The Mist
Though substantial time has passed since I watched The Mist, I feel it is for the better. Up to this point my reviews have been posted almost immediately after watching the movie, but I feel that it’s probably best to wait a couple of weeks. The point being that in waiting some time, if the movie has still stayed with me, then it must be a good movie, and therefore worthy of a star more or less.
The Mist is the story of David Drayton (Thomas Jane), and the supernatural events that occur in a small town, and possibly the whole world. After a brutal storm, David heads to the supermarket with his son Billy, and his unfriendly neighbor Brent, whose car has been smashed by the storm. While at the supermarket a mist rolls in, and a hysterical civilian runs into the supermarket screaming “something in the mist, there is something in the mist”. Oh, boy what could it be, perhaps a parade? No, there are monsters in the mist, huge one’s with massive tentacles.
As the people in the supermarket fear to venture out into the supermarket, they become trapped and the fear starts setting in. Maybe if there was no mist? Hmmm. Well there is and they can’t see shit out there so they soon learn that they are screwed if they walk out of the supermarket. As paranoia sets in among those trapped, Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) is determined to save as many as she can for she is convinced that a lot of mist means judgment day. Don’t you love religious people? Well she is not just religious but soon enough is also crazy, same thing as religious I suppose, and at one point even suggest that they sacrifice the kid, Billy.
The film has a lot of promise, and could have been more frightening if only the special effects were better or if they hadn’t show the damn monsters. As soon as the first tentacle appears, one realizes that this is nothing more than just a silly movie trying to scare us with cheap special effects. They are terrible, and almost contradict the whole purpose of the mist. I mean if there is a damn mist, and the movie is called “The Mist”, than shouldn’t that be the centerpiece of fear in the movie? Doesn’t it make sense that the point of a mist being scary is that one can’t see anything? That would have made the movie a lot better and I would have given it another star.
The performances are not spectacular and the one that cold have been falls short. Harden as Mrs. Carmody, just wasn’t quite right. First of all the character was very one-dimensional. No one in their right mind or not would have reacting like that almost immediately. Not even the craziest person would have acted so calm and cool about what was happening outside the glass walls of that supermarket. Harden is a great actress, but even her amazing acting skills couldn’t save this movie.
I think the reason why I didn’t give this movie two stars instead of three is the ending. All I can say is that I didn’t expect it at all, well at some point almost none at all, I kind of thought about it, but still refused to believe it would end in such a bleak way. The ending is what did it for me in this movie. I loved the ending. Once you see it you’ll know why, for I love bleak ending like that. Still this movie is lots of fun, and there is a decent amount of gore for you blood lovers out there. Still don’t expect it to be the greatest horror movie you have ever seen, or the best Stephen King adaptation either.
Directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption)
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