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The Mist
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Starring: Thomas Jane
Genre:
Horror-Thriller/
Science Fiction
Run Time: 126
min.
Release Date:
November 2007
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
There has been — and
probably will be for some time — speculation about the end of this film
and how it strayed from Stephen King’s novella by the same name: The
Mist. There’s good and bad in equal measure, depending upon your
stance on Hollywood Horror versus the literary kind. But let’s back-up
and look at the beginning before we rush to the end...
Equal parts supernatural thriller and science fiction yarn, the novella
(published in 1985 in a short story collection entitled Skeleton Crew)
was, well, phenomenal. It is the type of story most horror fans
associate Stephen King with. Compartmentalized. Freakishly different.
Plays on morality. Just flat-out good writing. King did well back in the
70s and 80s, but he has floundered as a writer in recent years with his
horribly bad From A Buick 8 and the equally putrid
Dreamcatcher (which was made into a very unfortunate film starring
Morgan Freeman). What exactly happened to Mr. King, I’m not sure. He
hadn’t had his brush with death (yet) and his earlier work sent the
proverbial chills up my spine (most notably the excellent The Shining
and It). Regardless of past or more present works, Mr. King did
get lucky with THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION in that he got Frank
Darabont to write the screenplay and direct. The Shawshank Redemption
has been labeled one of the top 100 films of all times by nearly every
film critic in the world, and it is one of my top ten favorites. The
transfer from book to film went exceptionally well, and this was in no
small part thanks to Darabont’s hand. Darabont did similarly nice work
on THE GREEN MILE, but it didn’t quite reach the heights that
Shawshank did. But when I saw that Darbont was attached to this
film, I leapt at the chance to watch it.
Needless to say (because of my cool acceptance rating), I found The Mist
to be entertaining but sadly lacking in several areas. But let’s start
with the good...
The creature effects. The combined work using CGI and stop animation was
excellent. KNB EFX Group as the Special Effects crew and CafeFX doing
the Visual Effects showed us some eerily nice work. The ominous cloud of
mist was perfect enough to shroud any early identification of the
creatures within it and the actors reacted to the mist just as you would
expect.
Marcia Gay Harden (INTO
THE WILD) stars as Mrs. Carmody, the bible-thumping,
old-testament wielding, blood-seeking, Christian hypocrite that we all
enjoyed in the novella. I hated her in the novella and I hated her here,
meaning that Gay Harden pulled off a very good performance.
Any further positives however (save one), get blurred by the ridiculous
nature of the scripted characters. Too many times we get the ‘shock’
effect simply for shock effect, rather than sticking with the
compartmentalization of the situation (i.e., people of differing
backgrounds at each others’ throats in a supermarket during a crisis
situation). Characters act as if they are surprised to see death and
destruction after it has already been shown to them just a few hours
before. People leap for weapons when a creature is nearby ready to
skewer them. Main actor Thomas Jane who plays David Drayton could have
been played by just about anyone, meaning that I didn’t find his
portrayal of this character memorable (whereas Gay Harden nailed her
role) And the list goes on...
Getting back to the ending — and my final positive note — I have to say
that it was hampered somewhat by my enjoyment of the written word versus
this visual medium. In the novella, Mr. King leaves the ending fairly
ambiguous. Which I liked. I liked a lot. And here, in the film, that
gets changed to a much more somber ending. Although I liked the fact
that Darabont didn’t sugarcoat the final act, I do think he could have
kept King’s original ending and added a few more fans to his legions.
But let’s make it perfectly clear that this ending is absolutely in-line
with the true horror genre, which is why it got a semi-positive rating
from me.
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Image from The Mist
DVD cost: $19.89
Purchase:
Tower.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
According to Cinefex
magazine, there is a favorite scene near the end of the book that was
not in the script. In the scene, David Drayton and the others with him
in the vehicle, witness a giant, 6-legged behemoth walk over them.
Darabont originally had excised this scene from his script. However,
several of the people working with the special effects company CafeFX,
convinced him to put it back into the film.
Movie Quote: "We
have to tell them. The people in the market. We have to stop them from
going outside."
Other Actors/Actresses
from The Mist
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