I caught Frank Darabont’s The Mist this past week, and while a full review will follow closer to its release, it’s a misfire — too long and mock-cerebral to qualify as a thrill ride for genre audiences, and too riddled with low-grade histrionics and other moments that give one pause to carry the day as a piece of apocalyptic theater-in-the-round.
 as a father who gets trapped in a grocery store with his young son and a bunch of other folks — some locals, some vacationing out-of-towners — when a menacing haze descends, a fog out of which various creatures come, and not in peace. The ensemble cast includes Andre Braugher, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, <a href=)
Infamous‘ Toby Jones, Chris Owen, Alexa Davalos (much more fetching in Feast of Love), Nathan Gamble and Sam Witwer, who has absolutely ridiculous eyebrows. (Seriously, it matters — Witwer is supposed to play a conflicted Army kid, but looks like he stepped out of a Lindsay Lohan movie or Chad Michael Murray impression contest.)
The Mist is supposed to be about the slowly dawning horror of mob rule — how public masks are discarded when the thin veneer of civilization is stripped away. The problem is that you consistently figure things out before characters, some of the dialogue goes clang! and the juxtaposition of other bits is unintentionally hilarious. (In one scene, Jane earnestly reassures his son he’ll be fine despite a planned venture outside, then, still hugging him, turns directly to another adult and says, “If anything happens to me, take care of Billy…”) Additionally, Harden’s crazed prophet — meant to be a mixture of religious proselytizing and flat-out whack-job craziness — never takes root as anything more than irritating, chiefly due to an extremely broad, grating performance. The movie earns points for assaying its premise with a difficult ending, but if/when The Mist under-performs at the box office, it decidedly won’t be because of that choice, though less intelligent box office gurus (and studio executives) may ascribe blame thusly.
For more information on the film, visit its web site by clicking here. A co-production from MGM and Dimension Films, The Mist opens nationwide November 21.
Wow.
It seems glaringly obvious that this reviewer never read the novella.
From everything I’ve seen (two trailers and two TV spots…I admit, not the whole film, but still…) the mood, characters and tone of Kings novella have been captured very well. Try reading the book, see if the film doesnt ring more true to the source material…I have a feeling that those people who have read it will be very pleased with the finished film (save for the ending!…;)
K
Well, I’ve never been a huge fan of either THomas Jane or Marcia Gay Harden, so I can’t say I’m that excited about this one.
On the other hand, Darabont has worked magic with previous material from Stephen King, so I’m goingto withhold judgment for a bit, wait to hear what my friends think, lol.
Wow so many big words. Who the hell are you writing for? Scholars or the general public?
yea seriously, if this idiot thinks he’s a journalist we should shut down the school he came from. even if it ends up being a bad film, what a brutal review.
It’s my experience that those who cry foul about negative-leaning advance tidbits tend to be fan-boy sheep who will never admit a film’s flawed.
‘It’s my experience that those who cry foul about negative-leaning advance tidbits tend to be fan-boy sheep who will never admit a film’s flawed.’
Well, I AM a ‘fan boy’ (fan of the original King novella) but I’m definitely NOt a ‘sheep’, sir…;)
And there is not need to say thhe film is flwed, as this new addition to the ending may be more popular w/ the masses…if it IS, and the film does well, that’s what really counts…I want it to succeed for no other reason than Darabont being allowed to continue making great movies…but as a fan of the original tale, I think that ending worked much better, that’s all…I prefer a ‘creepy’ yet hopeful ending to a ‘tragic and weepy’ one….
I hear you. I hope it works, too — it’s certainly not the sort of movie you wish any doom on, b/c it seems to both focus on characters more than typical genre stuff, and also take some narrative chances.
I actually think the characters will come through pretty cleanly — King almost always provides strong archetypes, and Darabont is a pretty skilled writer.
I just think that the ending definitely won’t be popular with the masses , and at any rate the movie seems a bit ‘neither-fish -nor-fowl.’ B/c of cost, you can’t make a movie like this exclusively for those who have read novella, so why make the ending almost more of a commercial gamble?