<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Nikolaj Arcel. Starring Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Abbey Lee

Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Not having read any of the eight The Dark Tower books there was no chance of being disappointed about it not living up to Stephen King’s successful series. As a film, The Dark Tower is thoroughly disappointing anyway.

How on earth they thought they’d fit in so many books into just an hour and half I have no idea. They’re even saying the film is more a sequel to the books rather than an adaptation of them.

Little Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) has dreams that manifest themselves in his world. A battle raging on in another universe spills into ours as the evil Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) must use a child’s mind to destroy The Dark Tower that protects multiple universes from being attacked by the demons outside. Guess who the lucky child is? Of course, Idris Elba’s gun toting Gunslinger Roland must protect the boy and get his revenge on the evil lord who has taken what’s dear to him.

A little bit of jumping through portals, some ‘magics’, an interesting scene where a bullet hits a monster not within sight, and plenty of clichés populate this unoriginal and rushed movie that inspires no interest in its source material whatsoever.

Tom Taylor has some potential but doesn’t receive the direction he requires to get it right. Elba is good if a bit drab. And McConaughey seems woefully out of place in this fantasy/sci-fi film. Best for him to stick to dramas and romantic comedies, I think.

There’s a reference in the film to Stephen King’s ‘It’, which seems like a plug for that movie. Hopefully it’ll be more interesting than the lacklustre The Dark Tower.