New on DVD Mar 24 2008 @ 11:22 pm
REVIEW: The Mist
Directed By: Frank Darabont
Written By: Frank Darabont (screenplay), Stephen King (novel)
Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Running Time: 126 minutes
Rated R for violence, terror and gore, and language
The power that cinema can exert over us is a mysterious thing. There are moments when a film will reach out and grasp us by the temples, refusing to let our gaze drift elsewhere; forcing us to consider the sermon it has to preach. And make no mistake that the director serves as preacher, delivering his view of life and humanity through the silver screen while we sit and listen in the dark and quiet. On our part, it is an act of submission, sometimes foolishly so. The extent to which we submit and the strength with which the sermon is preached is where the mystery enters in. Why does one film utterly captivate me while another finds it repulsive? Why does one story stir me to the core while another can only summon a tepid indifference?
The Mist is a masterwork, although it has not been widely regarded as such. This could be due to the fact that it masquerades as a generic horror movie of the creepy-crawly variety or that it comes with the name ‘Stephen King’ attached to the front (who has a less than stellar reputation in the adaptation department). More likely, however, is that the sermon director Frank Darabont is preaching here is so bitter as to be nearly unpalatable. Audiences did not embrace it and I do not know if I can recommend it, but I cannot shake its visceral power. Darabont’s is an uncompromising vision of human nature in the vein of William Golding, and just like the children in The Lord of the Flies, the characters in The Mist discover that the monsters without are not nearly as terrifying as the monsters within.
Thomas Jane (The Punisher) plays David Drayton, a painter living in a small Maine town, who travels to the local mom-and-pop with his son to pick up supplies after a freak electrical storm. Half the town is there with the same thought. Within minutes, an elderly man, blood streaming down his face, runs into the store screaming, “There is something in the mist!” Following on his heels is a wall of solid vapor that rolls across the parking lot like an ethereal tsunami, enveloping the store and trapping everyone inside. It doesn’t take long for someone to test the waters, and the body count quickly rises as the isolated townspeople realize that the mist and its nasty denizens are not going to play nice.
There are other creatures stirring, however, ones that aren’t outside the walls of the grocery store. Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock, Mystic River) enters into the halls of classic cinematic villainy, along with Nurse Ratched, Amön Goth, and Archibald Cunningham, as a character you hate almost from the moment they step on screen. Her Mrs. Carmody, a religious zealot of the worst flavor (the kind that can single-handedly give a black eye to an entire religion), is conniving, viperish, and loathsome. That the Academy snubbed her performance, which was easily the equal of any of the other Best Supporting nominees, is shameful.
She capitalizes on the terror without, declaring it God’s vengeance on an unrepentant land, and proceeds to whip whoever will listen to her into a fanatical frenzy. Many have seen this as a thinly veiled post-9/11 parable, but Darabont is working at something deeper and less facile than that. Listen to these telling lines:
AMANDA DUNFREY: I can’t accept that. People are basically good; decent. David, we’re a civilized society!
DAVID DRAYTON: Sure, as long as the machines are working and you can dial 911. But you take those things away, you throw people in the dark, you scare the [crap] out of them - no more rules.
Are human beings, at their core, basically good or evil? Given the right set of conditions, do we all have the capability within ourselves to become an Adolf Hitler or a Ted Bundy or a Mrs. Carmody? Is there a deep vein of twisted sinfulness that courses through the river of our hearts, just waiting to erupt? Darabont brooks no argument here, stating his case in unequivocal, cold, and brutal terms. The effect is chilling. There are the stock gore moments of R-rated horror here: bloated corpses and severed torsos and things that go bump in the night. But the most terrifying parts of the film, the parts that reach out and grab you by the temples and lock your gaze with a Medusa stare, are bloodless, psychological, and painfully true.
In college, I can remember engaging in a furious debate over Toni Morrison’s Beloved, where the title character does something unspeakable to her children because she sees no better alternative. I raged that she had no right to play God with the lives of others, while my volatile classmate justified her choice in light of her horrific circumstances. The Mist evokes similar emotions, for Darabont has chosen to exact a terrible price from anyone who tries to play the Almighty. Everyone who chooses to do so, everyone who decides that they are the supreme authority, everyone who takes the power of life and death into their own hands, pays in blood and pain. Expect to be angered or outraged or stunned or all three. The ending is one of the most gut-wrenching finales I have ever experienced in a film. I have to assume that Darabont had final cut from the get-go, because I cannot fathom a studio executive green lighting something so blatantly uncommercial. While it may have cost it at the box office, the final moments are what transform The Mist from better-than-average Stephen King adaptation to full-on cinematic masterpiece.
