Stephen King's Epic "The Dark Tower" - Part 1

[Infinity9999x]

Yeah, the trailer doesn't give me much hope for this. I hope I'm wrong, but it seems they've missed the intent of the source material in favor of making a generic action flick.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Yeah, I think that if I want to see a Dark Tower movie, I'll just put on an episode of Westworld, turn the volume down, play a Dark Tower audiobook and pretend that Ed Harris is Roland, Tessa Thompson is Susannah, Even Rachel Wood is Susan Delgado and that twitchy English guy is Eddie.

I get more of the Man in Black feel from Harris, but the rest work for me. Also Jake:

 

[TX85]

I've never read any of the books and so what is so bad/different about the trailer? Looks alright I guess but I'm curious what makes it a disaster compared to the source material

 

[C-3PO]

Yeah, Starz has put out some high quality material. Black Sails is epic as f***.

I don't think this looks as awful as whatever Paul W.S. Anderson's last movie was, but it definitely looks bad. There's so much potential here and they blew it. Yeah, I know we've only seen a two-minute trailer, but come on. It's obvious. This is the first footage we've seen, and the movie comes out in three months. It's a mess, and they KNOW it.

Sony needs to go under. The only movie they have coming out that has a shot in hell of being good is Spider-Man, and that's only because Marvel had a huge hand in putting it together.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

Yeah, I think that if I want to see a Dark Tower movie, I'll just put on an episode of Westworld, turn the volume down, play a Dark Tower audiobook and pretend that Ed Harris is Roland, Tessa Thompson is Susannah, Even Rachel Wood is Susan Delgado and that twitchy English guy is Eddie.

Ben Barnes or Simon Quarterman? I haven't watched it yet so I wouldn't know.

 

[JtheDreamer]

It just hurts to see the potential of this material wasted. I imagine a long form on HBO or netflix, goddamn.

Probably would be better that way.

I just saw the trailer for the first time and prolly not something I'm going to check out in theaters.

 

[FunkMiller]

I've never read any of the books and so what is so bad/different about the trailer? Looks alright I guess but I'm curious what makes it a disaster compared to the source material

Extremely difficult to say without spending a good 4000 words doing it. Suffice to say, this trailer is very much for an action sci-fI fantasy movie. If you read The Dark Tower novels, they are nothing like that. Imagine reading Lord Of The Rings, and then watching a trailer that makes it feel like that Dungeons and Dragons movie starring Jeremy Irons.

Dumbed down, cliched, and just like a thousand other things you've seen before - whereas the source material is totally different from anything you've read before in terms of fantasy.

 

[TX85]

Ouch

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Extremely difficult to say without spending a good 4000 words doing it. Suffice to say, this trailer is very much for an action sci-fI fantasy movie. If you read The Dark Tower novels, they are nothing like that. Imagine reading Lord Of The Rings, and then watching a trailer that makes it feel like that Dungeons and Dragons movie starring Jeremy Irons.

Dumbed down, cliched, and just like a thousand other things you've seen before - whereas the source material is totally different from anything you've read before in terms of fantasy.

There is definitely a good bit of action/sci-fi/fantasy. But it grows into that. The first book is very much a western crossed with Mad Max, that progressively gets more supernatural and fantasy based.

This movie should be a surprise. One you see and think is one thing, but turns out to be another. In a lot of ways it is kind of like a Western Witcher.

 

[The Guard]

There seems to be a lot more of The Gunslinger in this than I expected to see based on what we were told about them drawing from multiple books.

"They're chasing the blockbuster crowd!" Of course they're chasing the blockbuster crowd. This movie and this franchise was never going to be cheap to make, and they need people to see it.

As far as “generic action” and so on…very little of this looks truly generic or out of character for Roland. At least anymore generic than say, just shooting something with guns really well, a la the book.

Tower fans need to be honest. There are some "generic sci-fi" and "generic fantasy" elements in the books, too, but King handles the characters interactions with them well, so it works.

Beyond that, plenty of fantasy adaptions have had “generic modern elements”, like the LOTR trilogy. It’s kind of ironic, because for all the complaining about "generic" that people have done, it seems like a lot of people wanted something more like a “generic Western” in the first place.

