I watched The Mist tonight
Not too bad. From what I recall from the story itself, the movie didn't stray too terribly far, but they certainly aren't exactly alike. Still, I liked it...sorta.
The ending of the movie, I feel and if I am remembering correctly, is far more tragic than the book, but very poignant. The movie starts wtih a bad storm that hits this town. The next day people are trying to clean up and stocking up because power is out and there just has been some pretty serious damage all around. Eventually, this father and son head off to the store to get supplies and the neighbor, whom dad doesn't really get along with (and he's an 'out of towner'), goes with them. There is an odd mist rolling in over the water and a few people comment on its oddness and nothing more. So, dad, son, and neighbor are at the store, which is pretty crowded because everyone is stocking up and so on. It's a small town, with that 'everybody knows everybody' kinda schtick going on. While dad, son, and neighbor are getting ready to check out, an older townsman, with a bloody nose/face, comes running toward the store and raving about how "it got *insert friend's name here, as I suck at names*." He gets into the store still ranting about how it just snatched his friend and yelling at them to shut the doors and how nobody should go out there, etc. Of course, there are all kinds of characters in the store when this happens and things unfold from here. We find that there is something in the mist and anytime someone goes out into they don't come back, and all that good stuff.
I'm glossing over stuff now because the movie was rather 'typical' to me, in that they used the military/governmental secret stuff and that's why this all happened and while it was okay it wasn't really anything new. Anyhoo, a handful of sane people from the store, father and son, of course, one somewhat bad-ass older woman and a few other people, decide they are going to make a break for father and son's car and just drive until they run out of gas. Well, out of the eight or nine people that ran for the car only five made it (father, son, older woman, older man (the one who had come running into the store originally freakin' out), and another woman). So they drive. They go by father and son's house and mom's dead; they don't even get out of the car. They drive on, going until they run out of gas, only to discover that this 'mist' does seem go on endlessly and they realize they have come to the end of the journey. Dad pulls out the gun, checks the bullets, they all look at each other knowingly (except son, as he was sleeping and is pretty young anyway). It seems that suicide is the only answer now, but they only have four bullets. The camera cuts away from them and you now are looking at the vehicle from the outside and, of course, four shots ring out, one after the other. Dad is the only one left and he scream and cries for a minute or two, then gets out of the vehicle and starts yelling for them to come get him. You hear sounds all around him thinking that any minute something is going to strike out and gut him or drag him off or something. Yeah, no. The mist begins to clear just a bit and a big ol' tank and military people in masks emerge and are walking/driving past him, then you realize it's a big convoy and following the tanks are other army vehicles with survivors on them, driving by, including the very first woman who left the store at the beginning, against everyone else's better judgement, to get home to her kids. They just kept going by and dad was just beside himself because he had just killed four people, one them being his son, because it seemed like the end of times.
That was the part that was poignant to me and there's a message there, but I am not sure if I can put it into words. It really got to me though because it wasn't enough that the military/government had gotten themselves into something that the general public had no idea would practically annihilate them and what that did to these people, but also how because of all of it and the hopelessness they felt when they basically reached the end of the road and realized there was no relief they made a collective decision to go out on their own term and then, after four of them are dead, and the fifth one is ready to be eaten alive...voila! There's the fuckin' cavalry. I wanted to scream at the end of the movie.
Not sure if I'm making sense in describing that last scene and what it meant for me. Talk about being kicked when you're down...
The ending of the movie, I feel and if I am remembering correctly, is far more tragic than the book, but very poignant. The movie starts wtih a bad storm that hits this town. The next day people are trying to clean up and stocking up because power is out and there just has been some pretty serious damage all around. Eventually, this father and son head off to the store to get supplies and the neighbor, whom dad doesn't really get along with (and he's an 'out of towner'), goes with them. There is an odd mist rolling in over the water and a few people comment on its oddness and nothing more. So, dad, son, and neighbor are at the store, which is pretty crowded because everyone is stocking up and so on. It's a small town, with that 'everybody knows everybody' kinda schtick going on. While dad, son, and neighbor are getting ready to check out, an older townsman, with a bloody nose/face, comes running toward the store and raving about how "it got *insert friend's name here, as I suck at names*." He gets into the store still ranting about how it just snatched his friend and yelling at them to shut the doors and how nobody should go out there, etc. Of course, there are all kinds of characters in the store when this happens and things unfold from here. We find that there is something in the mist and anytime someone goes out into they don't come back, and all that good stuff.
I'm glossing over stuff now because the movie was rather 'typical' to me, in that they used the military/governmental secret stuff and that's why this all happened and while it was okay it wasn't really anything new. Anyhoo, a handful of sane people from the store, father and son, of course, one somewhat bad-ass older woman and a few other people, decide they are going to make a break for father and son's car and just drive until they run out of gas. Well, out of the eight or nine people that ran for the car only five made it (father, son, older woman, older man (the one who had come running into the store originally freakin' out), and another woman). So they drive. They go by father and son's house and mom's dead; they don't even get out of the car. They drive on, going until they run out of gas, only to discover that this 'mist' does seem go on endlessly and they realize they have come to the end of the journey. Dad pulls out the gun, checks the bullets, they all look at each other knowingly (except son, as he was sleeping and is pretty young anyway). It seems that suicide is the only answer now, but they only have four bullets. The camera cuts away from them and you now are looking at the vehicle from the outside and, of course, four shots ring out, one after the other. Dad is the only one left and he scream and cries for a minute or two, then gets out of the vehicle and starts yelling for them to come get him. You hear sounds all around him thinking that any minute something is going to strike out and gut him or drag him off or something. Yeah, no. The mist begins to clear just a bit and a big ol' tank and military people in masks emerge and are walking/driving past him, then you realize it's a big convoy and following the tanks are other army vehicles with survivors on them, driving by, including the very first woman who left the store at the beginning, against everyone else's better judgement, to get home to her kids. They just kept going by and dad was just beside himself because he had just killed four people, one them being his son, because it seemed like the end of times.
That was the part that was poignant to me and there's a message there, but I am not sure if I can put it into words. It really got to me though because it wasn't enough that the military/government had gotten themselves into something that the general public had no idea would practically annihilate them and what that did to these people, but also how because of all of it and the hopelessness they felt when they basically reached the end of the road and realized there was no relief they made a collective decision to go out on their own term and then, after four of them are dead, and the fifth one is ready to be eaten alive...voila! There's the fuckin' cavalry. I wanted to scream at the end of the movie.
Not sure if I'm making sense in describing that last scene and what it meant for me. Talk about being kicked when you're down...