Review | The Dark Tower

When haste wastes potential

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The Nega Tower, 8 book literary saga written by Stephen King, has a complex and minimally developed plot. Maybe that's why, they still hadn't tried to adapt this extensive saga for theaters, until now, when the Sony finally decided to venture into this detailed world developed by King.

And so, the company proved that in fact this plot should have been only in the books. The Dark Tower (The Black Tower), is not a bad production, but leaves a huge feeling that there was much more to be explored. In a nutshell, the feature represents exactly what it would be like if Stephen King returned to writing 200-page works. With the difficult mission of presenting a new world and very unique characters that need a good explanation, the film ends up being very shallow and for having a short duration, it ends up delivering the outcome the moment it begins to explore its universe more, ending everything in a hurry.

The script delivers a plot that explores other worlds, where the Dark Tower is at the center of everyone and if it is destroyed, monsters will invade the other world. And that is the goal of Man in black (Matthew McConaughey), the leader of faceless men and a master of magic who discovered that using children he can gradually break the tower. Roland (Idis Elba), the last of Gunmen, is the only one that manages to avoid this threat. Who ends up helping is Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor), a boy from our world considered crazy for having dreams about the Gunman and the Man in Black, until the day he gets through the portal and decides to look for Roland to find out the reason for his dreams.

One of the most common problems with adaptations is trying to prolong it longer than it should and placing continuations where there is no need. Ironically, The Dark Tower tries to do the opposite of the rule and adapt the plot in just one film and that's exactly where the problem is. Because it is based mainly on the introduction of the saga, the production is practically divided into two parts: the explanation and the outcome, which result in a long time explaining this new world created by King and a hurried ending, with the obligation to finalize what it was proposed. With that, there is no time to sympathize with the characters, identify with the story and not even understand the villain's motives, it just becomes a shallow film that delivers a different premise, but without involvement.

Crítica | A Torre Negra 1
The Black Tower Man in Black and Gunman | Image: Sony Pictures

Visually, the work works. The setting is convincing and the characterization of the characters was well delivered. There are action scenes, usually in a sequence that involves the Pistoleiro, that are able to entertain the audience for their entire length, but there are some that do not work so well and between ups and downs the film develops.

The poor development of the characters does not affect the performances of the great protagonists, Elba and McConaughey work very well with what was proposed, especially the second one that delivers a different villain and does not show difficulties in this role that escapes from its common, however, for not having time to evolve on screen, it ends up getting monotonous and it becomes visible that there was space to explore these big names.

Crítica | A Torre Negra 2
Matthew McConaughey as the villain in The Dark Tower | Image: Sony Pictures

There is a lack of boldness in the script that proposes to adapt an author known for daring. Inserting only impressive scenes in some points is not enough to make the film move and it is striking how much of the potential that was wasted by it. Perhaps the error is exactly in trying to adapt something so big in a work so small, that it doesn't even leave a gap for continuation. Creating whole worlds just to use for less than two hours and playing two highly regarded actors at the moment on something that is based on a renowned author, seems absurd, and in that case, investing in trilogies or television series would probably have worked better, since it would give more time to develop and connect the audience to the new world and characters.

Despite its defects, the production tries to please readers and non-readers of the original work, and the work done in trying to explain Stephen King's proposal as best as possible and maintain the maximum of the characteristic setting of the author's adaptations is remarkable. References are found at various times, with books by the author on shelves, an old sign written “Pennywise”, a photo of the Hotel Overlook (in The illuminated) and other moments really manage to shine the eyes of the fans, but, unfortunately, they are not enough to compensate for the unpretentious script.

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