I think it’s a solid trailer. Not great, but certainly a nice dip into the mythology for the uninitiated. They seem to have gotten a lot of the basics right, regarding Roland, his quest, the Gunslingers themselves.

Elba, who I've never been a big fan of, actually looks a lot better as Roland than I expected.

I’m not seeing the “pristine sci-fi world” people complained about. Looks pretty pseudo Western to me.

I get the sense that the doors and portals are two sides of the same concept. Someone knows more about them than others do.

I think it’s a bit much to assume that because they showed a trailer with some action and urgency that the entire story will be that way.

Exactly what specific elements, from The Gunslinger or The Dark Tower do you all think this movie will fail to capitalize on?

So far the only major thing I'm seeing is that Walter has some kind of powers. And while I get that this isn't all that much like the book, I just can't bring myself to care all that much, either.

 

[FunkMiller]

There is definitely a good bit of action/sci-fi/fantasy. But it grows into that. The first book is very much a western crossed with Mad Max, that progressively gets more supernatural and fantasy based.

Yeah. Good point. I guess I'm using the catch all 'fantasy' term for the whole series. The first book is a western, with supernatural tropes. Kinda like Logan, as someone pointed out above somewhere.

Basically, the first film should have been like a Leone western.

 

[TX85]

So the movie will basically be all books in 1 film? Damn I guess Sony has no faith this could be a franchise over time like LOTR or something

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Yeah. Good point. I guess I'm using the catch all 'fantasy' term for the whole series. The first book is a western, with supernatural tropes. Kinda like Logan, as someone pointed out above somewhere.

Basically, the first film should have been like a Leone western.

Yep. If I tried to describe the look for the first movie, it would be Leone by the way of GDT, with some Mad Max for good measure.

 

[The Guard]

So the movie will basically be all books in 1 film? Damn I guess Sony has no faith this could be a franchise over time like LOTR or something

Clearly not, as several other major characters are nowhere to be seen.

This is intended to be the first of multiple films, and possibly a TV series.

 

[Lily Adler]

So the movie will basically be all books in 1 film? Damn I guess Sony has no faith this could be a franchise over time like LOTR or something

At least we don't have to worry about them splitting the last book to get more money.

 

[Black Narcissus]

My recollection of the first book is bad, but doesnt it start with Roland dragging some sort of animal carcass across a desert? So good.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

There seems to be a lot more of The Gunslinger in this than I expected to see based on what we were told about them drawing from multiple books.

"They're chasing the blockbuster crowd!" Of course they're chasing the blockbuster crowd. This movie and this franchise was never going to be cheap to make, and they need people to see it.

As far as “generic action” and so on…very little of this looks truly generic or out of character for Roland. At least anymore generic than say, just shooting something with guns really well, a la the book.

Tower fans need to be honest. There are some "generic sci-fi" and "generic fantasy" elements in the books, too, but King handles the characters interactions with them well, so it works.

Beyond that, plenty of fantasy adaptions have had “generic modern elements”, like the LOTR trilogy. It’s kind of ironic, because for all the complaining about "generic" that people have done, it seems like a lot of people wanted something more like a “generic Western” in the first place.

I think it’s a solid trailer. Not great, but certainly a nice dip into the mythology for the uninitiated. They seem to have gotten a lot of the basics right, regarding Roland, his quest, the Gunslingers themselves.

Elba, who I've never been a big fan of, actually looks a lot better as Roland than I expected.

I’m not seeing the “pristine sci-fi world” people complained about. Looks pretty pseudo Western to me.

I get the sense that the doors and portals are two sides of the same concept. Someone knows more about them than others do.

I think it’s a bit much to assume that because they showed a trailer with some action and urgency that the entire story will be that way.

Exactly what specific elements, from The Gunslinger or The Dark Tower do you all think this movie will fail to capitalize on?

So far the only major thing I'm seeing is that Walter has some kind of powers. And while I get that this isn't all that much like the book, I just can't bring myself to care all that much, either.

How much Gunslinger was in there?

I didn't want a "generic" Western. I wanted something that looked like a western. Not something that looks like a bad LotR knockoff, mixed with the usual filter of a film made in Canada.

