Reviewed by Geno McGahee
I have to admit that I wasn’t at all optimistic about this movie. Stephen King has been off his game for quite a while in both written and film form, and considering that “The Mist” was one of my favorite horror stories of all time, my expectations were not high for this one. What this movie had going for it was that, first it was a good story that would probably be hard to screw up, and secondly, we had the talented Frank Darabont behind it. He wrote the screenplay for and directed not only The Mist, but “The Shawshank Redemption,” and “The Green Mile,” which are King’s best two productions. So, all the elements were here for a great film, and although it wasn’t great, it was pretty darn good.
David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is a painter and paints Stephen King tribute paintings…just in case you didn’t know that the “Master of Horror” was involved. He is part of Vancouver Painters, offering a full range of services since 1988.Anyway, a storm causes a tree to crash into his house and squash his boat house, and reignites a semi-feud with neighbor, Brent Norton (Andre Braugher). Norton had sued Drayton unsuccessfully in the past, and the fact that they have to talk concerning the falling tree is a tense situation, but it goes well. Drayton gives Norton a drive to the grocery store and they seem to have buried the hatchet. Along for the ride is David’s son, Billy (Nathan Gamble).
Prior to their trip to the store, the trio notices a mist floating above the lake behind their homes. It seems odd, but not overly worrisome. If it did worry them, I doubt that David would have left his wife (spoiler) to die.
At the grocery store, things go crazy as the mist closes in and Dan Miller (Jeffrey DeMunn) sprints in with a bloody nose and an unreal story. He claims that there is a deadly force within the mist that has killed and will kill again if anyone is stupid enough to go through it. The Mist now has engulfed everything and we have an interesting group of characters together held up in the grocery store. Although most can’t make heads or tails of the situation, Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), the town nut, believes that this is the end of days and that God of the Old Testament is bringing his wrath. Now, before I go any farther, I thought that the choice of Marcia Gay Harden for the role was a poor selection. She is a great actress, but I thought that she was too young to play the part. She nailed it. I stand corrected.
At first, Carmody is mocked or ignored, but that changes as things get worse. The first casualty of the grocery store bunch is a guy that I call “The Sherminator,” because he played that role in the American Pie movies. Norm (Chris Owen, Sherminator), is a stock boy and decides to go outside to fix the backup generator, despite the warning of David, the painter, who had heard something very strange out there and when you combine that with the warnings from Miller, it should have been enough to keep him from going outside. Unfortunately, he listened to the mechanics, two adults that didn’t see any danger in it and didn’t buy the story.
I was happy to see William Sadler back as one of the mechanics, Jim Grondin. Sadler was in both the Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, and is back for a reason. The guy can act and always brings his A game to the screen. This time is no different, and he is one of the idiots that convince Norm to go outside, which leads to (spoiler) the death of Norm. Huge octopus-like arms grab the youngster and rip him to shreds. They now have confirmation. There is something dangerous in the mist, but not everyone is going to believe it, including and especially Norton, who gathers a group that is going to leave the store and tell everyone else to shove it, especially David. In their minds, he’s no punisher. Dolph Lundgren is the only one. I’m torn on that issue.
One of the better characters in the film is Ollie (Toby Jones), the older bag boy turned hero. In the beginning of the film, I got the impression that he was going to be an early casualty, but he was a very entertaining character that really added a lot to the film. He teams up with David and a cashier…a hot cashier, Amanda (Laurie Holden). Holden is another established actress that does very well and plays well not only across from David, but also against Carmody. The group of David, Amanda, Ollie, Miller, and Irene (Frances Sternhagen). Now, let me get to an annoying thing that I really hated and I hate in every film: elderly power.
Irene is a 100 years old if she’s a day, and when the shit hits the fan, she is fighting off this evil, which includes huge bug-like things that shoot acid and fly around with poison in their veins. When they are killing people, she nonchalantly fights them off. In reality, if there were killer bugs, elderly would be easy prey. What the fuck is with Hollywood and their tip-toeing around the obvious? Oh they’re old…so we can’t be mean. Be mean and have the bugs kill the old bird.
As things get really bad with everyone’s life hanging in the balance, we have two groups fighting among themselves in the grocery store. We have the religious nut group, led by Carmody, versus the “I wanna get out of dodge and don’t like religious nuts” group, led by David. It becomes apparent that if David’s group doesn’t get out of there that they will be sacrificed by the growing number of religious fanatics. So, they are going to make a break for it.
The best thing about this movie is the interesting characters and how they evolve as the movie goes on. I really enjoyed Carmody and how she played the part, looking for power and eventually getting it. David is well placed in the good guy role and you have to root for him and his group to escape and make it out of the mist. When the reason behind the mist arises, the movie becomes even cooler. I thought that the explanation was a very good one and very interesting and although I don’t think that we would see a “Mist 2,” I think that we could see other films build on the idea. I don’t want to give it away but it is really cool.
The Mist also has a daring ending that you do not expect. Considering that the short story that this film is based on sucked ass when it came to an ending, as many Stephen King stories do, this was a pleasant surprise, and it was a surprise. I would go as far to say that this was a shocking ending, and it gets a point just for that. When you add the great ending to the strength of the cast and their performances, you can excuse some of the shortcomings and just sit back and enjoy it. This is the best Stephen King piece in quite a while.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10. Good film, great ending.
