Saturday, March 1, 2008

Review: The Mist

It's already been 2 weeks since I've seen this, but here we go anyways. [...] Actually, I don't know what to say anymore. I'll try my best to recall my thoughts.

The Mist is based on the Stephen King story of the same name. I haven't read it so I won't compare. But the story is about a mist invading a small town and centers on the people who are in the local supermarket when the mist appears. Hidden in the mist are monsters, but the biggest monster is actually in the store: Mrs. Carmody.

Thomas Jane plays our hero David Drayton. He's an appealing actor. Very easy to root for just like in Deep Blue Sea. He gives a fine performance, though I did notice a couple of off moments. The thing is, he can't possibly compete against the perfect Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody. Seriously, that woman is a force to be reckoned with! The rest of the cast is good too (William Sadler, Jeffrey DeMunn, Andre Braugher) with Toby Jones as Ollie also being a standout. And it's always nice to see Chris Owen pop up in movies. Looking good, kid!

I'm a glass-half-empty kinda gal, so let's focus on the negative bits;
- The pacing is off. Sometimes the movie moves too quickly and sometimes too slow. I found myself checking my watch. But was puzzled when the big tentacle monster was shown at the beginning. They should've saved that one for later and started with the bugs.
- It's too religious. It made me uncomfortable and bored watching all that religious talk go on and on and on. It's just not my cup of tea and I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt alienated by it.
- The ending. Okay so I don't hate it. I appreciate unhappy endings. But this was too harsh. Plus, I don't understand why the mother who left the store to go find her children survived.

I saw Cloverfield not long before this movie and throughout The Mist, I kept thinking: "Cloverfield did it better." Now I realize it's unfair to compare these two movies, but they're both movies with big ass monsters and parasites. I just couldn't help but compare the two. Do I have a point here? No, not really. I just like Cloverfield better.

I have nothing left to say. A 3/5.

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