As to the action. I come from the school of less is more. I prefer the samurai flicks that show the skill through precise action, and not over the top BS that probably actually takes longer to do.

 

[The Guard]

How much Gunslinger was in there?

I didn't want a "generic" Western. I wanted something that looked like a western. Not something that looks like a bad LotR knockoff, mixed with the usual filter of a film made in Canada.

As to the action. I come from the school of less is more. I prefer the samurai flicks that show the skill through precise action, and not over the
top BS that probably actually takes longer to do.

Roland's quest, his past in Gilead, Jake's involvement, what looks like it might be Tull. Walter.

I kind of expected to be dropped into the middle of the story based on rumors, and maybe they will still go that route.

You said you wanted something like a Leone Western. Leone Westerns, and imitations of said, the whole spaghetti Western thing, are what many people think of as when they think about a generic cinematic Western. An attempt to recreate that tone and feel.

Past that, when people start to imply that something has to look or feel a specific way to be considered an appropriate take on a Western, my eyes start to glaze over. That's really limiting something.

THE GUNSLINGER, as a book, wasn't a straight up Western. It started with that tone to be sure, but fairly soon, like the series itself, becomes something else entirely. That's what King does with the series, lulls you into thinking you know what something is, when most of the time you're just seeing the surface of it. In the case of The Gunslinger, it's not just a Western tale, it's got demons, mutants, a post apocalyptic world, elements of knighthood, and an encounter with someone who might as well be a wizard.

 

[Kev4000]

Trailer disappoints me a lot.

 

[Lily Adler]

Elba deserves better... I actually didn't like McConaughey in the trailer.

 

[Da-Scribe]

Never read the books. Trailer looks cool though. Didn't expect the references to the other King novels, for film rights reasons.

 

[Rowsdower!]

I didn't even like Elba in the trailer to be honest. I thought he said he was doing an American accent in this. He sounds English in most of it.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Elba deserves better... I actually didn't like McConaughey in the trailer.

I'm not in love with Matthew McConaughey to begin with. I didn't like him in the trailer either.

 

[moviedoors]

There seems to be a lot more of The Gunslinger in this than I expected to see based on what we were told about them drawing from multiple books.

"They're chasing the blockbuster crowd!" Of course they're chasing the blockbuster crowd. This movie and this franchise was never going to be cheap to make, and they need people to see it.

As far as “generic action” and so on…very little of this looks truly generic or out of character for Roland. At least anymore generic than say, just shooting something with guns really well, a la the book.

Tower fans need to be honest. There are some "generic sci-fi" and "generic fantasy" elements in the books, too, but King handles the characters interactions with them well, so it works.

Beyond that, plenty of fantasy adaptions have had “generic modern elements”, like the LOTR trilogy. It’s kind of ironic, because for all the complaining about "generic" that people have done, it seems like a lot of people wanted something more like a “generic Western” in the first place.

I think it’s a solid trailer. Not great, but certainly a nice dip into the mythology for the uninitiated. They seem to have gotten a lot of the basics right, regarding Roland, his quest, the Gunslingers themselves.

Elba, who I've never been a big fan of, actually looks a lot better as Roland than I expected.

I’m not seeing the “pristine sci-fi world” people complained about. Looks pretty pseudo Western to me.

I get the sense that the doors and portals are two sides of the same concept. Someone knows more about them than others do.

I think it’s a bit much to assume that because they showed a trailer with some action and urgency that the entire story will be that way.

Exactly what specific elements, from The Gunslinger or The Dark Tower do you all think this movie will fail to capitalize on?

So far the only major thing I'm seeing is that Walter has some kind of powers. And while I get that this isn't all that much like the book, I just can't bring myself to care all that much, either.

Now this post is a breath of fresh air. I think the trailer itself is shoddy, overthought, and over-stuffed, but the movie inside of it looks like something I want to see and that doesn't offend me as a Tower fan.

But I'm an eternal optimist in a web full of negative nancys, so what do I know?

 

[Marvolo]

McConaughey wasnt remotely sinister in the trailer. Seemed like typical McConaughey with a laughable hairstyle.

 

[Rowsdower!]

The man in black fled across Manhattan, and the gunslinger jumped off rooftops.