Stephen King's The Mist

[samaraillama55]

Did the critic even who rote this review even read the story. Mrs. Carmody is a huge part of the story and her influence on the rest of the survivors is brilliantly displayed in this movie. I'm surprised that the critic is actually employed seeing as his reviews have no research or even basic knowlege put into them. The movie follows very closely along with book as it should. So basically, critic doesn't know what he's talking about.

[bradbrevet]

samaraillama55, considering your comments hardly imply you read the review I am not sure if I should even respond. You seem to be implying I have not read the book, when in fact I have, but I am not reviewing a book, I am reviewing a movie. You will note, in the review I don't mention Stephen King or his book, and that is for this very reason. As far as I am concerned the two should stand alone, separate from one another.

As it is, the movie does not work, the ending proves nothing and results in me wasting my time on watching stupid people make rash decisions based on their stupidity. If you liked it because it followed the book then I am glad you liked it, I didn't.

[Ignition]

The Movie started out very well, Acting was good, Mrs Carmody was perfectly played out. But I agree with the review that the Ending sucked. At least he could've killed everyone in the car, then himself...then it would've shown the troops coming through..it would've been a bit better then what really happened. Also It was very true to the book excpet for the ending. It was an alright movie but I don't think I'd see it again.

[davidfrank]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SUPER SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I can see your point on why the ending pissed you off. However, the 3rd act is why I loved the film (although I liked most of what came before it). Just on that weird unexplainable emotional level that movies sometimes hit us with, the climax worked for me.

And even though I sort of knew things weren't going to end happily through pop-culture osmosis...I would have had that feeling even if I walked in with a blank slate. When the characters spoke of Abraham's Sacrifice in regards to Jane's son and then later the gun landing on the car's hood, well yeah, I got the feeling the kid wasn’t going to make it...and it'd probably be at the hands of his father. As for the suicides and whether they came out of nowhere. Well, there were noises in the background that sounded like the giant monsters (later it appears to be the rumble of tanks) and that's why I think they thought a threat was near. As for the suddenness of it, the whole film is working at an accelerated dramatic pace (which you either buy into or don’t---I obviously did) and the quick decision to off themselves was part of that. Could it have been drawn out a little longer? Yeah. But at the same time, I think their hopes were hanging on a thread to begin with, and being stranded with the apparent sound of doom around them was the final straw. Not much left to think about after seeing a thousand spiders erupt from a dude's chest.

Yet, despite what everyone is calling a bleaker than bleak ending, I'm not seeing it that way--but I'm the type of weirdo who believes Sam Lowry wins at the end of Brazil (it's all in the smile on his face)--or at least the message the film carries isn't bleak. (To me the bleakest ending would have been seeing the gun flashes in the car and then without cutting to different shot seeing Thomas Jane get out and walk into the mist alone and then cut to black...in fact I think I would have liked that even more—I’m mentally ill like that).

While this will surely sound quite corny, the ending to me is about “Never Giving Up Hope.” Essentially the Zealots in the supermarket have given up all hope and are pretty much waiting around for Jesus to come knocking on the door--and I think that's why Darabont’s film exudes so much anger towards the Religious Right because the essential focus of the Religious Right revolves around their absolute belief in the End of Days, which inherently lack hope for a future that can improve upon our current condition. For the majority of the film Jane and friends are the antithesis to this and they hold onto some hope until the very end. And when Jane gives up all hope, it costs him dearly.
So while Darabont is working in some angry social messages in the film dealing with the Religious Right to 9/11 Fear Mongering, it all pretty much circles around the same conclusion: The world is f**ked up…but not beyond repair. Ultimately in the end with the final reveal (and by showing the lady we all assumed was dead may be the hammering of this theme), I think the film is saying “There Always Hope.” In many ways The Mist is quite analogous to the themes of hope in The Shawshank Redemption. The only difference is that one character gives up while the other never does.

At least that's my take on the ending. I'm not trying to move you from your opinion. Just spreading light on mine.

[bradbrevet]

Sorry David, I have to disagree with you. The ending is extremely bleak, as is the entire movie. Basically it says that no matter what you believe you are fucked and all we have left to count on is dumb luck, dumb being the operative word.

You say the ending is about never giving up hope, but that is exactly what they did. After all their fighting they just give up to what you say is a rumbling in the background. Come on, that was such a cop out ending for the sake of trying to shock the audience.

The only good thing that comes out of this movie is that it is a lot of fun to discuss, primarily because it has so many different angles that you can come at it from... hating it every time. Hating the ending at least, I actually enjoyed it up until the drive through the fog.

