The Dark Tower
Universal Pictures | Release Date: August 4, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
22
Negative:
20
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyAug 3, 2017
It would be a waste of everyone’s time to go on about how this 95-minute movie deviates from the source. Let’s just say it turns The Dark Tower into something generic, and leave it at that. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 3, 2017
From the impure perspective of someone who hasn't read King's series, The Dark Tower isn't half-bad. Faint praise, but this movie will take all it can get. Read full review
58
The Film StageDan MeccaAug 3, 2017
From start to finish The Dark Tower, directed by Nikolaj Arcel from the popular book series by Stephen King, feels like something salvaged from something else. The result is a mostly entertaining piece of fantasy pulp that is a victim of trying to do too much and too little at the same time. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 4, 2017
The movie makes me finally want to test-drive one of the “Dark Tower” novels, if only to see what King himself was able to bring to the party. Maybe that’s been his evil plan all along. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 4, 2017
The direction is fairly formulaic, the special effects are nothing special, and except for Elba and McConaughey, who square off against each other in a series of ho-hum set pieces, the cast is forgettable. So is the movie. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 3, 2017
The Dark Tower isn’t a bad movie even though there’s a clumsiness to its narrative and a cheapness to its appearance. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 3, 2017
Is the movie good enough to do what it’s designed to do? Not really. It’s designed as a launching pad for a “Dark Tower” television series, scheduled to star Elba and Taylor. So this is an hour-and-a-half TV pilot; it just happens to be a big summer movie too. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeAug 2, 2017
Though satisfying enough to please many casual moviegoers drawn in by King's name and stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, it will likely disappoint many serious fans and leave other newbies underwhelmed. Read full review
50
IGNMarty SlivaAug 2, 2017
The Dark Tower is a thoroughly average take on some truly incredible source material. 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. Read full review
45
The VergeTasha RobinsonAug 3, 2017
The Dark Tower, helmed by Danish director Nikolaj Arcel, is so simplified in places that it seems outright generic. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichAug 3, 2017
Bad dialogue, lame plot, fine. The bigger issue: How could a film with Elba and McConaughey have so little swagger? Read full review
42
ConsequenceJustin GerberAug 2, 2017
Bringing the action of future Dark Tower novels forward isn’t a sin. The sin is not having nearly enough space for it. The film is breathless in all the worst ways as a result. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyAug 24, 2017
It’s a sad waste, not a wilful one – a misfire you wish was better in virtually every shot. Read full review
40
Total FilmKen McIntyreAug 15, 2017
As baffling as it is dull, The Dark Tower is a disappointment for both hardcore fans and the King-curious. Stick with the books. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O'HaraAug 7, 2017
Elba is genuinely great as the tormented Roland, but the film does its best to suffocate him under a mountain of plot-heavy nonsense. Disappointing. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 4, 2017
As a mascot, McConaughey embodies the movie’s lack of conviction, but as an indication that a star could conceivably be computer-generated with no loss of affect or facial mobility, he might inspire the next generation of bloodless fantasy epics. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonAug 3, 2017
Idris Elba makes for a dashing, haunted gunslinger assigned to safeguard the universe, but whether it’s Matthew McConaughey’s hammy turn as an all-powerful villain or the generic effects work, The Dark Tower proves to be a movie filled with faint ambitions and an even weaker pulse. Read full review
40
Time OutMichael GingoldAug 3, 2017
Onscreen, The Dark Tower serves up a generic, half-baked scenario no different from a slew of better-known YA properties in which young, wide-eyed protagonists discover their connections to a hidden fantastical world. Read full review
40
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 3, 2017
Given how eagerly awaited this film has been, it’s safe to say that readers who love the series deserve a movie version made with more imagination, and less rote efficiency, than this one. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoAug 3, 2017
Director Nikolaj Arcel blends dystopian weirdness and temporal hellbeasts until all that remains is an emulsified, grey gunk, which is then forced down our throats for 95 minutes. Flavor gone, identifiers eviscerated. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Aug 3, 2017
The Dark Tower is simply dim. Read full review
40
The GuardianCharles BramescoAug 3, 2017
It’s rare that a film so convoluted also manages to be so determinedly boring. Read full review
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