The Dark Tower VFX Breakdown
The Dark Tower is a 2017 American dark fantasy western film directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel. A 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 New York boy who becomes Roland's apprentice.
Intended to launch a film and television franchise, the first installment combines elements from several novels in the eight-volume 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 canonical sequel to the novel series, which concludes with the revelation that Roland's quest is a cyclical time loop; the presence of the Horn of Eld, which Roland carries in the film, indicates that this is the next cycle.
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. It has grossed $113 million worldwide against its production budget of $60 million, and received generally negative reviews, with critics calling it "a dull disappointment without any set audience: incomprehensible to newbies, and wildly unfaithful and simplistic to fans of King's books," though Elba's performance earned some praise.
Eleven-year-old Jake Chambers experiences visions involving a Man in Black who seeks to destroy a Tower and bring ruin to the Universe, and a Gunslinger who opposes him. Jake's mother, stepfather, and psychiatrists dismiss these as dreams 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, he flees. Jake tracks down an abandoned house from one of his visions, discovers a high-tech portal, and travels to a post-apocalyptic world called Mid-World.
In Mid-World, Jake encounters the last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain who emerged in his visions. Roland is pursuing Walter Padick, the Man in Black who had also appeared in Jake’s dreams, across a desert, seeking to kill him in revenge for the murder of his father, Steven, and all remaining gunslingers. He explains that Walter, over the decades, has been abducting psychic children, and is attempting to use their "shine" to bring down the Dark Tower, a fabled structure located at the center of the Universe; this will allow beings from the darkness outside to invade and destroy reality.
Roland takes Jake to a village to have his visions interpreted by a seer. Learning of Jake's escape and journey to Mid-World, Walter investigates and discovers from his minion Sayre that Jake has "pure Shine", i.e. enough psychic potential to destroy the Tower single-handedly. He kills Jake's stepfather, then interrogates his mother about his visions and kills her too. 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. Walter's minions, the Taheen, attack the village, but Roland individually kills each of them. Roland and Jake return to Earth where Jake gets Roland's injuries treated at a hospital and learns the location of Walter's base from a homeless man that had earlier helped him. When Jake returns home to check in on his mother, he finds her charred remains and breaks down. Roland vows to kill Walter "for both of us" and comforts Jake by teaching him the Gunslinger's Creed, which he hasn't uttered since his own father’s death, as well as the basics of gun fighting.
As Roland re-arms himself 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 use Jake to destroy the Tower. Jake uses his psychic powers to alert Roland to the portal code he needs, and Roland battles his way through Walter's henchmen and reopens the portal which Jake forces to stay open. Walter is forced to return to New York to fight Roland and wounds him. After Jake reminds him of the Gunslinger’s Creed, Roland recovers and kills Walter with a trick shot after a brief fight. Roland destroys the machine, saving the Tower, Jake, and the other children.
Afterwards, Roland says that he must return to his own world and offers Jake a place by his side as his companion. Jake accepts the offer as he has nowhere else to go, and the two depart for Mid-World.
The Dark Tower is a 2017 American dark fantasy western film directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel. A 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 New York boy who becomes Roland's apprentice.
Intended to launch a film and television franchise, the first installment combines elements from several novels in the eight-volume 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 canonical sequel to the novel series, which concludes with the revelation that Roland's quest is a cyclical time loop; the presence of the Horn of Eld, which Roland carries in the film, indicates that this is the next cycle.
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. It has grossed $113 million worldwide against its production budget of $60 million, and received generally negative reviews, with critics calling it "a dull disappointment without any set audience: incomprehensible to newbies, and wildly unfaithful and simplistic to fans of King's books," though Elba's performance earned some praise.
Eleven-year-old Jake Chambers experiences visions involving a Man in Black who seeks to destroy a Tower and bring ruin to the Universe, and a Gunslinger who opposes him. Jake's mother, stepfather, and psychiatrists dismiss these as dreams resulting from the trauma of his father’s death the previous year.
In Mid-World, Jake encounters the last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain who emerged in his visions. Roland is pursuing Walter Padick, the Man in Black who had also appeared in Jake’s dreams, across a desert, seeking to kill him in revenge for the murder of his father, Steven, and all remaining gunslingers. He explains that Walter, over the decades, has been abducting psychic children, and is attempting to use their "shine" to bring down the Dark Tower, a fabled structure located at the center of the Universe; this will allow beings from the darkness outside to invade and destroy reality.
Roland takes Jake to a village to have his visions interpreted by a seer. Learning of Jake's escape and journey to Mid-World, Walter investigates and discovers from his minion Sayre that Jake has "pure Shine", i.e. enough psychic potential to destroy the Tower single-handedly. He kills Jake's stepfather, then interrogates his mother about his visions and kills her too. 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. Walter's minions, the Taheen, attack the village, but Roland individually kills each of them. Roland and Jake return to Earth where Jake gets Roland's injuries treated at a hospital and learns the location of Walter's base from a homeless man that had earlier helped him. When Jake returns home to check in on his mother, he finds her charred remains and breaks down. Roland vows to kill Walter "for both of us" and comforts Jake by teaching him the Gunslinger's Creed, which he hasn't uttered since his own father’s death, as well as the basics of gun fighting.
Afterwards, Roland says that he must return to his own world and offers Jake a place by his side as his companion. Jake accepts the offer as he has nowhere else to go, and the two depart for Mid-World.