[SaraMichelle]

This was really a case where Darabont wrote himself into a corner with very little way to get out of it. The ending he chose was bleak and ironic just for the sake of being bleak and ironic, but if you cue the final surprise before the guns go off then you're just slapping an unearned (and highly Hollywood cliche) happy ending on the thing leaving people just as unsatisfied.

Part of me wonders if you just left the final as a what-if, if you kept the crew trapped in the car staring at the gun and then just faded out into the fog without knowing what they were going to do. For me, that might have been both more eerie and more satisfying a conclusion.

As it is, this ending simply does not work. More, it contradicts much of what has gone on before making The Mist an overlong head-scratching disappointment almost impossible to enjoy.

[bradbrevet]

Oddly, my solution to the whole ending that actually would have made me LOVE the film would have involved one of these two options:

Andre Braugher lives and he is the one in the truck at the end...
...or... that chick that left to get her kids at the beginning was not on the truck

These two solutions end up making Ms. Carmody the one that was right. As much as I hated her character it would have at least made the ending mean something as opposed to just saying we are all doomed no matter what we believe.

[Director866]

I already saw Lion for Lambs this year. I don't need another film telling me I'm fucked. (Sorry. Are we allowed to curse?)

[SaraMichelle]

Dang, Brad, I swear you stole one of those endings from me... ;)

You're absolutely right, though. You pretty much have to go one of those two ways for it to work, even if it does make Ms. Carmody kind of (but not really) the hero.

[bradbrevet]

I already saw Lion for Lambs this year. I don't need another film telling me I'm fucked. (Sorry. Are we allowed to curse?)
I am curious D866... did you go see it? Based on your comment alone I would love to hear what you thought about it.

It is weird, as much as I did not like this movie, I really want people to see it just so it can be discussed. I would also like to hear from people that liked it... I know they are out there.

[Director866]

I am curious D866... did you go see it? Based on your comment alone I would love to hear what you thought about it.

It is weird, as much as I did not like this movie, I really want people to see it just so it can be discussed. I would also like to hear from people that liked it... I know they are out there.

Oh. I did see it. The acting was, however stinted, the best part of the film for me. :popcorn:

[darth_lucius]

Well I have not read Kings book, but the movie... it fills you up with emotions, makes you feel how they feel, it's very well directed! Bottom line, I liked it!

[DrCruel]

Has anyone here seen the movie "Zulu"? It was done so much better than this one, perhaps because the writers had a real life event to go by, and thus a better grasp of how people would actually react in crisis situations. The parallels are uncanny, including a religious zealot that began wigging out as the crisis develops, but the garrison assumes a chain of command and holds their heads.

That's what I think the big problem with this movie and AvP2 was - the need to make the monsters as scary as possible sometimes compels writers to take the easy way out, and make their victims stupid as a plot device. The very good movies - say, John Carpenter's "The Thing", has people that try to make, if not sensible, at least understandable decisions at every step. In "The Mist", the people in the store are deliberately forced to engage in ridiculous, practically suicidal behavior just to give the monsters a chance to show their stuff on screen. This kind of plot device is very artificial and forced, and it shows.

As for Mrs. Carmody, perhaps I might be the only person who got the irony of this, but she was right about practically every prediction she made - even to include the "sacrifice" of the supposed heroes at the end. If we are supposed to hate her, it seems less for her religious zealotry than for her foul mouth and antagonistic personality. If this was supposed to be a criticism of religion, it fell completely flat - note again a comparison between the way the same situation is handled in "Zulu".

I suppose my biggest complaint is in regards to how contrived the movie was. It worked for me, because I rather dislike the sort of people Stephen King considers as his "heroes", and so I got sufficient schadenfraude watching the critters pick off those Maine liberals one by blessed one to carry me through the film. The same goes for watching the Predators go to work in AvP2 - the characters are so cardstock dislikable that watching them get eaten is actually enjoyable. But it could have been so much better, if only they'd been written to have more intelligence and personality than the bugs that were munching on them.

But that's not what this movie is. So if, like me, you're the sort who can root for the monsters without feeling guilty afterwards, this is a flick for you. Just don't expect anything deep or meaningful out of it.

[chewbaca69]

Just peeped this on blu-ray, and yeah the ending was there to just shock the audience, but I was very shocked. I thought if you don't over analyze it the film is a really creepy study of humanity. Something about Darabount always gets under my skin. Sorry guys but I REALLY liked this film.