First and foremost, I have to fully disclose that I have not read a single word from The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I understand that there is a rich mythology to the stories from the book, that contains a lot of fine details that was likely lost when it was turned into a 95 minutes film. With that said, the movie did benefit greatly from the strong world building that the novels have already established, and only made the adaptation better than it probably should have be.
As a non-book reader, I have to also point out that I wasn't lost or confused by the story, as it seemed that the screenwriters managed to condensed the intricately dense plot into an easily understandable bite-sized narrative. Unfortunately that also meant that it made the plot feel rather generic, derivative, and unremarkable; short of the world building that is. I'm sure the fans of the book will find that to be one of the more frustrating aspects about the big screen adaptation. What they should really be frustrated about is how heavy it is on exposition scenes and just the lack of wondrous joy there is in the final product of a movie.
We're talking about a movie with a premise about alternate worlds, psychics, monsters from outside the universe, and a cowboy fighting the devil. How does a movie with that kind of description end up feeling like a generic retread of The Never Ending Story? It's not a horrible movie by any means, and there is some entertainment to be found; mainly from Idris Elba, and the smugness of McConaughey's Man In Black. However, by the end of the movie, I couldn't help but feel like there could potentially have been a much much better movie, just based on the fantastic world building that it teases. Missed opportunity, for sure.
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