"The Dark Tower," adapted from Stephen Kings epic eight novel series was always going to be difficult to pack into a single movie. Just a few days ago, Den Of Geek mentioned that "for years, Stephen King's eight-book fantasy horror epic, "The Dark Tower," seemed unfilmable."

It looks like despite the heroic efforts of the cast, which included a not-bad performance by Tom Taylor, and a saving-grace effort by Idris Elba, that the movie may have simply been over-ambitious.

Critics reactions to the long-awaited Stephen King movie have been tepid, to say the least.

Generally, the Idris Elba and Tom Taylor 'Dark Tower' movie seems to have been given the thumbs down by critics.

'The Dark Tower' movie thumbs down

The New York Times described "The Dark Tower" as "The Good, the Bad and the Stupid." To be fair to the movie production team, Manohla Dargis did point out that there are things other than bad and stupid in the movie, where she mentions that there is an occasional "glimpse of what might have been" a brilliant film.

Idris Elba saves the day somewhat, in a movie that otherwise was described as an "unappealing hash of movie making clichés."

The Boston Globe review seemed to lend the NYT critic review some authenticity as they described "The Dark Tower" as "derivative" and "generic."

But it was The Los Angeles Times who straight up came out and said that "The Dark Tower" was a "joyless adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower,'" that was "hardly worth the wait."

Other critics wrote that the movie was simply too ambitious to fit in a one-sitting showing and contended that hopefully, the forthcoming TV series will be able to a better job of it.

Ambitious Tower movie given the complex synopsis of the King books

The trouble with reading books is that the movie seldom meets expectations. The popularity of the King books might be appealing, but it is a challenging thing to convey everything in Movies. Even more challenging is the probability that a lot of film-goers have never read the books.

The official synopsis explains - for those people didn't read them - that "Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), the last Gunslinger, is locked in an eternal battle with Walter O'Dim (Matthew McConaughey), also known as the Man in Black."

"The Gunslinger must prevent the Man in Black from toppling "The Dark Tower," the key that holds the universe together.

With the fate of worlds at stake, two men collide in the ultimate battle between good and evil." OK - so now go and make a movie out of all that!

Very likely it was a mission impossible as ComingSoonNet tagged it as a "bog standard boys own adventure."

Critic reactions on Twitter to 'The Dark Tower'

These days Twitter is the go-to platform for reactions to anything at all, so it would be remiss to leave those potentially game-changing reviews out of the equation.

Sadly, for those people like me who simply love the escapism of Stephen King's writing, it looks like the incredible believability that the author seems to conjure up in the books, where the reader is transported into another dimension is not going to happen in "The Dark Tower" movie.

To watch the movie or not?

Diehard King fans will probably want to watch the movie, but it seems they should brace themselves for some disappointment. There are just too many good critics who have reacted negatively and given "The Dark Tower" the thumbs down, despite the efforts of Idris and Taylor to make something of the mission.

Nevertheless, the National Calendar does inform us that this weekend 4 and 5 August includes National Underwear Day and the underwhelming National Fresh Breath Day, so what else are you going to? As for me, I'd rather fling myself off The Dark Tower than hit the streets to celebrate the invention of underwear.
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