The Dark Tower(2017)

PG-13
Rated PG-13 for thematic material including sequences of gun violence and action.
1h 35m

Release Date: Aug 4, 2017 | Wide

A boy haunted by visions of a dark tower from a parallel reality teams up with the tower's disillusioned guardian to stop an evil warlock known as the Man in Black who plans to use the boy to destroy the tower and open the gates of Hell.

Releases

Original Release | Aug 4, 2017

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$19,153,698
Total US & Canada:
$50,701,325
Total International
$62,529,753
Total Worldwide:
$113,231,078

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Nikolaj Arcel
Director

William Hartnell
Jim Powers

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: IMAX 6-Track,Dolby Surround 7.1,Dolby Atmos,12-Track Digital Sound,Auro 11.1,Sonics-DDP,Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

The film opens in a camp full of children in the land known as Mid-World. A group of creatures wearing synthetic skins gather the kids and bring a few of them to a machine. Overseeing everything is Walter Padick, AKA The Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey). A girl is strapped to the machine as the creatures use her "shine" to send a powerful blast toward The Dark Tower.This is a dream being had by teenager Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) in the middle of an earthquake. He lives in New York City with his mother Laurie (Katheryn Winnick) and stepfather Lon (Nicholas Pauling), whom Jake doesn't get along with. It has been a year since Jake's father Elmar (Karl Thaning) passed away trying to save people in a fire. Jake sees psychologists for his behavior and the frequent dreams he has about Mid-World, which he depicts in his drawings. The dreams are dismissed as being trauma from Elmar's death.At school, Jake is drawing another one of his dreams, only for his sketchbook to be snatched by a bully. Jake punches the bully and starts attacking him before getting pulled off by other students.In Mid-World, The Gunslinger Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) is with his father Steven (Dennis Haysbert) in the woods. They hear Walter's voice and get their guns ready while reciting the Gunslinger's creed. Walter appears and uses his manipulation magic to cut off Steven's breathing, killing him. Roland, however, is immune to Walter's magic. He tries to shoot Walter, but he catches Roland's bullets.Meanwhile, Jake sees an abandoned house in one of his dreams and finds a picture of it. He goes on a forum to see if anyone knows where it is located.Two people claiming to be from a psychiatric center working for the school come to pick up Jake at the urging of Lon. Jake quickly notices the scar from the fake skin on one of their necks. Laurie tries talking Jake into going with them for his own good. He then sees that someone responded to the inquiry of the house, saying it is located in Brooklyn. Jake figures this is a great opportunity to go find the house. He goes into the bathroom and escapes out the window. The two villains chase him through the city streets, but Jake manages to evade them.Jake heads off to Brooklyn and finds the house. Inside is a machine that activates a portal to Mid-World. After walking through the portal, Jake walks through the vast desert and finds the woods where he meets Roland. He at first thinks Jake is working for Walter, but Jake shows Roland his dream drawings and what he's seen in Mid-World. Roland explains that Walter is using children with "shine" (a special kind of power mentioned in the novel and film 'The Shining') to destroy The Dark Tower, which is what connects Mid-World with Earth. If Walter brings it down, he will unleash monsters into both worlds.At night, Jake sees a hallucination of his father calling to him. Before Roland can stop him, Jake takes his father's hand to reveal a monster. It tries to trick Roland by taking on the form of his own father, but Roland is not fooled, and he kills the monster.In Walter's lair, he learns that the portal that Jake went through was activated. He learns from one of his minions who Jake is, leading Walter to realize that Jake has a powerful shine. He proceeds to Earth to investigate. Walter goes to Jake's apartment where Laurie and Lon find him. Walter kills Lon and forces Laurie to bring him to Jake's room, where Walter finds all of his drawings and realizes that Jake knows about Mid-World.Roland brings Jake to a village of seers and speaks to one called Arra (Claudia Kim) to interpret his visions. Later that night, the village is attacked by Walter's minions. They kill some of the villagers before one of them tries to kidnap Jake. Roland ends up killing all the other goons. The creature gets far as Roland tries to concentrate on his target. He shoots straight and hits the goon, saving Jake.Roland and Jake return to Earth and go to a hospital where doctors treat Roland. He leaves and goes with Jake to his apartment. He finds Lon dead in the living room before running to his room and seeing a burnt hole in the floor, causing Jake to realize that Walter killed his mother. He even sees a vision confirming this. Jake breaks down. Roland tries to comfort him by promising to kill Walter. Jake is still angry, so Roland tries to teach him the ways of the Gunslingers, including how to shoot and how to recite the creed: "I do not aim with my hand. He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I am with my eye. I do not shoot with my hand. I shoot with my mind. I do not kill with my gun. I kill with my heart."Roland goes to a gun store to reload, only to lose Jake as he is captured by Walter's minions. Walter confronts Roland in the gun store and manipulates the shop owner into shooting at Roland. Walter leaves Roland and takes Jake back to Mid-World.Walter has Jake strapped to the machine and proceeds to strike at the Dark Tower. Earthquakes hit New York, and the sky glows red. Roland arrives and fights his way through Walter's lair and all of his minions. Jake uses his mental connection to Roland to help him find Jake. Walter faces off with Roland by continuously deflecting all of his bullets. Jake reaches out to Roland and inspires confidence by retelling him the Gunslinger's creed. Roland shoots one bullet and then another to bounce off the other to strike Walter in the chest. Roland shoots him again until he finishes him off with a head-shot. Roland frees Jake, and the entire lair blows up.In the final scene, Roland and Jake are back on Earth, which is back to normal. Roland invites Jake to join him in Mid-World since he now has nowhere else to go. Jake accepts and they step through the portal.

Storyline

11-year-old Jake Chambers experiences visions involving a Man in Black who seeks to destroy a Tower and bring ruin to the Universe while a Gunslinger opposes him. However, 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 from the workers who give chase. Jake tracks down an abandoned house from one of his visions where he discovers a high-tech portal that leads to a post-apocalyptic world called Mid-World.. Teenaged psychic Jake Chambers dreams about an evil man in black: a sorcerer who commands monsters and uses the power in the minds of children with abilities like Jake's to attack the Dark Tower at the nexus of the multiverse. When his visions lead him to a portal into another world, he joins forces with Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger sworn to protect the Tower and defeat the man in black. — mrosesteed Plagued by terrible nightmares of destruction and spine-chilling visions of an evil male figure dressed in black, the troubled New York teen, Jake Chambers, is about to discover that his night terrors are real. As he teams up with mysterious Gunslinger Roland, the fate of the world as we know it rests in his hands, as Walter, the demonic Man in Black, sets out to destroy the one thing that keeps this world and the next together: the massive Dark Tower. Now, the odds are stacked against the unexpected protectors. Can Jake and Roland restore order in the universe? — Nick Riganas