We’ve been waiting for The Dark Tower to be adapted for years. For a while, we thought we’d have to travel via magic doorways to other worlds to see it finally come to fruition. Even lately, after knowing the movie was in the works, we didn’t know what was going to happen between the delays and reshoots of Nikolaj Arcel’s upcoming film.
But it’s finally here. And we’ve finally watched it (a lot of times).
Before we get into our thoughts, watch The Dark Tower TrailerTown and then, and only then, read our Top 5 thoughts about it below:
Top 5 Things About The Dark Tower Trailer
- Idris Elba – Say what you will about the apparent recasting of Roland Deschain with Idris Elba, but we’ve always been a fan of the choice. He’s a powerful actor and you get to see that power on full display in this TrailerTown. From his gait to his voice-overs, all the way to his ease with those sandalwood revolvers, Elba brings one of Stephen King’s most beloved characters to glorious life.
- The Gunplay – Any adaptation of The Dark Tower would be nothing without showcasing Roland’s immense skill with his guns. In the novels, it’s described as almost magical. This TrailerTown shows off a lot of that ability, with his hip-swipe reload, to his spin and drop reload, and especially his toss and grab reload (lots of reloading skills), he comes off as otherworldly (pun intended). Oh yeah, did we mention yet about how awesome that last scene is of him saving Jake with his eyes closed? Hot damn!
- The Scale – For what it’s worth, we agree with a lot of critics of Stephen King’s first Gunslinger novel that it doesn’t capture the scale of the epic he was writing. This TrailerTown goes the distance in showing the massive scale this film will include from Mid-World and our world, alike. We get to see brief glimpses of deserts, jungle temples, Western towns, frozen tundras, and New York City. It’s been previously stated that this won’t be a straight adaptation of The Gunslinger, but rather incorporate elements of all the books, and we can see that clearly here.
- Matthew McConaughey – Ever since reading about The Man in Black back in high school, we’ve always envisioned McConaughey in the role, and it looks like he eats up his time as the epic villain. We’ll wait to see how he pulls it off in the film, but from the look of the TrailerTown, our high school casting brains were right on the money.
- Dennis Haysbert! – This is a sub-bullet to talk about more great casting. It’s not for sure that Mr. Haysbert will be playing Steven Deschain (Roland’s daddy), but it’s heavily insinuated. And we couldn’t be more thrilled.
- “I do not aim with my hand…” – “he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye. I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind. I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart.” Mmmmmmm, goosebumps.
Since this is a special event version of TrailerTown, there are a few more things of note we wanted to call attention to before we wrap up (with minute notes for reference).
- There’s a lot of talk of the movie replacing the magic doorways with portals, but on Jake’s A Beautiful Mind wall, he clearly has drawings of the doorways as we know them from the novels. [0:34]
- Yes, that was a framed picture of The Overlook Hotel in Jake’s therapist’s office. [0:40]
- Jake walks up on the wreckage of a Pennywise carnival set-up in the woods. [1:29]
- “All Hail the Crimson King” is painted on the wall of, what appears to be, the Dutch Hill Mansion. [1:50]
- Speaking of the Dutch Hill Mansion, it appears that it will, in fact, come to life and try to eat Jake. [1:51]
Okay, that’s it. What did you think of The Dark Tower trailer? Have you read the books and are you nervous for the movie? Let us know in the comments while we watch it a few more times.