For over four decades, adaptations of Stephen King’s novels and short stories have made it to the big screen. Some films, like Carrie, Pet Sematary, and Salem’s Lot, have even been remade. But there’s only been one adaptation to date of King’s magnum opus, The Dark Tower. King published the first of eight novels in The Dark Tower series in 1982, and the story of the books grew to encompass or touch upon several other novels and tales King has written. Over a decade ago, there was an ambitious plan to bring The Dark Tower to film and television simultaneously in order to give it the adaptation it deserved.
When that plan failed to come to fruition, a Dark Tower film was made in 2017 by director Nikolaj Arcel from a script he co-wrote with Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner, and Anders Thomas Jensen. Through a quirk of the novel that would take too much time to explain, The Dark Tower movie is both a sequel to the books and a new beginning. In short, it’s the perfect jumping-on point for the King-verse, and we’re sharing four reasons why you should watch The Dark Tower on Netflix this month.
Idris Elba gives a committed performance
Not every movie that Idris Elba chooses to be in lives up to expectations, but have you ever seen Elba give a bad performance? He is an extremely talented performer, and he dives into the main character, Roland Deschain, with every fiber of his being. Fans of the novels probably pictured someone like Clint Eastwood in the role, since the illustrations of Roland on the book covers resembled the Western icon.
And yet Elba pulls off his take on the character by being a credible action hero, while allowing the audience to see different sides of Roland. He’s more selfishly interested in getting his own revenge than living up to his creed as the last of the Gunslingers, but Roland also displays empathy for Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor), a psychically gifted teenager who needs his help.
That change doesn’t happen right away, and the reason why Roland’s transition is believable is that we see his emotions and his heart on Elba’s face. To paraphrase the Gunslinger’s creed, Roland has not forgotten the face of his father, and neither has Elba.
Matthew McConaughey is deviously evil as the villain
During his career, Matthew McConaughey has largely played heroic characters or rom-com leading men. But The Dark Tower gave the actor a chance to embody one of the most significant villains in King’s stories: Walter Padick. Readers of The Stand — or viewers who saw either of The Stand‘s TV adaptations — know Walter by a different name: Randall Flagg. Walter isn’t the devil, but he may be the closest thing to that demon. He’s a sorcerer who delights in hurting people by making them destroy themselves. And Walter wants to extend his power across the multiverse.
There are several instances in the film where Walter is cruel simply because he can be. McConaughey seemed to really enjoy playing such a radically different character, and Walter appears to enjoy the chaos and pain that he leaves in his wake. He’s a worthy adversary to Elba’s Roland, and his presence haunts the film whenever he appears.
The film blends several genres
Much like The Dark Tower novels, this movie has its foot in several different genres. Roland is like a figure out of a Western, while the concept of the Dark Tower itself reads like fantasy. Because the film goes through the trouble of explaining what the Dark Tower is and what its purpose is, we won’t reiterate that here except to say that Walter wants to bring it down to ensure his final rise to power.
No King story would be complete without elements of horror, and that’s where Walter’s minions come in. We rarely see what they truly look like in the movie. Instead, there are simply unsettling glimpses of their ill-fitting human skin that barely hides the monsters beneath the surface. Finally, there’s the sci-fi element that allows Roland and Jake to cross between worlds. Unfortunately, they don’t have many destinations to explore in the movie. But the ability to travel through multiple worlds plays a big part in the books.
It steps into the King-verse
Sony Pictures may not have had the rights to all of King’s novels when making this film, but that didn’t stop The Dark Tower from dropping a few Easter eggs that reference his books and other movies. The most notable example is Jake’s power, which is referred to as his Shine. That’s from The Shining and Doctor Sleep. And as previously noted above, Walter was also the main villain in The Stand.
Some of the references may be lost on the viewers if they aren’t die-hard readers of King’s books. Regardless, these connections to King’s other works make The Dark Tower feel more epic in scope. Prime Video was working on a new Dark Tower adaptation within the last few years, but that seems to be years away at the earliest since showrunner Mike Flanagan recently signed on to direct the next Exorcist movie. In the meantime, The Dark Tower movie is all we have to enjoy from King’s greatest accomplishment to date.
Watch The Dark Tower on Netflix.
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