Film Review: Good vs. Evil Brightly Entertaining in ‘The Dark Tower’

CHICAGO – Nobody does good vs. evil archetypes like author Stephen King, and this framework is purposeful in the film adaptation of King’s “The Dark Tower.” The popular book series gets a visual kick through the rendering of director Nikolaj Arcel and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

It will be left to the readers of the book series to gauge the film’s ultimate success, but to somebody walking in who knows nothing of the story (like me), the parallel worlds and mystical forces surrounding it was fascinating both as science fiction and blithe fantasy. With characters like “The Man in Black” and “The Gunslinger” facing off – over the ultimate power contained in a hub in the universe called The Dark Tower – it’s best to sit back while this confrontation inspires the visual wonders, that are righteously delivered in our current movie era. It’s not perfect, and I’m sure the reader purists might be itching for a fight, but “The Dark Tower” is a very entertaining way to spend a crisp 95 minutes.

The times depicted in the film is a difficult era for existence. The Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) has perfected a method for attacking The Dark Tower, a centerpiece of protective energy in the middle of the universe, from his headquarters on the parallel Mid-Earth. He is kidnapping children around the universe, and using their brainwaves successfully as a concentrated energy beam against the foundations of the Tower.

Meanwhile, on Keystone Earth – or as it is known to the rest of us, Planet Earth – a boy named Jake (Tom Taylor) is having visions of The Dark Tower, the Energy Beam, The Man in Black and Black’s main rival “The Gunslinger” (Idris Elba). These visions are a power that target Jake as the prime brainwave that could change the universe. The kid visionary is led to a portal, where he is about to meet all the characters on Mid-Earth, and his visions are about to become real.

“The Dark Tower” opens everywhere on August 4th. Featuring Matthew McConaughey, Idris Elba, Tom Taylor, Jackie Earle Haley and Dennis Haysbert. Screenplay adapted by Nikolaj Arcel, Akiva Goldsmith, Anders Thomas Jensen and Jeff Pinkner. Directed by Nikolaj Arcel. Rated “PG-13”