Review - The Dark Tower

I'm still sort-of picking my way through the book series, although I've come slightly adrift halfway through book four, and so I finally decided to sit down and watch the movie.

Now - I love Idris Elba. He's my pretend husband, my hall pass. He's everything. And as the Gunslinger, he's GREAT.

However - that's where the greatness ends.

Stephen King has an exceptional narrative touch when he's truly on his game, and that's exhibited clearly - for me - in the first three books (again, so far the only books I've finished)  - and that deftness is just ... missing. It's almost like whoever adapted the screenplay missed the point.

I can understand leaving out Eddie and Suzanne - from a strictly narrative point of view movie-wise that makes sense. But I couldn't understand why they altered Jake's storyline so drastically. Not only that, but they ignored his most compelling line: "Go, then. There are other worlds than these", which packs a real emotional wallop in context.

Matthew McConaughey is fine as the Man in Black, but the movie as a whole left me feeling cold.

1. As long and as epic and weird as The Dark Tower book series is, it still has an emotional core, which, unfortunately, is missing from the movie.

Review - The Dark Tower 3: The Waste Lands

So Roland's quest for The Dark Tower rolls on in volume 3 of Stephen King's epic fantasy series.

He's drawn Eddie and Susannah to help him in his quest, but Roland is suffering - he thinks he's going mad. And he's not the only one.

On our world, Jake - the boy that Roland let go to his death previously ("go then. There are other worlds than these") has memories of this death, and is desperate to get back to Roland's world so his mind can be at peace.

Once they've drawn Jake back, and worked out that they have to travel along the Beam, Roland, Jake, Eddie and Susannah carry on with the quest.

Now, because this is Stephen King, The Dark Tower is not your average high fantasy series. Yes, there's a quest. Yes, there are fantastic creatures. But there's also a city full of insanity and disease, and a train that has gone mad, but is also their best chance to get where they're going.

The Waste Lands, for me, is peak King. A+ storytelling, scary as all get out, and a running thread of absolute weirdness.

Will Roland get to the Tower? Will everyone survive? Who really knows?