THE DARK TOWER
US, 2017, 95 minutes, Colour.
Idris Elba, Matthew Mc Conaughhey, Tom Taylor, Dennis Haysbert, Claudia Kim, Jackie Earle Haley, Abby Lee, Kathryn Winnick, José Zuniga.
Directed by Nikilaj Arcel.
For more than 40 years, Stephen King has been regaling worldwide audiences with a variety of horror stories in his novels and then in the screen versions of the novel is. They run an enormous range, horror, both apocalyptic and contemporary, and this film combining both.
The film opens with children playing – not for long in a Stephen King story. They are targeted by an evil sorcerer, Walter, and their inner energy, their “shine� is extracted by machines and fired towards a thin high tower that reaches towards the sky – a kind of transcendent presence that might guarantee safety to the world or, because of a variety of portals, many worlds. It seemed to have a similar function to the monolith in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This is the stuff of nightmares. And, literally it is, young Jake, Tom Taylor, has these dreams continually, spending his time drawing them, stark black and white pictures of the tower, the evil Walter and a blurred figure of a gunslinger. Jake has lost his father tragically in a fire. His mother is concerned about his mental health as is his stepfather who, of course, he dislikes intensely.
Then, the film reveals that this other world, other planet, has its own reality and not just in Jake’s dreams. Just as he is about to be taken to a psychology camp, he escapes the representatives who, of course, are servants of Walter. He is given a clue that a mysterious house of his dreams can be found in Brooklyn and then makes his way there, and is enticed to go through a mysterious portal.
He soon encounters Roland, the gunslinger, whose mission is to destroy Walter, especially after Walter destroys his father. The two protagonists are played by a rather high powered-stars: Idris Elba as Roland, the gunslinger, and eerily mysterious and evil, Matthew Mc Conaughey as Walter.
While there are a lot of mysterious activities in the other planet, especially with the staff working on the children and extracting their inner “shine�, there is a sinister researcher, Jackie Earle Haley. The trouble is that Water has powers over life and death and can say, in a Matthew Mc Conaughey,� stop breathing� – and they do.
One of the intriguing aspects of the plot is that there are several portals in New York City and that the central characters can come and go, Jake searching for his mother, Roland needing medical help (but helped by medication, hotdogs and Coca-Cola).
The plot is particularly American with an enormous reliance on guns. With the gunslinger and the guns, the gun is seemingly glorified as the weapon of choice for winning the battle against good and evil. And, quite a body count. Roland does say that whoever aims with his hand has forgotten his father’s face and that aiming should be through the eye and the heart. This is what he teaches Jake – and this will clinch the victory of good and evil.
Idris Elba is certainly an earnest hero. Matthew Mc Conaughey, dressed in black, employing his Texas drawl in a menacing way, is an unexpected devil figure.
Stephen King offers us an inter-connected world and a science fantasy parable of the struggle between good and evil.
1. A Stephen King story? Fantasy? Another world into connecting with the real world?
2. The futuristic story, the alien planet, the duct itself, the settlement in the laboratory, the mountains, woods and desert? The contrast with New York City, the earthquakes, the order in the sky, ordinary life, the streets and homes, apartments, school? The Gothic house? The portals? Interconnections? The musical score?
3. The title, the initial explanation? Good and evil, the symbol of transcendence?
4. Jake, the introduction, the children playing, the signal, the time, stopping the play, hostilities? The laboratory, the technicians, the machines, extracting the shine, it’s flowing towards the town? Unable to destroy it?
5. Jake, his age, his dead father, memories of the fire? His mother, the stepfather? The power of his dreams? His drawings, black and white? His friend, school, the fight? The and typically taught his stepfather? The plan for the therapy camp, being persuaded by his mother? The two emissaries, suspicions? The drawn, the computer, the house identified in Brooklyn? His escape, finding the house, finding the portal?
6. Going through the portal, his shoe? The encounter with Roland (and the scene with Roland, his father, bequest, the death of his father)? Roland suspicious? Holding Jake over the cliff Western Mark talk, travelling together, the revenge quest?
7. Water, Matthew Mc Conaughay, dressed in black, the evil wizard, his control, the children, the attempts to destroy the tower? His power of eliminating adversaries? Staff and his pressure on them, his assistance, stating don’t breathe and people collapsing? The information about the portals, going to New York, the confrontation with Jack’s parents, the death of the sceptre stepfather, the disappearance of the mother? Is focusing on Jake, aware of Jake shine?
8. People moving in and out through the portals? The researcher, his loyalty to Walter? The information? The girl assistant, Baker, the gash on her cheek? The sympathetic girl to Jake, the help, her death?
9. Roland, his personality, fighting, the gunslinger? The importance of guns, confrontations, the number of rounds? His being wounded? Going to New York, the hospital, the medication, the bills and their effect, Coca-Cola?, the later hotdog? Water and his going to New York, confrontations?
10. The philosophy of gun shooters, the targets, taking aim? The target practice, Jack and his firing?
11. The shootouts, the body count, the emphasis on guns as the solution for the problems?
12. Jake, being trapped by Walter, into the machine, the process, shine going to the castle? His staying, defying Water?
13. The confrontation between Robert and Walter, the warding off of the bulletin ammunition? Jake and his eyes, Roland, collapse, recovery? The final confrontation waters defeat?
14. The survival of the town, the future, Roland inviting Jake to be his partner?
