The Dark Tower

Is getting absolutely hammered in ratings.

I feel like it might have been better as a Netflix series ala American Gods.

Two actors I like. It looks over done in the trailers. My AGM said it's the authors "opus". God is a big subject. Whilst it doesn't look like anything I'd like and I'm not into the author I feel it's a don't dare miss in the theater. What do I know? It's Friday.

The first 3 minute trailer I saw had two minutes of it devoted to Idris tossing bullets in the air and catching them with his revolver. I don't care about the story at that point, another over the top, no basis in physics cgi fest isn't what I am interested in.

Have read the whole series of books. I see basically nothing in common between the movies and story.

Completely smacks of a completely generic Hollywood action flick with the title and a few character names from a widely beloved book series awkwardly slapped over the top.

It could be ' Book of Eli'. Which I felt was disgraceful.

I thought this movie was mildly interesting until I saw Mathew McConaughey as the bad guy. I had to take a look at that. I didn't hate it, but I think there were some things they could have made more interesting. I believe there was quite a bit of untapped potential here. Would I recommend this to someone else? I guess it depends on what you expect out of your movies. Go in with no expectations and you'll be alright, maybe even pleasantly surprised.

How on earth did they make the Hobbit into three movies and then the dark tower into one? That alone is enough to know the movie's not going to be anything like the books.

How were the books? I like most stephen king stuff but havent ventured into this series because i was afraid i wouldnt have the attention span for it.

dculberson wrote: How on earth did they make the Hobbit into three movies and then the dark tower into one? That alone is enough to know the movie's not going to be anything like the books.

This^

I had a lot of years invested in the Dark Tower series. And then Kinge even re-started the whole thing and I had to re-read the series from the start. And to be honest, I could not see a movie in the books. There were way too many small nuggets of virtue that all needed to be collected along the journey.

I forecast the movie to be the equivalent of every gunfight in the books condensed into one huge bullet blasting scene.

Are there any tits in the movie?...cause Mrs NOHOME would rather see Atomic Blonde tomorrow, and she says there are tits in that movie!

gearheadmb wrote: How were the books? I like most stephen king stuff but havent ventured into this series because i was afraid i wouldnt have the attention span for it.

Life shapeing. Seriously. Like some people think "what would Jesus do", I end up thinking "what would Roland do"?

Jumper K. Balls wrote: The first 3 minute trailer I saw had two minutes of it devoted to Idris tossing bullets in the air and catching them with his revolver. I don't care about the story at that point, another over the top, no basis in physics cgi fest isn't what I am interested in.

In defense of that, king never accurately describes how Roland reloads his guns, but we know he can use magic, and he's had melenia to practice. Among my friend and I we have all invented in our own minds how he did it. So as over the top as it seems, I think it's a nod to the fanboys.

nutherjrfan wrote: It could be ' Book of Eli'. Which I felt was disgraceful.

Was that based on a book? I loved it.

I read all the books, they're weird as berk but well done. If you like King's work, you'll like the dark tower.

pheller wrote: Is getting absolutely hammered in ratings. I feel like it might have been better as a Netflix series ala American Gods.

I dunno. We got sucked into "Under the Dome" which ended up sucking-bag.

Then got sucked into "The Mist." First episode was great, IMHO. Subsequent episodes have been almost un-watchable. I have a new episode ready to watch. Re-watching Game of Thrones from the beginning instead...or MST3K.

I've got a friend who swears by the book series but I can't stand King. I've seen references to bad reviews, too.

If I had to pick someone from fiction to have my back in whatever my worst possible experience is, two of my top three characters are from the dark tower series. (Roland, obviously, and Oy, if you have read the books.)

It's the character of the characters that sets that series apart.

oldopelguy wrote: If I had to pick someone from fiction to have my back in whatever my worst possible experience is, two of my top three characters are from the dark tower series. (Roland, obviously, and Oy, if you have read the books.) It's the character of the characters that sets that series apart.

Of the characters though, Roland and Jake are my least favorite. They're not nearly as interesting without the other three in the ka-tet.

NOHOME wrote:

dculberson wrote: How on earth did they make the Hobbit into three movies and then the dark tower into one? That alone is enough to know the movie's not going to be anything like the books.

