The Dark Tower Dvd

The Dark Tower is a 2017 American science fantasy Western action film[4] directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel. An adaptation and continuation of Stephen King’s novel series of the same name, the film stars Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, a gunslinger on a quest to protect the Dark Tower—a mythical structure which supports all realities—while Matthew McConaughey plays his nemesis, Walter Padick (The Man in Black) and Tom Taylor stars as Jake Chambers, a boy who becomes Roland’s apprentice.

Intended as the first installment in a multimedia franchise, the film combines various elements from the eight-novel series, and takes place in both modern-day New York City and in Mid-World, Roland’s Old West-style parallel universe. The film also serves as a sequel to the novels.

The production of the film was complex and difficult, as production began ten years before the release of the film. Efforts to adapt The Dark Tower series for the screen started in 2007, with periodic reports and official announcements. The project was then shelved before the rights were transitioned to a different production company. Development experienced starts and stops with various filmmakers and studios at different times, including Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Lionsgate Entertainment. The adaptation went through three major phases of planning: with J. J. Abrams from 2007 to 2009, Ron Howard from 2010 to 2015, and finally, the current iteration, announced in March 2015, produced by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Media Rights Capital, with Arcel directing and Howard remaining in a producing role.

The Dark Tower premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on July 31, 2017 and was theatrically released in the United States by Columbia Pictures on August 4, 2017. The film grossed $113 million worldwide on a $66 million budget and received generally negative reviews, with criticism aimed at its compression of its source material of multiple novels into a single film, though Elba’s performance earned praise.

Plot

11-year-old Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) experiences visions involving a mysterious warlock, the Man in Black, who seeks to destroy a Tower and bring ruin to the Universe while a Gunslinger opposes him. Jake’s visions are dismissed by his mother, stepfather, and psychiatrists as nightmares resulting from the trauma of his father’s death the previous year.

At his apartment home in New York City, a group of workers from an alleged psychiatric facility offer to rehabilitate Jake; recognizing them from his visions as monsters wearing human skin, Jake flees from them, and they give chase. Jake finds an abandoned house from one of his visions where he discovers a high-tech portal that leads to a post-apocalyptic landscape called Mid-World.

In Mid-World, Jake encounters the Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), who has emerged in his visions. Roland is pursuing Walter Padick (Matthew McConaughey) who has also appeared in Jake’s dreams, seeking to kill him as revenge for the murder of his father, Steven, and all remaining Gunslingers. He explains to Jake that for decades, Walter has been abducting children with psychic powers, attempting to use their “shine” to bring down the Dark Tower, a fabled structure located at the center of the Universe. This will allow monstrous beings from the darkness outside to invade and destroy reality.

Roland takes Jake to a local village in order to have his visions interpreted by a seer. Having learned of Jake’s escape, Walter investigates and discovers from his minion Sayre that Jake has “pure Shine”, enough psychic potential to destroy the Dark Tower single-handedly. Walter kills Jake’s stepfather; then he interrogates his mother about her son’s visions.

Back in Mid-World, the seer determines that the machine is six months away on foot and portal access is restricted to Walter’s bases. Jake realizes that Walter has a base in New York that they can use to reach the machine. Suddenly, the Taheen, Walter’s minions, attack the village – but Roland kills many of them. Roland and Jake return to Earth where Roland’s injuries are treated at a hospital. Jake learns the location of Walter’s base from a homeless man who helped him earlier. When Jake returns home to check in on his mother, he finds her charred remains and breaks down in tears. Seeing this, Roland vows to avenge her death. This leads to him teaching Jake the basics of gun fighting, as well as the Gunslinger’s Creed, which he hasn’t uttered since his own father’s death.

As Roland replenishes his weapons supply at a gun store, he is attacked by Walter, who captures Jake and takes him through a portal at his base to a machine that will destroy the Dark Tower with Jake’s powers. Jake uses these psychic powers to alert Roland to the portal code he needs and Roland battles his way through Walter’s henchmen, reopening the portal, which Jake forces to stay open. Walter is forced to return to New York to fight Roland and wounds him. When Jake reminds him of the Gunslinger’s Creed, Roland recovers and kills Walter with a trick shot after a brief fight. Finally he destroys the machine and saves the Dark Tower, Jake, and the other children.

As the film ends, Roland prepares to return to his own world and offers Jake a place by his side as his companion. Jake accepts the offer and the two head back to Mid-World together.

Cast

Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, the last of the Gunslingers. On the choice of Elba, director and co-writer Nikolaj Arcel stated, “For me, it just clicked. He’s such a formidable man.” He added that he had been an admirer of Elba’s since The Wire, and stated, “I had to go to Idris and tell him my vision for the entire journey with Roland and the ka-tet. We discussed, who is this character? What’s he about? What’s his quest? What’s his psychology? We tried to figure out if we saw the same guy. And we absolutely had all the same ideas and thoughts. He had a unique vision for who Roland would be.” Stephen King himself spoke highly of Elba, stating: “I love it. I think he’s a terrific actor, one of the best working in the business now.” On the character of Roland, King noted: “For me the character is still the character. It’s almost a Sergio Leone character, like the Man with No Name,” while remarking, “He can be white or black, it makes no difference to me. I think it opens all kind of exciting possibilities for the backstory.”
Matthew McConaughey as Walter Padick, a ruthless ageless deceiver and sorcerer who seeks to reach the Tower and rule over its seemingly infinite kingdoms. On the choice of McConaughey, Arcel stated, “Matthew is an incredible actor who can do anything. That’s how I feel about [Walter]. He could do anything.” About the character of Walter Padick, Arcel added, “He is this timeless sorcerer, and being a Stephen King fan, I’ve read and experienced Walter in various iterations,” making reference to The Stand and The Eyes of the Dragon. “He has a very interesting way of seeing the world. He sees it with a sort of delight, even though he is obviously on the wrong side of the light-and-dark spectrum. He’s someone I’ve been having a lot of fun with.” King made mention of him never having a clear image of the character’s face, to which he explained: “I never really thought of him. But [in the movie] he becomes a character who isn’t just a mirage that Roland is chasing. The way things are set up, he’s right there.”
Tom Taylor as Jake Chambers, a young boy whom Roland must call upon to complete his journey, and a son-like figure to Deschain. Taylor won the role after an international search.
Claudia Kim as Arra, a seer
Fran Kranz as Pimli, one of Walter’s Taheen technicians
Abbey Lee as Tirana, another of Walter’s Taheen technicians.
Katheryn Winnick as Laurie, Jake’s mother
Jackie Earle Haley as Sayre, a Taheen
Michael Barbieri as Timmy, Jake’s neighbour
Eva Kaminsky as Jill, the fake clinic representative, sent by Walter to retrieve Jake
Nicholas Hamilton as Lucas Hanson
José Zúñiga as Dr. Hotchkiss
Dennis Haysbert as Steven Deschain, Roland’s father