red snow Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 On 15/11/2016 at 3:55 AM, The Anti-Targ said: I guess I probably should finish reading the series, I only read the first 3 books and at that time King hadn't written the 4th and I just forgot about it. And if I watch it on screen I will never read the remaining books. There is a key aspect to how they are approaching the films that means they won't be direct adaptations of the books so seeing the film may not negate reading the books. If anything if the films are good they may make you want to read the books. I suspect the film will establish this - otherwise check Wert's post about why the films could be considered psuedo sequels. Obviously spoilers ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channel4s-JonSnow Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Meh. While I have a deep hatred of what King did with the last few Dark Tower books which has tainted my view of the whole series, there was style something lyrical and imaginative about that first Gunslinger book, it had a sort of sense of the abstract, of being metaphorical and dream like. This however just looks like every single teen fantasy movie made in the last decade which has been trying to be the new Harry Potter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aFeastForDragons Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Not sure why they had to twist the source material so much. There was already a great story that would have translated well to film instead of mish mashing the first 3 books together into a new story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cas Stark Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 It could be good, or bad. I agree that King ruined the series by chucking all kinds of bizarro stuff into the mix, including himself, and the later books are a mix of great stuff and terrible stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slurktan Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 26 minutes ago, The Great Unwashed said: Aside: does King ever make clear whether Roland's pistols are single- or double-action? Single. There are multiple descriptions of the various people fanning the hammer and such, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Quork Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 I read each of the books as they came out and I recall a few long waits in there, so it's all pretty disconnected in my memory now. I think I'll have to have a re-read. I love Idris Elba and I'm sure he'll be good. I admit to a little disappointment that there'll be the usual highly stylised slo-mo violence, which is pretty much par for the course nowadays. IMO, the story could have stood a little more realism to offset some of the more fantastic elements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 I like it--it makes a good story (the Gunslinger) that devolved into nonsense look good again. Elba can't help but bring empathy to the role, I think, it's just in his face. But an empathetic Roland will probably translate better for the screen audiences. Are they telling everything in one go? I've heard speculation that... Spoiler This is a sequel to the books of sorts, and this is Roland's final go at the tower. I never finished the series, but I've picked up enough to know the gist of what happened in the books. It might be interesting to go this route for the bigscreen. Maybe I should read the whole thread? It's as long as the Dark Tower series. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 5 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said: This however just looks like every single teen fantasy movie made in the last decade which has been trying to be the new Harry Potter. I think I agree with you. This trailer has made me consider to no longer attempt the book, if it's about a kid who travels to another world, blah blah blah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 I spent that trailer looking very closely at Idris Elba to see if he Spoiler had the Horn of Eld on him. I didn't see it, but it could be in his bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 The trailer is pretty disappointing and did nothing for me as a book nerd. It really does just look like a generic action movie with too much magic and some shooting thrown in. I love Elba but still shaky on him as Roland too. He's like too big of a presence, or something? I'm not expecting much anymore which could end up being a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channel4s-JonSnow Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 Did I notice the hotel from the shining in the trailer tho? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GallowKnight Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 47 minutes ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said: Did I notice the hotel from the shining in the trailer tho? Yepp it's there, as well as a sign saying "Pennywise". I haven't read the books but I didn't find the trailer to be very exciting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channel4s-JonSnow Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 1 hour ago, Ramsay B. said: The trailer is pretty disappointing and did nothing for me as a book nerd. It really does just look like a generic action movie with too much magic and some shooting thrown in. I love Elba but still shaky on him as Roland too. He's like too big of a presence, or something? I'm not expecting much anymore which could end up being a good thing. Yeah so far Elba doesn't seem to be adding much to the role. I can see a world where the gunslinger is an interesting character but if they just focus on him as an action hero then he's pretty dull Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aFeastForDragons Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 I wonder how they will have anything from the "Drawing of the Three" if there is a next film. If Roland already goes to earth and Jake already goes through the Haunted House it doesn't leave much room for the plots of Drawing of the three or even Wastelands. The more I think about it the messier it gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martell Spy Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Quote Here's hoping they didn't cut out the Tull sequence from the book. Yeah, I'm hoping for Tull and the tarot reading. Also, Jericho Hill, but I doubt that will make it. Looks great, although I too could do without the slow mo Matrix stuff. Mcconaughey looks like he's really sinking into his role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all swedes are racist Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 kinda amazed at all the positive responses to the trailer so far. i am happy for everyone who is excited for this. i, however, am less than stoked after seeing this. ah well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 I think the trailer is great and I am way more excited for this than I am for American Gods; King created a better mythology than Gaiman (just based on these two works alone). Not sure why people are bothered about some stuff getting cut out of the books...It's a long series and there is for sure some stuff that can afford to be trimmed. Lobstrosities, anyone? I think whoever said that Idris Elba has an empathetic face could be right. But I have faith that he can do stone cold. This could work. And I don't think the actual gun-slinging needs to look like it was still the 1960s. It's a fantasy, an alternate universe. All you need is for the mythology to stay true to itself throughout. I'm not bothered if it looks a little more futuristic than we expected. Tl;dr I am excite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channel4s-JonSnow Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 4 hours ago, r'hllor's reformed lobster said: kinda amazed at all the positive responses to the trailer so far. i am happy for everyone who is excited for this. i, however, am less than stoked after seeing this. ah well Yeah I guess I was expecting something different, hoping for a more individual style or touch. Right now it looks as vanilla as can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 7 hours ago, r'hllor's reformed lobster said: kinda amazed at all the positive responses to the trailer so far. i am happy for everyone who is excited for this. i, however, am less than stoked after seeing this. ah well It could be my recent readings of the book seeing the potential more than the trailer. That or I'm keeping in mind the job of a trailer these days is to appeal to the masses. There's a generic formula to them and it often is a huge disservice to a film (or can mask flaws when executed well). I just see a lot of potential. McConaughey appears to be having a lot of fun playing evil incarnate so i anticipate a lot of moments from him alone. Elba is always good and I think he'll step up to getting the chance to be an iconic character. Jake is a kid drawn into a magical world but nothing suggests Harry Potter to me there. Besides the worrying lack of the horn of eld (hopefully in his satchel) there's nothing that has me concerned. I don't mind the stylised gunslinging because the books do describe him as being faster than the eye. There's usually only two ways of portraying that, slo-mo or the Gunslinger moving really fast and slo-mo seems to have become the preferred visual short-hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 To be clear, I didn't love the trailer much either; it seemed like generic, poorly done YA stuff (and that Jake was the main character, not Roland). But I'm hoping that's just marketing because YA stuff usually sells well, and that the movie is closer to the books. 40 minutes ago, red snow said: Besides the worrying lack of the horn of eld (hopefully in his satchel) there's nothing that has me concerned. I don't mind the stylised gunslinging because the books do describe him as being faster than the eye. There's usually only two ways of portraying that, slo-mo or the Gunslinger moving really fast and slo-mo seems to have become the preferred visual short-hand. Spoiler He doesn't have the horn in the books though. So if he doesn't in the movie either, it could be that they changed their minds and want the ending of the movies to be the ending of the books. I'm hoping though that they are doing the quasi-sequel thing though and that he does have the horn somewhere. They may also be doing the quasi-sequel thing and just didn't want to explain a detail like the horn; but that'd be lame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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