This^ I had a lot of years invested in the Dark Tower series. And then Kinge even re-started the whole thing and I had to re-read the series from the start. And to be honest, I could not see a movie in the books. There were way too many small nuggets of virtue that all needed to be collected along the journey. [snip]

There's a reason for the mismatch in length and plot. I read that the movie isn't a story from the book or even a condensed version of the books. It's a sequel to the books.

From Hollywood's perspective, I can sort of see why they did it that way. First they completely circumvent the "nuggets-along-the-way" problem NOHOME mentioned, allowing them to tell a complete story in a normal movie time frame. Probably more importantly, they don't have to be beholden to the source material, only be "inspired" by it. Pending the terms of King's contract, this allows them to pretty much do whatever they want with an established property with an existing fan base.

It's not hard to imagine how the pitch meetings went.

I love expansive literary universes; I just started the Wheel of Time series and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Stephen King's books always seemed a little to "out there" for me, though. If one wanted to dip his toes into the Dark Tower series, what book should he start with?

And please don't say The Stand, which may contain the singularly most disappointing Deus Ex Machina ending I have ever read.

In reply to Sky_Render:

If you want to dip your toe into Roland's world, there is a short story called "The Little Sisters of Eluria". I read it years and years ago, and don't remember it exactly, but I recalled it being intriguing enough that I eventually picked up "The Gunslinger" later. Fair warning: The dark tower series is kind of all over the place... in time and space, everything. I'm a little bit surprised they made the movie at all, but I have not read the whole series (I am currently reading "Wolves of the Calla", which is book V).

If Deus Ex Machina devices bother you, you are probably going to struggle with book II, "The Drawing of the Three", and perhaps the entire series.

I think the references to the Gunslinger series and the Dark Tower are spot on. King's said many times that it's his magnum opus and tribute to that series because of Tolkin's impact on him being a writer.

I've read the Gunslinger series a couple of times and really enjoy it, but I could never get through the Lord of the Rings series. I think it's the language in the LOR series that I stumble with more than anything else.

I really wanted this movie to be good, but didn't expect it to be as it was crammed into a single movie. Even if you cut out some of the books (Roland's past, for example) it would need to be 10 hours long. Plus, because the GS series jumps around quite a bit, I couldn't really see it holding up in a multi-movie deal. There was talk of it being a series and I think that would have worked much better.

I still haven't seen the movie. I want to, but just from the trailers is strays so far that I'm afraid I'd be disappointed. And I'm pretty easy going on movies in general. The idea that it's a sequel is an odd one because, not trying to spoil anyone who's not read the books, let's just say the characters are wrong....

Ninja edit referencing LOR instead of Dark Tower. My bad.

-Rob

I don't think any of King's books ever make it into a movie properly. Best to not even try

mad_machine wrote: I don't think any of King's books ever make it into a movie properly. Best to not even try

Really?

Shawshank Redemption
Stand By me
Misery
The Shining
(Freaking The Shining, man, that is a good movie.)
The Green Mile

There are more, but all of those are exceptionally good movies.

Sky_Render wrote: And please don't say *The Stand*, which may contain the singularly most disappointing *Deus Ex Machina* ending I have ever read.

I think Stephen King finished reading Lucifer's Hammer when he was high and forgot where he got the idea from... then just wrote the same thing only not nearly as well and called it The Stand.

The way he writes is to think of a starting point then build and build and build, painting himself into a corner - then tack on a garbage ending when he can't wrap all the madness up. Either his own too big ambitions or impatient publishers wanting a damn book to sell after a bunch of upfront cash maybe. There are nuggets of genius along the way but always some bullE36 M3 conclusion when he starts getting carried away. There is no better example of this than that stupid "Clown in the Sewers" anthem.

He hasn't actually concluded a story since the Dead Zone as far as I can tell. I should have stopped reading his crap - but the berkeleyer does manage to get me hooked with the all the imaginative stuff upfront so I keep hoping one day he will finish a story ... but, nope. Not since about 1980

FWIW, I hear the movie is just fine as forgettable, glitzy entertainment on a rainy summer day. Especially if you never read the books. So, maybe start there and see if you are interested enough to want to be terribly disappointed after 4500 pages of commitment before you jump in deeper

rob_lewis wrote: I've read the Gunslinger series a couple of times and really enjoy it, but I could never get through the Dark Tower series. I think it's the language in the DT series that I stumble with more than anything

The gunslinger series is the dark tower series, gunslinger is the first book and the dark tower is the last.

There are references to other books he wrote, but you can read just the dark tower books without them.