| THE MIST |
 2007 - USADirector: Frank Darabont
- Reviewed by Jennifer
After a windstorm blows through Castle Rock, the town's residents are left to repair their damaged property without the benefit of electricity. David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is especially concerned about covering over a broken window before it gets dark, so he leaves the Mrs. behind and goes into town with his son and his neighbor for supplies. They all notice a strange mist off in the distance, but what's a little mist... Right? Just about everybody and their sister has congregated at the general store, and for awhile they shoot the breeze amiably. It's all pretty normal until one of their neighbors comes running pell-mell into the store, bleeding and screaming that there's something in the mist. You'd think he was crazy if the mist weren't hot on his heels. It bumps against the store windows with a menacing whump, and it's all downhill from there. Now that they're trapped together, the townspeople immediately start going all wicky-whack—arguing and hyper-ventilating and generally freaking out. When the generator starts acting funny, a few geniuses decide to climb up on the roof and see if something's stopping up the vent. Yes, by all means open the doors and vents! If the mist is toxic (like they suspect) why not let it on in? The mist isn't exactly toxic, but it does have tentacles (?) which quickly wrap around an unsuspecting bag boy. David hacks off a tentacle just before they close the door, and it writhes around before turning into (wait for it) mist! No one seems especially concerned that they've let this alien matter inside, and the connection between the dead-tentacle-mist and the mist outside is never made. This makes me think the tentacle should have turned into something else—like a nice puddle—to prevent confusion. But why be logical now? As the movie progresses, the people in the store just get squirrelier and squirrelier. Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) is convinced that the apocalypse is nigh, so she's busy waving her Bible and attempting to convert everyone in the building. She's not just some sweet Christian lady with unflappable faith in God—she's a menacing, evangelical cow. While she drones on and on in her little corner of the store, the others do their best to face reality. A swarm of giant mosquitoes converges at night, smashing the windows and wreaking all manner of havoc. Someone decides to fight them with fire, which is flat brilliant, because now there's a giant burning mosquito flying around. Plus, the guy somehow spills his lighter fluid, slips in it with a torch in his hand, and the next thing you know, he's engulfed in flames and the floor is on fire. Whatever hope I had for this movie died right here—all I could do was laugh. Having reached the point of absurdity, I hoped very much that the movie would end soon. It did not. It just sort of went on and on, as though we were experiencing the story in real time. Eventually we learn that the military accidentally opened a window to another dimension, and that's where the mist full of creatures came from. That's also where they really lost me. I understand an ominous mist. I understand mutant beings from another world. But mist with creatures in it is just about as retarded as it gets. If we're going to tap into a fictional dimension, it seems (for the sake of the movie) that the dimension shouldn't be stupid. The rest of the movie basically left me smacking myself on the forehead, though it is pretty satisfying when Mrs. Carmody finally goes down. I kept wishing Thomas Jane would tap into his Punisher persona, but he's just as hapless and annoying as the rest of Castle Rock's residents. You can bet that if The Punisher had needed to buy some plastic sheeting and tape, he would have left his wife and kid at home. After being trapped in that store for awhile, he would have looked out the window wistfully and realized that the mist and its monster spiders had totally eaten his family. We would share in a poignant crying scene, and then he would have gotten up, gone outside, and kicked that mist's ass. Oh, if only. I suppose The Mist is a parable about the perils of playing god. The military goes too far in their tinkering with the universe, and David is far too proactive in dealing with the situation. They take things into their own hands when they shouldn't, and everyone pays the price. David and his posse are done in by their lack of faith, and act rashly at a time when there is no imminent danger. This isn't good, but neither is Mrs. Carmody's psychotic insistence that God is on her side. Somewhere in all of this is the middle ground we all have to find. It's a decent message that gets lost in the mist—presumably alongside those monster spiders. |
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Watching The Mist was a little bit like being on a blind date. At first we seemed like a good match (it had qualities I look for in a film, like Stephen King and Thomas Jane) but the more time we spent together, the more I realized I was going to have to break things off quickly. Like so many charming and attractive prospects, The Mist turned out to be stupid. And insane.
