Trailer Review: THE DARK TOWER

See this, now. See it very well. The first trailer for The Dark Tower is here.




A moment, please, while I pick my jaw up off the floor.

I'm a huge Dark Tower fan, friends. I love the books so much it actually ruined me for most of Stephen King's other works -- cry pardon, sai King, but there's The Dark Tower, and then there's the other stuff you wrote. I won't say the movie looks perfect, because it doesn't. First glance suggests the movie is going to continue the unfortunate tradition of trying to "expand" or "improve on" King's original saga, with the movie trying to tell the story of how Jake came to Mid-World the first time. But Idris Elba makes a strong first impression as Roland, er, "The Gunslinger", and I'm thrilled as hell that Matthew McConaughey, who has always struck me as just being the right kind of "off" for this character, is playing Walter -- sorry, "The Man in Black".

Look, if you haven't read The Dark Tower, by all the gods that are and were, why? They are an objective example of Stephen King at the peak of his powers, and I envy the first-time experience you're about to have. Ok, the bit about Mejis in book 4 is dull as dishwater, but still: GO READ THE DARK TOWER.

I've got a wishlist about a mile long for this movie, and the trailer doesn't give us a whole lot of clues. Though it does look like some version of The Tull Massacre -- one of the major events in the first book -- might happen here. Unfortunately, I also see Susan Delgado, a key figure in Roland's past, yes, but also part of the Mejis story, is listed among the characters of the film on IMDB. Hopefully we won't have to spend too much time on that particular anecdote. It really does stop book 4 dead.

Historically, movies based on Stephen King stories have been disappointing. The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile are the only exceptions I can think of. Hopefully this one will buck the trend as well, but we'll all find out soon enough.

The Dark Tower will hit theaters on August 4, 2017.

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