I've been looking forward to seeing this movie for a few years, I've read all the books including the more recent one ('The Wind Thru the Keyhole') and other books that Walter appeared in. It's currently 2017, and anyone who hasn't learned the 'book to movie' lesson by now needs to finally learn it so that they can also enjoy movies what they are, which is an extra bonus for a book that is well liked by a lot of people. If the movie actually turns out good than all the better, but being more realistic about movies not having to live up to the books they're based on is best thing to do so you don't end up like the rest of these bitter people who leave the movie theater as quickly as possible just to come back home and write a 'nerd'tastic negative one starred review expressing all their deep down inner angst in the most pathetic form possible. Luckily I beat many of them to the punch before they tore this fun and entertaining movie apart, and I did find it entertaining thanx to having zero expectations about it, go ahead and try it next time you go to a similar movie, you'll at least temporarily enjoy yourself. Whining and complaining about trivial things isn't good for you or anyone else anyways.
I thought they did a fairly good job considering all the various challenges that this potential movie presented them, and the fact that it at one point seemed like it may never even get released or get just get much further delayed didn't make the project seem as promising as it did when first hearing about it's production a few years back for the first time. I got my expectations up very high when I first heard about it, but as time went on I would settle for just about anything decent, and 'decent' it sure was, though I'll rate the movie a 10 to make up for one or two reviews from the Negative Nancys of IMDb. I'm happy to see that Sony left this open for a sequel, It's still not a for sure thing if they'll make another, though King seems to think they will, but I'd pay a lot of money to see a movie based of the backstory from 'Wizard and Glass'.
Bottom line: Have fun, it's a fun movie whether you have read the books or not. Not a bad choice for the kids either, lot of action, no nudity, and not much cussing from what I recall, (12+ is my guess depending on who you are, ratings can be deceiving).
If you haven't read the books: Read them if you're an avid reader, you won't regret it, but if you're just an average reader then the 8 books will take you far too long to get thru and you'll probably give up and have wasted a lot of time trying. One trick is just to be disciplined enough to read every single day if possible, and it doesn't even have to be much because it will add up over the course of year, and if you were to read 10 - 15 pages per day every day you'd be able to finish 'The Dark Tower' series within one year. (Quick easy formula: 365 days per year, very roughly 365 pages per book, so 5 pages per day will get you thru 5 books per year, and not difficult at all to make that 40 pages per day, and at the end of the year you will have read 40 BOOKS! Probably more books than you've ready in your life, just got to form the habit first and go from there, keep track with a notebook to stay disciplined if you have to).
Other King suggestions: 'The Shining' Even better than the movie, and possibly underrated because of the movie's popularity, and the fact most people are too lazy to read.
'The Eyes of the Dragon' Walter is a main character, and King once again digs into the darkness of the man's psyche while weaving a great story in Medieval times.
'The Stand' The ultimate apocalyptic adventure with Walter doing what he does best, and the fate of the lives of dozens of different characters all linked to Walter thru their dreams of him, and has 1000 or so pages to all find each other and come together to somehow stop him while avoiding much betrayal and many obstacles along the beaten path that is led and aided by their other dreams of another character who is out to help them find where they need to be going.
'Different Seasons' No, it's not a story about a possessed spice rack) This book includes four novellas (short novels). Most of you will recognize of 2 or 3 of the others as those were all turned into good movies ('The Shawshank Redemption' 'Apt Pupil' and 'The Body' AKA 'Stand By Me'), and just as is usually the case are far superior to the films, and not that the films are bad at all.
It's just the reality that books always beat movies, it's no contest at all, but movies are a time for us to do something unproductive and be happy while doing it. So don't be like these sad saps who would actually pay for a movie knowing very well that they'll not have a good time. One of the secrets to life is 'to have a good time when you're able to', and if you like to laugh at bad movies that are trying to be serious then you need to finally get yourself on the MST3K and Rifftrax bandwagon.
