The Dark Tower: Things you should know about the Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey starrer

The Dark Tower, directed by Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel, is based on American horror writer Stephen King's eight book fantasy-horror series of the same name. Think Game of Thrones in western setting instead of medieval, only with more scope and scale but far fewer characters. The film stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey as the forces of good and evil, respectively. Although the film has already released on August 4 in the United States, in India it is going to be released on August 25. (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)

The primary character in the saga is Roland Deschain, the last among the gunslingers, portrayed by Idris Elba. Gunslingers in the world of The Dark Tower were Arthurian warriors without armour and toting guns instead of swords. (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)

The villain of The Dark Tower is The Man in Black. He is a dark wizard, and is a worthy opponent to Roland. The character is portrayed by Matthew McConaughey (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)

Sandwiched between Roland Deschain and The Man in Black is Jake Chambers, a boy who belongs to our own world and serves as our perspective to the dying and desolate world of Roland Deschain (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)

Roland Deschain is following The Man in Black, and you'll know the true meaning of relentlessness only if you understand the zeal of the gunslinger. Roland will never stop chasing The Man in Black, even if the chase killed him. (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)

Why is Roland chasing his nemesis? Because The Man in Black wants to bring down the Dark Tower. If the Dark Tower goes down, all existence, all reality, all world would be obliterated. (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)

The Dark Tower is a towering (sorry!) structure where Roland Deschain's quest is slowly, but inexorable taking him. It stands at the nexus of everything - literally, everything. Without it, there is absolutely nothing. (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)

: Jake Chambers somehow gets into the world of Roland Deschain and becomes his companion. Roland's world is not like ours. His world is infested with monsters and precious little life exists beyond old men and scrub. (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)

In the book, Jake Chambers is not Roland's only companion. There is a couple - Eddie and Susannah Dean. They are not there in the film, but reports have suggested they might appear in spinoffs. (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)

The film's running time is only 94 minutes, which is odd for an epic saga like The Dark Tower. But it also means more action and judging by the trailer, there is some spectacular action in the film. Bullets of Roland collide with spells of the Man in Black with uncanny accuracy. (Source: Photo by Sony Pictures)