(Long Island, NY) Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to my very first 4-star review. I suppose it’s fair to inform you that I’m a huge fan of horror movies, and that The Mist is, in fact, a horror movie. If you’re not a fan of the genre, then perhaps you should look at this film from more of a 3 to 3 1/2 star perspective. However, my job is to put into words how I reacted to the viewing of a film, not how you did, and I’m giving The Mist 4 stars. That’s the power I wield here, kids – deal with it.
The Mist is the third collaboration between the granddaddy of horror authors, Stephen King, and director/screenwriter Frank Darabont. King has seen a vast number of his novels and short stories adapted to the silver screen over the years, with varying degrees of quality, and there was a time when anything would sell if his name was attached – even if it reflected little of the source material. However, the most successful of his movies tended to be the ones that stuck most loyally to King’s originals. King and Darabont’s previous two parings – The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile- were both fantastic movies that were quite steadfast to their respective tomes. As a result, the announcement of their newest film project more than caught my interest.
I’ve been a fan of Stephen King’s writings, especially during high school, and own the short story collection (entitled Skeleton Crew) that contains the original novella that this film is based on. Ironically, it’s the one story in the book that I’ve never read, so I actually went into The Mist knowing almost nothing whatsoever about it – I was merely aware that it had something to do with people hiding in a supermarket from monsters or whatnot. However, in this case ignorance was indeed bliss, as I blindly walked into what turned out to be the best film I’ve seen all year long.
In this review, I’m going to skip my trademark in – depth plot synopsis, as I feel going into this film with as few preconceived notions as possible is a must for maximum enjoyment. Instead, I’ll just whet your appetite by giving you a brief outline and stop short once the basics have been covered.
One evening, a violent storm assaults a small rural town. The following day, artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) and his wife Stephanie (Kelly Collins Lintz) are busy cleaning up the mess left behind when they notice a thick, unnatural mist entwined in the distant mountains and slowly enveloping the lake bordering their property. Dismissing it as a harmless natural occurrence, David sets out to the local supermarket with his five-year-old son Billy (Nathan Gamble) and his ill-mannered neighbor Brent Norton (Andre Braugher), who hitches a ride upon discovering his car wrecked by the aforementioned storm. On the way to the store, they notice various transport vehicles from the local military base tearing down the road in a hurry, but pay them no mind.
Once in town, the David and crew notice that the strange mist has followed them, and become alarmed when it suddenly begins to enshroud the entire area, reducing visibility to zero. The mist is thick, heavy, and seems to move with a life all of its own. The panicked townspeople seek refuge in the supermarket, and upon hearing the screams of a man caught outside, are thrust onto the verge of panic. When presented with the possibility that there may be dangerous, supernatural creatures roaming the mist outside, the townspeople not only wrestle with fear of the unknown, but biting paranoia as well when a religious zealot (Marcia Gay Harden) proclaims these strange happenings as the arrival of Armageddon. Is she right, and if so, can they escape it?
Frank Darabont had been interested in adapting The Mist into a film for years, to the point that he had originally intended to it be his directorial debut. However, circumstances dictated otherwise, and he ended up helming adaptations of King’s novels The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile first. By 2004, he had finally started writing the script and set the wheels in motion on converting The Mist into celluloid. Thankfully, the end result certainly stacks up there with his previous forays into the world of Stephen King, although his approach has changed in ways.
One difference you might notice with Darabont’s latest work is the change in his visual style. Gone are the sweeping, smooth camera movements. Darabont had recently plied his trade directing several episodes of Fox’s TV cop drama The Shield, and in order to capture the visual rawness needed for The Mist, he recruited the camera team from that show. The result is a slightly toned-down version of The Shield’s trademark hand-held camera work, with fast pans and zooms punctuating the drama when situations get heated. This, combined with the director’s choice of a grainy film stock, helps bring the audience into the film and make the horrors contained within all the more real.
You know how I’m always complaining about movies being too long nowadays? Well, The Mist was 2 hours and 7 minutes, and it wasn’t long enough. And I mean that in a good way, because it left me wanting more. Moviemakers make note, this is how you make a 2+ hour movie that doesn’t even come close to dragging anywhere. Every second counted. Plus, the character development was superb, resulting in edge-of-your-seat tension whenever they were confronted with the horrors of the unknown (which is really is the scariest thing I personally can think of). Actually getting you to care about the characters in a film is an element 99% of all horror movies neglect, and when done as wonderfully as it is here, it provides nail-biting tension.
And that ending…wow. It was like being sucker punched in the gut with a pair of brass knuckles. You may or may not see it coming, but after the fact, you just can’t believe it actually happened.
My review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the uniformly excellent talents of the cast, especially Thomas Jane, whom I’ve been a fan of for quite some time. This isn’t his first role in a Stephen King adaptation (he was also in 2003’s Dreamcatcher), but I’m hoping his turn in The Mist will finally catapult him to the stardom he deserves. Up until now, he’s reminded me of actors like Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery in the sense that he tends to make a great deal of mediocre movies, but his talent almost always stands out and makes these films somehow watch able. A good example of this is 2004’s The Punisher, a comic book-based flick where he played a gun-toting vigilante. Not the greatest movie, no, but somehow Mr. Jane managed to rise above the ‘eh’ material he was forced to tread through and turn out a great performance. The Punisher 2 is now in the works with a different lead actor cast, and Thomas Jane has said that The Mist is the reason he didn’t reprise that role. You made the right decision, Tom.
In closing, The Mist is nothing short of brilliant. It’s tense, atmospheric, moving, intelligent, horrific- the best movie released in ages, in my opinion. However, the fact that it debuted at #9 at the box office this weekend- #9, can you believe it?- has caused me to almost lose all faith in humanity altogether. But hopefully word of mouth will jack up its business this week, and I’m personally begging my millions of readers to please go out and spend all their hard-earned money putting The Mist at the box office top spot, where it belongs. Bring your children, bring your pets, buy handfuls of extra tickets you don’t need and wallpaper your home with them, I don’t care. Just go see it, because I just can’t stand to live in a world where a masterpiece like The Mist flops.
