By keeping Stephen King close to its heart, the adaptation has not forgotten the face of its father. The road to The Dark Tower has been long, and not everyone will agree it was worth the wait. The film is already The road to The Dark Tower has been long, and not everyone will agree it was worth the wait. The film is already gaining poor buzz among critics, something that is surely worrying to Stephen King fans who’ve been waiting decades for a film version of their long-loved series. And true, the critics have plenty of valid complaints. The Dark Towershould never have been an action tentpole, tightly confined to a 95-minute runtime. It’s a sprawling, interconnected saga (eight books!) mixing the genres of western, sci-fi and fantasy — and it's much better suited as a prestige TV show (a series is in the works). Yet, the film succeeds in a lot of ways that might not be initially apparent (and is better than its 19 percent Rotten Tomatoes score suggests). Its most notable success is how it puts King's fingerprints throughout the movie, with the film peppering its breezy runtime with enough weird fun to make even its messiest parts worth the watch. The Dark Tower may be something of a mess, but it's not a failure. The movie eschews almost all exposition, a risky play that has been a hallmark of both classics (2001: A Space Odyssey) and bombs (David Lynch’s oddball Dune comes to mind). Read more http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...s-by-keeping-stephen-king-close-heart-1026786
