Critics' reviews for The Dark Tower have started pouring in just ahead of its theatrical release. Directed by Nikolaj Arcel, the Stephen King literary adaptation has been much-anticipated amongst the fans ever since it was announced.
But seemingly the movie will not be able to play up to the expectation of the fans as it has got only one star and only 18 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Not only that, critics are not apparently happy with the ramshackle plot of the 95 minutes-long movie.
Also read: Watch Dark Tower trailer 2: Gunslinger and The Man in Black's war comes to earth
The official synopsis of the movie reads below—
Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) is a young 11-year-old adventure seeker who discovers clues about another dimension called Mid-World. Upon following the mystery, he is spirited away to Mid-World where he encounters the lone frontiersman knight Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), who is on a quest to reach the 'Dark Tower' that resides in End-World and reach the nexus point between time and space that he hopes will save Mid-World from extinction. But with various monsters and a vicious sorcerer named Walter Padick (Matthew McConaughey) hot on their trail, the unlikely duo find that their quest may be difficult to complete.
Besides Elba and McConaughey, the film features Tom Taylor (Jake Chambers), Abbey Lee (Tirana), and Fran Kranz (Pimli), Jackie Earle Haley (Sayre), Katheryn Winnick (Laurie Chambers), and Claudia Kiim (Arra Champignon). Dark Tower movie will open in theatres on August 4, 2017.
Here's what the critics have to say about the movie.
Variety
"The Dark Tower" could prove to be a solid box-office performer, yet the picture's no-frills design raises an interesting question: Would it be a more commercial movie if it were an ambitious, two-hours-plus sprawl that tried to stay digressively true to the layered weight of King's novels? My instinct says that no, that movie would have been a slog. "The Dark Tower" works as a film because it's not trying to be a multiverse.
Indie Wire
Fans of King's books will likely be disappointed by the way this long-awaited film adaptation speeds through essential plot points and frantically introduces characters with little in the way of rhythm or care, all in service of a rushed finale that will leave plenty scratching their heads. A tight story is one thing, but a 95-minute feature that is unable to give even the slightest inkling that it's based on a grand-scale epic masterpiece is something else entirely. The whole universe is at stake here, but "The Dark Tower" wastes precious little time before it delivers any big moments, mostly care of listless action sequences that barely get moving before they're cut short.
The Guardian
The script amalgamates story elements from across the seven-installment series into one bowl of reheated Joseph Campbell's soup, a transparent bid to be the next Lord of the Rings that can't back up its sense of portentousness with the required epic sweep.
McConaughey looks faintly amused by his own performance, perhaps because he's imagining the boat he's going to buy after production wraps. Poor misused Elba, meanwhile, looks like he's searching for a way out of the movie.
Collider
It probably won't please people who have waited decades to see The Dark Tower on the big screen, and it won't please audiences who just want a fun fantasy action movie. It's a film that just sits there, existing out of obligation because studio executives wanted a Dark Tower movie, but they didn't want to give it the money or the creative freedom to leave an impact.
The Hollywood Reporter
Though far from the muddled train wreck we've been led to expect, this Tower lacks the world-constructing gravitas of either the Tolkien books that inspired King or the franchise-launching movies that Sony execs surely have in mind. Though satisfying enough to please many casual moviegoers drawn in by King's name and stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, it will likely disappoint many serious fans and leave other newbies underwhelmed.
