I’ve never actually been kicked in the balls, but in my estimation, last night was the closest I’ll ever get to receiving such an incredible, gut busting shock.
I’m talking of course about The Mist, Frank Darabont’s latest Stephen King adaptation following The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, but his first such foray into King’s expansive horror catalog. In it, a small Maine town is covered in a mist after a storm, and strange, bloodthirsty creatures come with it.
I don’t like spoiling endings in reviews, but this film leaves such a surprising taste on the
I'm as confused as them about the ending.
pallette when the credits begin rolling, one can’t help but talk about it. But I’ll leave that for later.
Sadly, the film seems to reduce characters down to caricatures of stereotypes. Thomas Jane (The Punisher) stars as concerned, heroic dad. Marcia Gay Harden (who should’ve been nominated for an Oscar) stars as religious nutjob. Andre Braugher stars as the skeptical, grumpy lawyer. There’s also a red-eyed, concerned woman, a budding teenage romance, an old woman that can hold her own, and a closed-minded redneck. You get the idea. Also, there’s really no development. I guess that’s fine, but I feel like more could’ve been done with the characters, instead of simply throwing them into situations that they have to deal with.
The part of the film I did like was the sense of hopelessness that sets in for the viewer once the mob mentality begins to take hold over the character trapped in a supermarket. It hits close to home in a post 9/11 world where the ‘threat’ of terrorist attacks seems to be eminent, seeing that once civilization breaks down, people tear each other apart.
The film works as a horror, but not enough for me to call it scary by any stretch. If you could call this a horror, it is pure and simple a creature feature, with creepy crawlies thrown in to give you chills. If bugs don’t bother you, you’ll likely be laughing at some of the greusome deaths rather than covering your eyes.
However, the part of the film that will leave you really reeling is the ending. From here on out there is a
***SPOILER WARNING***
In it, Jane is left driving away from the town with his son, the red-eyed woman, the old lady, and an older man. They drive until they run out of gas trying to escape the mist. If they get out of the car, the monsters will eat them. Oh, you know where this is going. Jane has a gun with four bullets. Five people. And yep, he kills them. Left alone after sparing the others, he goes outside to accept his fate as something’s dinner. You hear a roar. And.. a tank with soldiers and flamethrowers drives out of the mist as it clears.
What is the point? Why? Why?? Is Darabont saying that courage goes unrewarded? Are heroes always scorned? Is there a political message? Is the defeatist liberal attitude being mocked here? I have no idea. Perhaps Darabont just wanted to punch us in the gut, and throw the ending in for shock value.
Whatever the reason, I know I’ll be thinking about this film for awhile, it’s shortcomings aside.
MaxReview:
out of 4
