| Director | Nikolaj Arcel |
|---|---|
| Genre | Western film, action film, fantasy film, film based on a novel, horror film, post-apocalyptic film, science fiction film |
| Runtime | 95 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $60 million |
| Box office | $113.2 million |
Eleven-year-old Jake Chambers experiences visions of a mysterious warlock, the "Man in Black", who seeks to destroy a "Tower" and bring ruin to the "Universe" while a lone "Gunslinger" opposes him. Jake's visions are dismissed by his mother, stepfather and psychiatrists as nightmares resulting from the trauma of his father's death. At his apartment home in New York City, a team claiming to be from a private psychiatric facility arrive to pick up Jake. Recognizing them from his visions as monsters wearing human skin, the boy hides in an abandoned house from one of his visions, where he discovers a high-tech portal that leads to a post-apocalyptic landscape called Mid-World.
In Mid-World, Jake encounters the Gunslinger, Roland Deschain. Roland is pursuing the Man in Black, Walter Padick, seeking revenge for Padick's role in the deaths of his father Stephen and the other Gunslingers. He explains to Jake that for decades, Walter has been abducting children with psychic powers, attempting to use their "shine" to bring down the Dark Tower, a fabled structure located at the center of the Universe. This will allow his master, a monstrous being from the darkness outside, to cross over and consume all reality.
Roland takes Jake to a local village in order to have his visions interpreted by a seer. Having learned of Jake's escape, Walter is informed by his minion Sayre that Jake has "pure Shine", enough psychic potential to destroy the Dark Tower single-handedly. The warlock tracks down Jake's parents, brutally murdering his stepfather and torturing his mother for information.
Back in Mid-World, the seer determines that the machine is six months away on foot; the only shortcut is through one of Walter's secret labs. Jake realizes that Walter has a lab in New York that he recognizes from a vision. Suddenly, Walter's Taheen minions attack the village; Roland guns most of them down but is forced to return to New York for modern medical treatment. Jake learns the location of Walter's lab from a homeless man who helped him earlier, but when he tries to find his mother, he discovers only charred remains and breaks down crying. Seeing this, Roland vows to avenge her death and bonds with Jake by teaching him gun-fighting as well as the "Gunslinger's Creed", which he has not uttered since his own father's death.
Roland is ambushed by Walter while obtaining fresh ammunition at a gun store; Jake is captured and forced into a machine that will convert his "shine" into a beam capable of destroying the Tower. Through telepathy, Jake helps Roland find the base and buy time while Roland kills Sayre and most of the remaining Taheen in a brutal shootout. Walter faces Roland in personal combat and effortlessly disarms and wounds him using his magic. When Jake reminds him of the Gunslinger's Creed, Roland improvises a trick shot to disable Walter before swiftly killing him. Finally, he destroys the machine and saves the Dark Tower, Jake, and the other children.
Preparing to make a personal journey to the Tower itself, Roland offers Jake the chance to become his companion and an apprentice Gunslinger. Jake accepts, and they permanently leave New York for Mid-World.