Drawing seemingly willy-nilly from all of the [Stephen King Dark Tower] books, The Dark Tower: The Movie follows a boy (Tom Taylor) plagued by visions of the universe ending. As the Lovecraftian apocalypse looms large, he's drawn into a world-hopping showdown between a weary mystical gunslinger (Idris Elba) and a black-clad agent of chaos (an amusingly pissy Matthew McConaughey). The good news first: Elba is terrifically right for the part, fully inhabiting King’s laconic badass as soon as he steps in front of the camera. More’s the pity, then, that director Nikolaj Arcel treats him like a supporting character in his own story, minimizing his presence in favor of blurry shoot-outs and inserts of McConaughey commenting on the action from afar. The critical knives are already out for The Dark Tower, with rumors of reshoots and studio interference flooding the internet. Unfortunately, what’s on screen is really just thoroughly mediocre, with its most potentially interesting elements set aside in favor of a synergistic long game. Read the full review. by Andrew Wright