t the first time a Stephen King novel has been ripped off into some haphazard film for a box office profit. Although The Shining is one of my favorite movies of all time, it definitely wasn’t as the book projected. After watching the movie, I decided to read the novel and found a lot of pieces were missing and major plot lines were skewed, particularly the ending. I admire Stanley Kubrick with my whole heart and find every piece of his just as beautiful as the last, but the film was definitely not as the book intended. I wish someone would don Stephen King some justice. Seems as though films that King has more oversight on, like Pet Sematary, seem to do worse with critics and fans and I’m curious as to why. Maybe his vision is left best on book pages rather than movie screens.