You can watch our “The Mist” review here:
OR you can read our review here:
Went into “The Mist” with a sense of optimism. Frank Darabont is just one of the best directors out there, the story is a great one, and the previews have all looked pretty slick. So did The Mist deliver?
THE GENERAL IDEA
The Mist starts off with a horrible storm that causes most of the people in town to go to the central supermarket. While people buy supplies a think blanket of mist rolls in. When people try to leave the store and enter the mist, they are rewarded with the sweet embrace of death!
We follow (Thomas Jane) and his son through the movie and tension builds as they try to figure out if staying or leaving he store is the best option. Defenses are breached and otherworldly creatures begin to plunder the supermarket for fresh human meat.
THE GOOD
The beginning of the film is great, we launch very quickly into the story and it sets the mood of impending doom beautifully. Jain does a great job as the lead, and his son (played by Nathan Gamble) was outstanding. The creatures were otherworldly with some semblance to creatures of earth which made them seem plausible. People as a “food source” always creeps the hell out of me!
The end of this movie was awesome. It did not end how I anticipated, but it was perfect for the type of film that this was. I would tell you more, but I do not want to spoil it for those of you that will see it.
The kid who plays the son turns in one of the very best performances by a child actor we’ve ever seen. Not once did he not act like a real child of that age. His was probably the most authentic performance of the whole bunch.
THE BAD
The middle dragged. This movie should of been 90 min, it would of been so much better. Themes were repeated over and over and the tension started to stall. I am not certain why they felt the need to make this movie as long as it was, it would of benefited tremendously if it had additional editing.
There was one religious quack character in the movie that was given way too much screen time. She was overly blatant and the “religious people are crazy” theme was over done and in your face to the point of annoyance. She was not believable as a character, nor was she likable enough to realistically amass a group of followers in any situation. This character was overdone and overused. The movie just got plain old “PREACHY”… except it was anti-religion preachy, but hyper preachy nonetheless, and that got really annoying really fast.
Also at times the effects did not blend in as well as we have seen in other films, but use of rubber tentacles may have been a better choice. Some creatures looked meh, some looked alright – the mist always looked like fog.
OVERALL
For the first 20 min I thought I was going to really like this film. It started strong, dragged in the middle and ended strong, so I still enjoyed myself, but it was just alright. This movie could have been good, if they just trimmed the fat, and did something with the “coo coo lady”. I would reservedly recommend this to fans of suspense/horror films, but for those of you that do not fancy the genre, it may be best to spend your money elsewhere. 6/10
