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Post by Michael West on Nov 24, 2007 1:32:08 GMT -5
Staring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, and Nathan Gamble Written by: Frank Darabont (screenplay) Stephen King (story) Directed by: Frank Darabont When I first heard that Stephen King’s early 80’s novella The Mist was being made into a feature film, I must admit I was more that a bit concerned. A movie based on a classic story is always a scary proposition. There are just so many ways it can go wrong. People have lived with the tale in their heads for so long; painted so many lasting mental pictures…the images you put up there on the screen are sure to suffer by comparison. And God forbid you make changes! The fan boys will eat you alive. For those unfamiliar with King’s twisted, apocalyptic tale, let be give you the basic details. After a horrible thunderstorm, David Drayton (Thomas Jane) takes his son, Billy (Nathan Gamble), into town for groceries and a few supplies. Soon a thick mist rolls in, cutting the supermarket off from the outside world. When some run out into this fog to try and get to their cars, their departure is followed almost immediately by screams of terror and pain. Yes, it soon becomes evident that the mist is hiding something truly grotesque, but even more monstrous than the unseen evil in the swirling haze is the breakdown of humanity happening within the confines of the store. Believing this to be God’s wrath, local crackpot Mrs. Carmody (Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden) begins to build a dangerous and deadly cult, and soon David is left with a terrible choice: face almost certain death outside, or risk his son becoming a human sacrifice on Aisle 2. The cast assembled here is top-notch. You can see the determination to survive in Jane’s eyes, hear it in his voice. Young Gamble gives an amazing turn as his son. Frightened, funny, and at one heartbreaking moment, clearly just as shocked as the audience. And Gay Harden gives her religious zealot a few moments of tearful vulnerability that show she’s not a broad caricature. Some may watch the treatment of her character and call The Mist anti-Christian. It’s not. It’s just anti-insanity. Those who are unwilling to believe there are monsters in the mist are just as crazy as those willing to believe any of this carnage could possibly be for God’s benefit. To heighten the film’s dramatic intensity, Darabont chose to shoot with hand-held cameras, using the crew responsible for FX’s The Shield. Many horror and action directors of late have confused “hand-held” for “shaky-cam,” giving us scenes that look as if they were filmed by people on jackhammers, but not Darabont. The images are just tight enough and jittery enough to convey tension and unease, but they never confuse or nauseate. And as a fan of King’s work, Darabont knows what scenes readers have been waiting to see for twenty years. Rest assured, we see tentacles whip and witness spiders the size of Great Danes crawling across the screen (yes, friends, the trip to the pharmacy next door is just as creepy as you remember it), but even more frightening are the things we don’t see. Something comes up to the door and drags off the carcass of a dead shopper, but it is never shown. Something else has claws and legs that lash out of the mist and snap people in half, but it remains shadowed…mysterious…chilling. And just as the writer/director knows what to preserve from King’s text, he also knows what needs to go. There was a romance in the story. It developed too quickly and felt very wrong considering the fate of their families trapped out there in the haze. I wondered how Darabont would be able to make it work. Simple. It’s not there. A minor change, but one that was necessary and—in my opinion—improves upon the source material. Which brings us to the ending. Quite frankly, King didn’t have one. In his story… The Mist just…well, it just stops. The reader has no idea what happens to David, his son, or the other survivors. For all his faithfulness, Darabont deserves major applause for having the guts to go where King failed to tread, giving us an actual conclusion. It is as shocking as it is improbable, but it is a finale that will have you talking and thinking long after the final credit fades from the screen. And as you exit the theater, look at the people around you, look at your own children and loved ones, and ask yourself…what would you do if you were in that same situation? The fact that none of us really knows may be the most frightening thing of all. 4 out of 5 stars.
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Post by obliv326 on Dec 9, 2007 9:58:33 GMT -5
hey mike
my 1st post in months! yay!
anyway, i wanted to back up your review. i liked the mist also. i honestly don't remember a ton of the story. it has been a while since i last read it, but i always remembered thinking it would make a great movie. i wish i had a copy now, and having moved not long ago, there is every possibility it is sitting in the bottom of a box somewhere.
a couple quick points, as it is late and i have my own writing to do...
the Mist is NOT anti-Christian...like you said, that woman is NUTS...not only that, but i think most of us have some queasiness w/people who put something as personal and private as religion up front and center. i know i have always found those shirts that display someone's Christianity in some pop culture parody...ie, the one i remembver most was a parody of gold's gym, that said Lord's gym...w/a bloodied Christ on it, and the caption "His pain, our gain". I always found those, and the whole idea of a Christian culture machine, more than a little tacky. for one, it is such a personal, powerful emotional thing. to commodify it is just tacky and classless. it would be like wearing a big photo of your wife on your shirt or something. it's just not necessary. No one else needs to know something that personal about you. Nor should they. I(t is no one's business. There is a reason it is not polite to bring up religion or politics in mixed company, and that is that EVERYONE has strong feelings about these topics. just because you are super religious does not mean that your feelings about religion are more important, even to one's self, as someone who is less religious or atheist. everyone gets where they are because of their own experience, and to force someone to defend their beliefs is to attack and belittle their experience.
