| Overall Grade: |
C- |
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| Story: |
C- |
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| Acting: |
C+ |
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| Direction: |
D |
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| Visuals: |
C |
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Bad movie, not just the ending. (Spoilers)
by Allen (movies profile)
Jul 12, 2008
157
of
220 people found this review helpful
The Mist was a bad movie. There are some who say that people who disliked the ending are shallow, or have poor taste. According to them if you disliked the movie then you simply don’t understand horror. They are wrong.
The movie is actually bad for several reasons, not least of which is the ending. (Spoiler follows): Our hero is trying to escape the confines of a supermarket surrounded by a mist filled with other-dimensional creatures. He needs to escape because he wants to get back home to make sure his wife is ok, and because most of the other people in the supermarket have given in to fear and are now following a “hellfire and brimstone” religious fanatic (substitute “psychotic”), a staple character of many Stephen King stories. This religious nutcase has eventually convinced most people that the creatures outside are plagues from hell, and only a daily blood sacrifice of unbelievers will keep them safe. Of course, typical of King’s character studies, initially we see a whole gamut of types from fools and skeptics, to star-crossed lovers and manic-depressives. But only our hero and a few others stay practical, motivated and hopeful in this store full of the socially devolved.
Our hero also has a 9 year old son who came to the market with him, and he manages to get his son and three other good people into his jeep and on the way out of the mist. First he goes home nly to finds his wife has been killed; and then he drives until the gas runs out hoping to find an end to the mist. Unfortunately, when they run out of gas, instead of waiting or trying to go on somehow they instead decide to commit suicide. Only four bullets in the gun though, so the man uses them on the others, including his son and is then driven to go into the mist and wait for something to kill him and end his misery. The mist miraculously clears, soldiers arrive, and he is left to his pathos.
This is what was wrong with the movie. After putting us through a bunch of socially negative bull, and the shallow images that King feels represents the “common man,” the writers decide our “heroes” would end up killing themselves out of despair rather than continue to fight for survival. However, despite what King or the screen writers might think, for people like this man the reality would be where there is LIFE there is HOPE, and you keep fighting until you either get killed or win free.
As for the reviewers who claim this is what horror is, I would agree only if “despair” is the new horror. To me horror movies shouldn’t be reflections of real life. They should be monster thrillers that either send little chills down your spine while you wait to see how the heroes defeat the evil; OR cautionary tales like JAWS which make you cognizant of real-world threats while you wait to see how the heroes deal with them. We don’t need to leave a theater feeling like life is a waste and nothing one does is worth the effort. That isn’t horror, that is just pessimism from people who don’t know either the meaning or value of life. |
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