Have you ever watched Luther? Idris Elba takes crazy/genius to a new level. Like this scene when after he gets done winning Russian roulette, he punches the guy in the face by channeling his inner Mike Tyson. Just listen to the crunch when his punches land.
Now it’s his turn to act as Roland, the Gunslinger with a capital G. The premise of the movie is that Roland is trying to reach the dark tower to save all of humanity. The problem is there’s this bad guy trying to stop him. That’s a gross oversimplification, but I did say it’s just a premise.
In the trailer for The Dark Tower, Roland’s so full of mojo that he’s like Leeroy Jenkins running into the dragons but actually soloing the whole damn fight. That’s what Roland is like in this film.
If you want to get a visual of the above, play the trailer below. If you’re short on time, skip to the 2:18 mark. He uses his sixth…or even seventh sense at that point. Yeah, I’d feel pretty safe around him.
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is one of my favorites, so I’m looking forward to this release. I’m not a romantic; if I had to describe myself I’d probably say I’m a pragmatist. So while I’m hoping it’s similar to the books, I understand that as a different media, it’s just not that likely to happen.
What I am expecting, however, is for Elba to knock this out of the park. I want to feel as emotionally behind Elba’s performance in the exact opposite way that I was behind Sephiroth dispatching Aerith.
The Dark Tower releases on August 4, 2017. We still have some time, so I recommend picking up the first book in the series. You can find it here for less than $10.