The Mist | REVIEW

Phew! Well The Dark Knight is finally over and God was it a good movie...all three times! Anyway, as much as I'd love to talk about it, I'm gonna' go ahead and actually review a movie this time instead of brag about how well The Dark Knight did at the box-office. I'm not even gonna' say that it reached a whopping $203million in just five days within the US alone, which is the fastest a film has actually reached that amount in the history of Hollywood cinema.

Oops....

Anyway, I watched The Mist the other day on DVD and found that it was a really good horror / suspense / sci-fi flick. Stephen King is a f*ckin' weirdo, I tell ya', but that didn't stop him from raking in a lotta' cash via his famous and infamous horror novels. That being said, I hated Dreamcatcher. That movie was good for the first half-hour or so, and then it started getting messy, and by the end I wasn't just disappointed but also irritated. Fortunately for me, however, The Mist didn't fail to keep me entertained and it's one of those movies that will stick in your memory for some time. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that the resolution in this film will f*ck your brains into a pulp. Seriously. I can't say anything more because if you expect something extremely cool then it'll probably not be as cool when it actually happens, get it? Let's just say it's one of the best, and brain-numbing, conclusions I've seen in a while. It's cool.

So what's The Mist about? Well, to put it very simply, by deciphering the code within its title we understand that The Mist is, well, about a strange mist. *Show sudden burst of shock and surprise* Who would've thunk, huh? The Mist is about mist? As in fog? Wow, what is Hollywood coming to these days? These titles that throw you off! Sheesh.

Back to story, The Mist is based in the small town of Shreveport, Louisiana (although this is never officially mentioned), which is slowly engulfed by a strange mist following a violent thunderstorm the night before. 95% of the movie takes place inside a local grocery store in which a large number of townsfolk are trapped and unable to escape due to the near 0% vision outside. To make matters worse, strange sightings of horrid creatures occur which send the people into a panic frenzy. The townsfolk must not only endure the phenomena but also survive the mist and the evil that lurks within it.

Thomas Jane plays a commercial artist named David Drayton, who is also stuck / held up in the store with his 5-year old son due to the blinding mist outside.

I've said this numerous times and I'll say it again. The claustrophobia-effect works! Unlike horror movies in which a bunch of teens are running from coast to coast trying to escape a chainsaw-wielding masked madman who's also a zombie that endured a tragic death and came back to life for some reason, The Mist revolves around a group of townspeople inside a grocery store who are unable to get out due to the fear of dangerous creatures that lurk inside the mist. For all we know, the entire world could be blanketed, which makes the tale all the more creepier. The 'trapped inside a small space' effect really brings a stronger vibe to a horror film. It deems the victims helpless.

I'd say the acting in The Mist is surprisingly good. It just comes to show that the smaller flicks should also be given a chance. There's no outstanding performances here but overall the acting is believable and is not overdone. Marcia Gay Harden (like there weren't other names in the entire world) plays a religious fanatic named Mrs. Carmody in this one and she does a fine job. I'd say her role stands out the most.

As for CGI, The Mist doesn't deliver mind-blowing effects and whatnot, but keeps the stuff simple and passes some work over to animatronics. The graphics aren't top-notch, but they're not horrible either. They're believable and that's all that counts, right? Don't expect anything frightening from the creatures in this movie because it isn't the creatures that are meant to scare. Well, at least they didn't do it for me. The scariness comes from the fact of not knowing what else dwells in the whiteness outside the confinement of the store's glass walls. Now that's scary.

Downside? Stephen King and the people who adapt his work, in this case director Frank Darabont of Shawshank Redemption fame, normally push the boundaries between reality and sci-fi too far. I'm not gonna' spoil anything for any of you guys but I think you can relate to me when I say that Stephen King never keeps a theme going straight. It's always the case of half the film being a perfect mixture of horror, reality, and strange phenomena and then suddenly a stroke of extreme sci-fi. Kinda' like Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. One more example would be The Forgotten. Have any of you seen The Forgotten? It sucks, people! The Mist doesn't suck, though. It only gives you the feeling of slight discomfort as though the movie is suddenly drifting too far away from its original thematic value that you were getting well-accustomed to for over an hour or so. I always tend to flow more with a movie when it tells you right from the start what its core is all about. I'm not saying I like my movies spoilt by knowing the ending, no, I love suspense...I'm just saying that if it's a sci-fi movie it better be from the very beginning. If it's more of a historical-mythological deal then don't suddenly bombard us with stories of aliens, that's all I'm saying. Unless, of course, said movie is Aqua Teen Hunger Force-related. That show is the randomest piece of brain-mush I've seen to date! Anyway, you'll just have to watch The Mist to find out what I mean in full, and no, I didn't hint at anything Mist-related above.

There's nothing much to say about the technical aspects of The Mist. In fact I don't prefer looking into all that while reviewing a movie, even though I am a film student so to speak. The essential aspect of a film is to what extent it can entertain and that's mostly all I care about when I watch something. Indeed, effort put into the movie deserves its own credit, but that's where my 'Wrap' comes in. When it comes to The Mist there's nothing special about the camera angles or acting or filming techniques. It's just an entertaining, frightening, bizarre movie from the minds of Stephen King and Frank Darabont. I'd definitely recommend this film to anyone who loves a movie that keeps you glued to your seat for about 2-hours.
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Wrap The Mist gets a 3.7 out of 5.0. It's fun the first time around but there's nothing in it for a second round, much like all other horror films. It's just something fun to do on a weekend night with the lights off. Unless you have a girlfriend. Pretty chilling stuff. The movie, I mean, not the girlfriend.