The Mist
3/4
Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden,
Toby Jones
Rated R for Violence, Terror and Gore, and Language
“The Mist” is an effective horror thriller, but it could
have been so much more. The main mistake
in the film is hiring the wrong director.
With someone like Guillermo del Toro or perhaps Neil Marshall at the
helm, this film could have been a true masterpiece.
On the morning after a violent storm, a thick mist appears
on the lake. But by the time David
Drayton (Jane) is doing some shopping, the mist has overtaken everything in
sight. That wouldn’t be so much of a
problem until a man comes running in all bloodied up, saying that there’s
“something” in the mist. True to form,
there are a few people who go out, but don’t come back. Now everyone has to figure out how to survive.
Let me start with what the film does right. The film, in addition to being a decent
horror film, is also a psychological thriller.
Religious fanaticism, the effect that stress and panic have on the mind,
herd mentality and logic vs. faith are some of the many themes that are present
in this film. What’s especially
interesting is how effectively they are woven into the script. There’s no sense of artifice in the way that
these issues are addressed. Consider the
growing cult that the local religious fanatic (Harden) acquires. Before this disaster, everyone thought she
was a nut. Now that things have changed,
she’s getting more converts by the minute. It’s not hard to find similarities with the rise of the Christian Right
in the US.
There are a few problems, however; some of which are pretty
serious. First of all, the lead actor,
Thomas Jane, is miscast. The actor
speaks in a low growl for the better part of the movie; it’s like he’s aping
Russell Crowe when he has a bad script.
It’s beyond annoying. On the
other hand, Marcia Gay Harden is a little creepy as Mrs. Carmody, despite the
fact that she did something similar on “Law and Order: SVU.” Everyone else does their jobs admirably.
Frank Darabont is known for directing two movies: the
greatly overrated “The Shawshank Redemption” (which is sitting at the #1 film
of all time position on iMDb, a gross overreaction) and “The Green Mile.” Those two movies were effective melodramas
seen through the lens of nostalgia.
Based on the evidence, one might think that Darabont would be a strange
choice for the directing job of a horror flick, and they’d be right. He doesn’t blow it, as there are a number of
tense scenes and the philosophical nature of the script is dealt with (if only
superficially). But his sense of
atmosphere is way off, and he doesn’t have the ability to create a sense of
claustrophobia that would really make this film work. I mentioned Guillermo del Toro for a reason;
not only is he experienced at making monster movies, but his themes of
Catholicism would have served him well with this material.
I have heard a lot of controversy about the ending, and
although I can understand why, I think it’s fine the way it is. It’s not what we would expect, and it’s laced
with the bitterest of ironies, but that’s why it works. It keeps with the bleak nature of the
material and gives the film its punch.
And for once, it doesn’t come from far away in left field.
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