As I said previously, I do not know if I can recommend The Mist, for it is unbending and ferocious in the execution of it’s vision. I will only relate that I was utterly transfixed, and that it was a full 30 minutes before I could even form words for what I was feeling. Darabont has crafted a horror film of the most terrifying kind, where supernatural creatures serve not only to dish out scares, but to hold up a mirror to the dark and hidden places of the human soul.
on Mar 25 2008 @ 7:19 am 1. Phillip Johnston said …
Wow. Great review from an informed perspective. I’ve had a few people tell me that this isn’t worth my time (including one person calling it the worst movie she’d ever seen) but I’m definitely catching it this weekend.
on Mar 25 2008 @ 7:51 am 2. Evan Derrick said …
You know, I’m having a hard time finding other critics who agreed with me. Most think its competent, but not many are praising it to the extent that I have. Ebert gave it only 2 stars.
In the plot details, I found it believable, where others might have seen cheese. There is a symmetry of purpose to the script that I think is masterful - everything ties into the same themes. I think most critics aren’t seeing the forest for the trees, which is, perhaps, understandable.
You know, my opening paragraph makes a lot more sense to me now. It will be interesting to see your response, Phillip.
on Mar 25 2008 @ 8:55 am 3. Joseph said …
I liked The Mist a lot as well. I believe I gave it a 3.5/5 rating, but that will most likely go up after a rewatch. Marcia Gay Harden was amazing in her role.
on Mar 25 2008 @ 1:40 pm 4. kristena said …
Whew! Well spoken. One of the hardest things to endure is a film that holds a mirror up to the darkness of the soul. It is indeed very much like a powerful sermon.
on Mar 27 2008 @ 4:47 pm 5. Nick Plowman said …
So many of my friends and people I admire recommend this film, and now so do you! It opens in SA soon, I won’t miss it. Not after a great review like that! Awesome stuff indeed.
on Mar 28 2008 @ 2:05 am 6. Film-Boot dot Com said …
Nice review Evan. I LOVE this film. The ending is badass. I am so happy with the way Darabont handle this film, especially for under $20 Million I hear. I wrote a review for the film myself: http://film-book.com/review-the-mist/.
I’m not sure if you are aware of this but there is a give away for the Mist 2-Disc DVD and four other Stephen King movies: http://film-book.com/the-mist-dvd-contest/
There is something special about the 2-Disc set. It houses the Black and White version of The Mist, a version I can’t wait to see personally. I wrote a story about with video by Darabont: http://film-book.com/frank-darabont-on-the-mist-in-black-and-white/
on Mar 28 2008 @ 8:24 am 7. Evan Derrick said …
Sweet, Reggie! Thanks for the heads up. In case you were wondering, here is the entry I put for the “What would you do in their situation?” contest question:
Hopefully that is just entertaining and serious enough to net me the prize.
on Mar 28 2008 @ 9:34 am 8. Film-Book dot Com said …
Jesus Evan. Twisted. I haven’t entered yet but now I might have to. I think they are going to need a wholesome entry. I’ll post an excerpt from it when I’m done.
on Apr 03 2008 @ 9:35 am 9. ryan said …
evan,
thanks for the review on what is certainly one of the most underrated films of last year…i unfortunately missed it at the theater but caught it on dvd last weekend…the “exclusive blockbuster content” (which is total crap) is a discussion between darabont and king where basically the former sucks up to the latter…i thought it was interesting, however, that when darabont went to the weinsteins to pitch the movie, the first thing he said was, the ending stays as is…he told them that if they changed the ending, then they were going to have to give him a helluva lot more money, but that if they kept the ending, he would make it for as little as possible
on Apr 07 2008 @ 9:52 am 10. Film-Book dot Com said …
I didn’t know that about Darabont and the Weinsteins. Thanks for the info Ryan.
