We Got Movie Sign!
And here we have, for your personal edification, my Two-Minute Review of the Stephen King adaptation, The Mist.
All-in-all, I'm not quite sure what to think of The Mist overall. I really wanted to like this movie, an intelligent, bordering on cerebral, horror movie that is as much psychological thriller as a straight horror, with a diverse cast of characters going through mental torture, and how they react. It was a good try, but I'm not sure they pulled it off.
After an incredibly thick blanket of mist envelops a small Massachusetts town, a few dozen people are trapped in a small grocery store. It doesn't take long before factions develop as people struggle to react to the mist, being trapped, and the possibility of deadly creatures outside (which doesn't stay a possibility for long). It isn't too hard to predict the major groups, either: the disbelievers (There are no monsters), the realists (The monsters will kill everyone who goes outside), and the religious zealots (The end of days is upon us).
There were some things that I think worked very, very well. And there were some things that didn't work well at all. As is mostly the problem in these sorts of movies, one of the major weak points was the digital monsters (which weren't as scary as the filmmakers seemed to think they were), and, to a lesser extent, the interaction of actors with said digital monsters (one minor actor in particular was hilariously bad at reacting to the creatures around him).
I also wasn't sure that the movie gives religion a particularly low blow. I spent a good portion of the movie groaning at the way the Christian Zealot/Crazy Lady was portrayed, at how the film reinforced every hypocrisy she uttered in the name of her religion, at how they treated her God-inspired blood lust. And this is me saying this.
For the most part the acting was very good, the characters were believable, and the first twenty minutes or so of the movie had me very engaged. That being said, Thomas Jane, while a good actor, is not the first person I would look to for a soul-shattering emotional utterance worthy of Calculon. Just saying.
I spent a good portion of the movie on my feet, standing, walking around, looking out into the hall to see if anyone was walking by. Part of this may be due to the fact that I had to use the restroom (and I'm not supposed to leave the theater during a screening), but I think most of it was due to the slow pace. While the psychological drama was palpable, it didn't seem too immediate for a good portion of the movie. I do think, though, that it would play better with a crowd, and not just sitting alone in a theater.
In conclusion, The Mist was not in any way a bad movie, and for the most part I enjoyed it. If you're in the mood for a thriller this Thanksgiving weekend (and who isn't?), you could do worse than to check this movie out. If you do, be sure to keep your eye on the middle-aged guy with the mustache (pictured center here) whenever the CG creatures are about. His hand waving and falling are comedy gold.
Final Grade: B-
All-in-all, I'm not quite sure what to think of The Mist overall. I really wanted to like this movie, an intelligent, bordering on cerebral, horror movie that is as much psychological thriller as a straight horror, with a diverse cast of characters going through mental torture, and how they react. It was a good try, but I'm not sure they pulled it off.
After an incredibly thick blanket of mist envelops a small Massachusetts town, a few dozen people are trapped in a small grocery store. It doesn't take long before factions develop as people struggle to react to the mist, being trapped, and the possibility of deadly creatures outside (which doesn't stay a possibility for long). It isn't too hard to predict the major groups, either: the disbelievers (There are no monsters), the realists (The monsters will kill everyone who goes outside), and the religious zealots (The end of days is upon us).
There were some things that I think worked very, very well. And there were some things that didn't work well at all. As is mostly the problem in these sorts of movies, one of the major weak points was the digital monsters (which weren't as scary as the filmmakers seemed to think they were), and, to a lesser extent, the interaction of actors with said digital monsters (one minor actor in particular was hilariously bad at reacting to the creatures around him).
I also wasn't sure that the movie gives religion a particularly low blow. I spent a good portion of the movie groaning at the way the Christian Zealot/Crazy Lady was portrayed, at how the film reinforced every hypocrisy she uttered in the name of her religion, at how they treated her God-inspired blood lust. And this is me saying this.
For the most part the acting was very good, the characters were believable, and the first twenty minutes or so of the movie had me very engaged. That being said, Thomas Jane, while a good actor, is not the first person I would look to for a soul-shattering emotional utterance worthy of Calculon. Just saying.
I spent a good portion of the movie on my feet, standing, walking around, looking out into the hall to see if anyone was walking by. Part of this may be due to the fact that I had to use the restroom (and I'm not supposed to leave the theater during a screening), but I think most of it was due to the slow pace. While the psychological drama was palpable, it didn't seem too immediate for a good portion of the movie. I do think, though, that it would play better with a crowd, and not just sitting alone in a theater.
In conclusion, The Mist was not in any way a bad movie, and for the most part I enjoyed it. If you're in the mood for a thriller this Thanksgiving weekend (and who isn't?), you could do worse than to check this movie out. If you do, be sure to keep your eye on the middle-aged guy with the mustache (pictured center here) whenever the CG creatures are about. His hand waving and falling are comedy gold.
Final Grade: B-