Matthew McConaughey stars in a scene from the movie "The Dark Tower." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. (CNS/Sony)

By Catholic News Service

Dull sci-fi fantasy in which a psychic teen (Tom Taylor) first dreams about, then travels to a distant world where he gets caught up in the cosmic battle between a villainous wizard (Matthew McConaughey) and the lone remaining member (Idris Elba) of a group of Old West-style gunmen still resisting him. Their struggle concerns the supernatural structure of the title which somehow keeps the evil lurking at the edges of the universe at bay.

Awash in such high-flown hooey, director and co-writer Nikolaj Arcel’s film, which extends rather than adapts a series of novels by Stephen King, is inappropriate for the impressionable. As for grown viewers, should they slog through all the exposition of non-scriptural ideas, they may be touched by the bond that eventually develops between the fatherless lad and his initially gruff mentor.

Occult themes, much gunplay and other violence, including torture, but with little gore, a few uses of profanity, a couple of crude terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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