Nikolaj Arcel
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
Fans of the writer will find plenty of Easter eggs, with references to King titles such as “The Shining,” “It,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Christine.”
“The Dark Tower” is filled with references for King nuts, including, among others, a moment where Roland glances behind a pin-up poster while looking for an exit (“ The Shawshank Redemption ”) and the numbers “1408” above a portal.
Every now and then — “The Shining,” “The Shawshank Redemption” — a movie adaptation of Stephen King’s work really hits the mark.
The New York scenes, with Walter’s minions scuttling about wearing human masks over rat-like faces, have the creepy paranoia of a pulp film from the 1970s or ’80s; more than once, I thought of John Carpenter’s under-sung “They Live.” “The Dark Tower” also serves as a central clearing house for Stephen King mythology, with references to “The Shining,” obviously, but also cameo appearances by Cujo the dog, Christine the car, the monsters from “The Mist,” and other creatures under the cultural bed.
But these stories have proven to be a tough nut to crack, Apollo 13 and Willow hit-maker Ron Howard the primary driving force spearheading multiple attempts to see a film made.
The director, Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel—who co-wrote the screenplay for Niels Arden Oplev’s 2009 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , and whose directing credits include the 2012 Danish film A Royal Affair with Alicia Vikander—keeps everything moving with a mechanical studiousness.
The Shawshank Redemption, Pet Sematary, Carrie, Lisey’s Story, Dolores Claiborne, Hearts in Atlantis, The Dark Tower.
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)
Directed by Harald Zwart
influenced The Dark Tower (2017)
Cut down to 90 minutes, with an ending that is surprisingly definitive (and yet also anticlimactic), The Dark Tower seems likely to join dead-end would-be franchise-starters like The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones or Eragon, rather than kicking off the multimedia experience that was promised years ago (although a TV-series prequel is still theoretically in development).