while the fantastic leads do the best with what they're given, it's ultimately not enough to compensate for a lack of time spent building characters and their motivations in the script
most of the scenes in "The Dark Tower" feel like a desperate compromise of some kind, and often there seem to be scenes missing that would simply get us from one point to another
make no mistake, though, this is a fantastical faceplant, and though Elba tries his hardest, what could have been the tale of an iconic gunslinger is a big miss
King's Dark Tower universe is rich with cultural reference points and is always totally unpredictable, but in cutting it down to consolidate its highlights, "The Dark Tower" can't even shoot the most necessary bullets straight
instead, it simply exists, eager to be overlooked and forgotten. It's a shame that this adaptation didn't have the funding or the vision to be something remarkable because you can see glimmers of a more ambitious, exciting movie
by Marty Sliva [IGN Movies ]
by Brian Truitt [USA Today ]
