Idris Elbahas been waiting for a big starring role to secure his leading-man status for awhile now. He’s a commanding performer in movies likeGuillermo Del Toro’sPacific RimandBeasts of No Nation, and his work on television in bothLutherandThe Wire(as well as the upcomingGuerrilla) cemented his sterling reputation on the small screen. The big screen, however, has yet to give him a big, meaty lead role to help define his presence and status in modern filmmaking.Pacific Rimwas close, but that was an ensemble piece and dominated by imaginative design and CGI.
One would have hoped the producers behind James Bond would have been able to meet us all in the 21st century and try him out in the franchise role that he seems all but born to play. Sadly, that is not the state of things andDaniel Craig, after setting fire to the role last year, is now possible coming back. So, Elba hasThe Dark Tower, a long-awaited adaptation of a premiumStephen Kingseries, in which he will play the exhausted hero againstMatthew McConaughey’s swaggering, powerful villain. The first poster for the film, which you’re able to take a look at below, highlights Elba’s Roland as a adventurous hero, alongside Tom Taylor’s young, prophetic character.
The casting is excellent but I’m more than a little concerned about how this film has been rushed to make a summer release date. This is one of those adaptations where if you do it wrong, you anger a passionate contingent of King readers and you banish a great story to limbo until another studio decides to take up the rights and do it somewhat better. In this, it’s similar to the attempts to bringFantastic Fourto the screen. If it works out, however, this could give Elba exactly the kick he’s been looking for at the multiplex.
Here’s the first poster forThe Dark Tower:
Here’s the plot synopsis forThe Dark Tower:
Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) is a young 11-year-old adventure seeker who discovers clues about another dimension called Mid-World. Upon following the mystery, he is spirited away to Mid-World where he encounters the lone frontiersman knight Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), who is on a quest to reach the ‘Dark Tower’ that resides in End-World and reach the nexus point between time and space that he hopes will save Mid-World from extinction. But with various monsters and a vicious sorcerer named Walter Padick (Matthew McConaughey) hot on their trail, the unlikely duo find that their quest may be difficult to complete.
