Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Director: Matt Reeves
Writer: Matt Parker
Based on the novel by Stephen King
Cast: Christian Bale, Eric Bana, Noah Schnapp, Caleb Landry Jones, Zoe Saldana, Austin Amelio, Clifton Collins Jr., Mark Rendall
Plot: Roland Deschain (Christian Bale) wakes up on a beach along the shores of the Western Sea. It takes him a moment to realize where he is in the bright sunlight. Suddenly, a large lobster-like creature, a 'lobstrosity', bursts from the wet sand nearby and attacks Roland. Roland barely manages to fight off the beast, losing two fingers from his right hand in the process. Weak from losing blood in the battle and venom from the monster's attack, Roland treks north along the beach where he eventually stumbles upon three freestanding doors. He notices each door has a label: The Prisoner, The Lady of Shadows, and The Pusher, respectively. Believing he has nothing to lose and only a slow death awaiting him on the shores, he enters the first door: The Prisoner.
Elsewhere, The Man in Black (Eric Bana) sits in a black, empty void. His eyes turn black as he pulls a Tarot card out from a deck, revealing a reversed Fool card. The Man in Black seems amused by the card he has drawn. He sees a vision of an airplane taking off from the tropical Bahamas - a nervous young man, Eddie Dean (Caleb Landry Jones) sits in his seat, trying to calm his shaky hands. The Man in Black then closes his eyes.
After stepping through the doorway, Roland is terrified to find himself on an airplane as it lands at JFK International Airport in 1987. The body he occupies follows everyone else off the plane and discovers through a reflection that he is occupying the body of Eddie Dean. Roland can hear the thoughts of Eddie as his mind is racing about how to get through customs with a large package of cocaine as he starts walking closer to the customs agents. Roland announces his presence to Eddie and tells him if he wants out of the trouble he's gotten himself into, he needs to go back to the plane and bring the drugs to Mid-World. Eddie begins panicking, so Roland takes control of the body. He runs back into the plane, past the pilot who tries to stop him. He reaches his arm through the invisible doorway to Mid-World and places the drugs there. Roland/Eddie apologizes to the pilot, saying they forgot something at their seat. Going back through Customs, the agents search Eddie but find nothing.
Upon learning that Eddie does not have the drugs he was supposed to bring, drug kingpin Enrico Balazar (Clifton Collins Jr.) arrives at Eddie's apartment and kidnaps his brother Henry Dean (Mark Rendall). When Eddie returns to his apartment, he finds a note from Balazar telling him to bring the package to the Leaning Tower Bar. When he arrives, Balazar questions him about the missing drugs. Roland has Eddie say that he can get the drugs back, he just has to use the restroom first. Balazar has one of his men follow Eddie into the restroom. Roland takes over Eddie's body and drags Balazar's henchman into another doorway to Mid-World where a pack of lobstrosities are waiting and rip him to shreds. Roland and Eddie return to the restroom through the doorway, this time in separate bodies - with the drugs in tow to give to Balazar in exchange for the safe return of Eddie's brother Henry. Eddie finds some antibiotics in a cabinet and tells Roland to take them for his wounds. They hear a gunshot. Eddie peaks through a crack in the door, seeing that Balazar has killed Henry. Eddie grabs a gun that Balazar's henchman dropped in the restroom. Roland and Eddie burst out of the bathroom and kill Balazar and his men. Soon, incoming police sirens can be heard. Roland starts walking back toward the door to Mid-World. Eddie stops and asks to come along since there's nothing left for him in NYC.
Back in the void, The Man in Black's eyes turn pure black as he pulls another card, The Lovers, and sets it next to the previously drawn reversed Fool. The combination of cards appears to amuse him as he lets out a small chuckle. The blackness around him begins swirling throughout the empty void, creating another vision of a young woman - Odetta (Zoe Saldana) - having a brick dropped on her head.
Back in Mid-World, Eddie and Roland rest for the night. Roland makes a fire and cooks up some meat from the lobstrosity he killed. Roland wakes up in the middle of the night and sees in image of The Man in Black in fire. He rubs his eyes, and The Man in Black is gone. In the morning, with Roland's wounds finally starting to heal, he prepares to go through the second door. Eddie is shaking from heroin withdrawal and asks to come along. Roland refuses to let him come, which angers Eddie. Roland walks through the doorway, returning to New York, this time in 1964 in a wheelchair-bound body of Odetta. The body is in the process of shoplifting from a Macy's department store. Roland quickly realizes that the body is currently occupied by two split-personalities: the fancy Odetta and the murderous Detta. Roland doesn't control the body or make his presence known at first, but once store security witnesses the shoplifting, Roland rolls the wheelchair into a dressing room. Eddie opens the door to Mid-World and Roland brings Odetta/Detta through it. She finds herself confused in this new world. Eddie comforts her and tells her what little he knows. She claims she must be in a coma or a deep sleep, and shows Eddie a scar from when a brick fell on her head when she was a child. Eddie, in turn, reveals his drug addiction to her. Roland takes Eddie aside and tells him that the woman has another personality and Eddie should be careful as the other personality has a very dark side. During the night Detta takes control of the body and tries to strangle Eddie to death. Roland wakes up and knocks Detta out with a kick to the head. Roland and Eddie then tie her to the wheelchair before she can wake up again. Eddie asks why they don't just send her back through the doorway, but Roland reveals that he believes he was destined to bring her and Eddie with him on his quest to the Dark Tower.
In the void, The Man in Black draws a third card: The Chariot. He places it next to The Lovers and the reversed Fool. He sees a vision in front of him of Roland standing in front of the third door, preparing to enter. The Man in Black's body disintegrates, becoming a massive horde of small, slimy, otherworldly black bugs. The bugs all scatter.
Roland tells Eddie to keep watch over Odetta/Detta while he goes through the third door, labeled: The Pusher. He warns Eddie not to trust her as she is more dangerous than she appears, at least one of her personalities are. Roland walks through the doorway, finding himself once again in New York - this time in 1977 and in the body of a serial killer named Jack Mort (Austin Amelio). Roland discovers in Jack's mind that Jack sometimes only maims, like when he dropped a brick on Odetta, creating the Detta personality. Roland then notices that Jack is stalking Jake Chambers (Noah Schnapp), who is walking to school. The Man in Black watches both from across the street. Roland manages to prevent Jack from pushing Jake in front of a moving car, making his presence known to Jack. Roland takes over Jack's body, using it to stock up on guns, ammunition and medicine to bring back to Mid-World with him. Roland sends out a mental message to Odetta to look through the doorway. Eddie opens it for her. Roland has Jack standing on train tracks. Roland manages to break free from Jack's body and heads to the doorway. Odetta watches as a train barrels over Jack. The trauma from witnessing this creates a new dominant personality, Susannah. Roland then returns to Mid-World, closing the doorway behind him.
Roland tells Eddie and Susannah that they must join him in ka-tet, that they all now share the same destiny - to journey to the Dark Tower. Roland informs them that he will have to train them to be gunslingers like himself. He says they all must fulfill their destiny, even if he cannot promise they won't die in the process. Eddie expresses confusion. Roland tells him it is fine to be confused. There are larger forces at work in the world than they. The three begin traveling away from the beach.
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