In recent years, the film industry has pleased us with a large number of quality adaptations. This is also the "Dark Tower" (The dark tower), filmed based on the cycle of novels by Stephen King with the same name. The tape was released in 2017.
Danish director Nikolai Arsel managed to accurately convey the atmosphere of mystery and magic, which enveloped the work of the famous writer. However, the film for some reason in many ratings occupies far from top positions. Why is this happening? And whose fault is this? Let's figure it out!
A few words about the plot
The film tells the audience a story about little Jake Chambers, who, by the will of fate, ended up in a different world. In a world that has repeatedly appeared in the visions of a child. Dark tower, Shooter with revolvers, Man in black ... Is all this just a raging fantasy? Or reality?
Eleven-year-old Jake lives in New York. His life is not like the lives of other guys of the same age. The boy’s parents consider him mentally unhealthy and want to send his son to a psychiatric clinic. Therefore, Jake decides to escape.
After escaping from home, Chambers Jr. enters an abandoned house. Suddenly he is sucked into the portal, and the boy finds himself in the Middle World. In the very thing that he saw earlier in his dreams. From this moment on, Jake’s life changes. He learns that he is endowed with superpower - telepathy. In his hands is the destruction of the center of the universe - the Dark Tower.
The Dark Tower (2017): actors
Successful film adaptation is pursued by undeserved negative reviews. Why such an injustice? Are the actors guilty?
Perhaps the point is the high expectations of the audience. Inspired by the atmosphere of the novel, fans of King's work could not fairly appreciate the idea of the director Nikolai Arsel.
At the very least, connoisseurs of creativity were saddened by the mismatch of the book Roland Diskain and his cinematic image. Now let's look at how the actors of The Dark Tower (2017) did their job.
Conceived by the writer, Shooter was a broad-shouldered, blue-eyed blond with white skin. His appearance was "copied" from Clint Eastwood, known for the role of the Blonde from the movie "Good, Bad, Evil." In fact, we can observe that the role of Roland is played by the black Idris Elba. The actor played a well-conceived role, he created a unique image of the hero perfectly working with revolvers.
The image turned out exactly the way Stephen King wanted to see it (even the writer himself appreciated the director’s approach, noting that the main thing is that the atmosphere of the novel is conveyed, and the actor’s mismatch to the book hero is not the most important). So to the actors of the Dark Tower (2017), special thanks for the quality work done. Despite this, the inconsistency led the audience into confusion, and as a result the film received a large number of far from positive reviews.
Easter eggs
The director’s unusual idea was to add to the film a large number of so-called Easter eggs and references to other literary works of Stephen King.
Here are some of them:
- The number of one of the portals in the film is 1408, King has a short story with a similar name.
- In one of the moments you can notice the frame with the image of the Overlook Hotel, the same was in the work “The Shining”.
- Pennywise appears in The Dark Tower, a clown from the novel It.
- There is a reference to the work of the artist Bango Skanko (graffiti in the Middle World).
- And also, as was said earlier, the protagonist of the novel is based on the character of the film “Good, Bad, Evil”.
The magic of number 19
An interesting feature of the film is the sign of the number. For example, the cost of the film adaptation of the novel "Dark Tower" Stephen King estimated at 19 dollars 19 cents. It is worth noting that the number 19 plays a significant role in all the works of the Dark Tower novel series.
Conclusion
The film "Dark Tower" is the embodiment of a world of fantasies and dreams in real life. Let and only on the screens of our TVs.
Exciting special effects, magical atmosphere - this is what catches the viewer from the first seconds. I would like to look further and further, because the plot unfolds unpredictably. In addition, the actors of The Dark Tower (2017) did an excellent job. This movie is definitely worth your attention. Therefore, enjoy your viewing and immersion in another world!