on May 01 2008 @ 2:00 pm 11. HallsyHatesU said …
I find the reactions to this film strange. It seems to be either completely loved or hated. I guess I’m one the few that’s in the middle…but leaning way more toward the hate side. I mean, I thought it was a bad film. My girlfriend stopped watching after the loading dock scene. I stuck with it only because I had read some very positive comments elsewhere. The acting, the effects, the forced plotting, I thought they were all terrible. And yet, it was interspersed with some genuinely entertaining moments. The pharmacy scene freaked the Hell out of me. The car scene was chilling (although I can’t pretend to understand the characters’ motivations). I laughed at some of the right places. And the ending; while I found it laughable, I still admire the conviction to stick with a ballsy idea. I can see why people enjoyed the movie, but I can also see why people hate it. I don’t think it is a good movie at all.
Great review, though. I dig this site. There seems to be more intelligent discussion and thoughtful debate than other sites I’ve visited.
on May 01 2008 @ 2:17 pm 12. Evan Derrick said …
I’ve slightly regretted my shameless 5 star rating that I lavished on this film, Hallsy, mainly because I’m afraid the film won’t hold up for me on repeat viewings (I’ve only seen it once). The spell of the film captured me from the get-go, and I was oblivious to any writing or acting or creature FX that might have been slightly cheesy. I can see where you’re coming from - this is the subjective nature of film, no? Where you see silliness, I see maturity. Where you see marginally entertaining fluff, I see a deep treatise on the human condition.
Gotta love subjectivity.
on May 11 2008 @ 8:38 am 13. Phillip Johnston said …
Last night I was stranded on the TN/VA border with a faulty transmission. I ended up parking outside an auto parts store next to a Blockbuster and stopped in to rent a movie; finally got to pick up The Mist.
Although I thought it was superbly scripted and acted, the ending left me with possibly the largest feeling of emptiness I’ve ever experienced after a film. Don’t get me wrong, the ending works wonders for the film, but the utterly hopeless nihilism put me in a funk for the rest of the night. By taking the characters to the absolute limit of desperation, Darabont and King seem to be implying that when human beings are tested by the most excruciating circumstances the best option is for them to end it all. Sure, these choices are shown as foolish but the irony at the end is so, so cruel that I couldn’t find one shred of hope.
Did this really come from the same man that directed The Shawshank Redemption, the most hopeful film I can think of?
on May 11 2008 @ 3:41 pm 14. Evan Derrick said …
SPOILERS BELOW!
Phillip, for me, I found the ending hopeless, but not utterly hopeless, if that distinction makes sense. Everyone in the film who chooses to play god, who chooses to take matters of life and death into their own hands, pays dearly for it. The film’s entire premise is about the scientists and the military playing god, and how that has terrible consequences. Mrs. Carmody is perhaps the worst, playing god by pretending to be on God’s side. She dies as well. But the one who is punished the most is Thomas Jane’s character, who decides to take the lives of those around him, including his own son. If–IF!–he had chosen to embrace hope instead in the face of all odds, things would have worked out wonderfully. But he offered up a big “Screw You!” to God (even if it wasn’t intentional) and took matters into his own hands. Isn’t the road to hell paved with good intentions?
Nihilism means that no action is better than any other action because God doesn’t exist. Morality and life are meaningless. I didn’t find the ending to be nihilistic, but wrathful. This is what happens when you forsake your creator, when you decide that you know what’s best. That is why it stunned me, why I rated it so high. It took my breath away, a cold spiritual slap in the face that made me take stock of things. How often do I play god in the small things? How often do I say “Screw you, I know what’s best” to God? Always, perpetually, constantly.
The film is hopeless for the characters, but not necessarily for us. But isn’t that the way the world is? How many people’s lives end in hopeless despair? But does that mean there aren’t other, more hopeful, redemptive paths to take? Even though Darabont isn’t offering other solutions, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
At least, that’s what I came away with. Ramblings over.
on May 11 2008 @ 7:55 pm 15. Phillip Johnston said …
Thanks, Evan. I think your perspective is better than mine was on this one. Last night was another example of the people I watch a movie with coloring my perceptions of the film through their reactions while the movie is playing. Perhaps I would have come to some of the same conclusions as you if I would have watched it alone.
Who knows … it’s weird how that works.