The Dark Tower / It

I've read the first four books in The Dark Tower sequence (still haven't managed to get around to the remaining four), so I had a fair expectation of what a faithful adaptation should look like.

Fortunately, going into the cinema to see The Dark Tower, I had been forewarned, both by the filmmakers and the scathing reviews that this would not be a translation of any of the books as such.

I had also been warned not to expect anything other than a stinking pile of manure from the film. Judging by the tone of some of the reviews, this was one of the worst films of the year.

I was therefore pleasantly surprised to discover that it wasn't one of the worst. It was completely ... mediocre.

There's something of an 80s vibe to the story - teenager discovering an Otherland, half the action being back in the real world (presumably to save on the production budget (which reminded me quite a bit of the Dolph Lundgren Masters of the Universe movie)). If that was the intent of the filmmakers, then tonally they were reasonably successful.

The problem is that it doesn't stand out in any way. It feels more like a TV pilot in terms of scale. The set pieces are unremarkable, the special effects nothing that the SyFy Channel doesn't put out on a weekly basis.

And as an adaptation of Stephen King's work, it completely fails to replicate any of the atmosphere of his writing.

On the other hand, there is IT (capitalised for the sake of clarity).

IT has a definite 80s vibe, considering that's the era in which it is being set. Minus the swearing, violence, horror and sexual abuse themes, it doesn't feel a million miles away something that would have fallen into genre of kids on bikes with an  'Executive Producer Steven Spielberg' seal of approval.

It's definitely not for the squeamish. It's also not for people who can't watch scenes of unpleasant things happening to children - and it's shockingly unpleasant in some cases.

It ranks up with the best of the films made from his work, and unlike something like The Shining, which regardless of its status of movie masterpiece (although I'm not a fan), isn't really true to King's storytelling, it feels faithful in content and tone.

The changes that have been made to the story (yes, that scene), and the structure make it work better on the big screen than a rabid adherence to the written word would have. Even though it only tells half of the story, it is still a complete entity and it works really, really well.

So in summary: IT - see on the big screen. The Dark Tower - wait for streaming and don't expect much.