another thing that bothered me is the fact that Christian pop culture exists only because there are people who, wrongly, feel that "secular" ,( a term i really dislike, as it belittles 'real' culture by placing this little religious bubble on the same level as ALL THE OTHER things that exist. it is just not an even match...comparing billions of things to a few dozen, as if they are of equal value) culture is in some way "wicked" or "of the devil" and there's is more pure. first of all, if you do believe in God, then you must realize that the act of Creation is a holy one, and to say that a particular form of music, which was the target of a racist campaign in the 50's to label it "the devil's music' by the KKK b/c they didn't want white kids listening to black music, and thereby had preachers denounce it as 'evil' from the pulpit...that is why there was ever an idea that rick and roll was 'devil's music'. they said the same thing, believe it or not, about jazz. and blues before that. anything played by black musicians was denounced by white preachers. the only difference was that rock and roll was the first idiom that really caught on with white youth, so the battle became much more fierce, and lasted a lot longer...so, yes, long before there was Marilyn Manson, or Judas Priest or black sabbath of Any of the other stuff you've ever heard is 'satanic' (or 'satanistic' to quote one lady who used to work with me...) the only reason this music was EVER attacked was because of racism. so, that whole idea is from the KKK...and youd b surprised about the number of things that are considered 'sins' that actually are not considered so because of anything in Bliblical canon, but because of someone's decision ('bad language' is not a sin b/c it offends God, but b/c it offended Queen Victoria...find mention of the 'f' word in the Bible. i'll wait here...actually, no. i have things to do and you're going to be a while, so call me when you find it...again, it'll be a while. same thing w/abortion. find a mention of it in thee Bible...oh, and I don't even think the Bible mentionds homosexuality. i know the scriptures, and there is some discujssion about what they dio refer t...and even if it does say something about it, i dont think that women w/women are ever mentioned....if it was such a sin that bigots in several states have refused to allow thgose people equal rights, don't you think that 1/2 of thjiose affected, lesbians, would garner mention someplace? hmmm...
anyway, essentially because of the klan, there exists this idea that pop culture is evil. i know i went to a church when i was a kidd where all of it, tv, movies, vcomic books, rock music, was evil. even video games...and sports...basically, anything fun. all you were allowed to do was listen to the news on the radio, read the paperm, and study the Bible...
but what if your kid just wants to go to movies or listen to rock mucis, or wear brand name clothes. well, some enterprising groups have provided 1/2 assed replicas...including those shirts i was mentioning before...and some of the worst music and movies and, if touched by an angel is any indication, tv shows you have ever seen. i had to watch one of these at my workplace a few weeks back. it was awful. i went online, and on the imdb, you wouldnt believe the raves it was getting...BETTER than anything hollywood couldpoduce.
of course, when you call them on it, you find that the standards are a bit different. they dont care so much about acting...or camerawork...or really even the progression of the plot. the only thing they really care about is...the message...and, big surprise, its pretty much the same "message' hollywood puts in almost all of their movies...good triumphs in the end, evil is vanquished, and all is well. now, hollywood doesnt throw a verse in there...and hollywood audiences dont believe its a miracle when Superman wins in the end...the people watching this particula movie seemed to think that God helping out the guy in the movie was proof of His existence and a real miracle, the kind hollywood was afraid to cover. it was no more a miracle than when it wa written on the page in the script...maybe that guy needs to understand that movies arent just recordings of things that happen and thn are broadcast...i wonder how he would think a show like gunsmoke got made...i mean, he does know that movies didnt exist then, right? so how aree the 'real life' images obtained'? or, when you make a bio-pic...how do they know to start following people around when they are young, so theyll have that scene of the famous person when they are young...or do we all have a hidden camera crew filming us, just in case?
anyway, the undemanding audience that consumes this awful music.tv/books (esp those 'left behind' books...dont get me started)...here's the thing...
THEY DON'T NEED TO BE!
whjy? because the act of Creation is HOLY and close to God...one could argue the most Holy thing a person can do! where, for example, does michael stipe get his talent? if you are a Believer, he gets it from God...Nick Cave? Stephen King? Harrison Ford? God, God, and God!
so, pop culture is not evil?
nope...
so, why do they make that other stuff?
oh i dont know. i'm certain it is just for the 'spirit' and 'soul' of those involved. im sure the people making it arent cynicaly preying on a group of people's fear and ignorance to make money?
naw...
all this is a really long winded way to say, if someone is throwing their religion in your face, they are, at best, misguided. they are most certainly judgemental, which is one of the basic tenants of Christianity that you are not supposed to be.
and if you are one of these people who doesn't believe me, and you think i am just being unreasonablee, i don't like it any better when someone does the same thing with another religion. whenever i see a muslim spouting off on tv about how they have to destroy the west and the Jews and that allah will evetually bless their terrorist activities, i am sickened and sad. you cant reason with these people.
what scares me is when someone's reaction is that we are better than them, because we are a 'better religion'. if america is great, then one of the reasons it is SO great is BECAUSE that stuff is not on tv...or, well, other than 700 club, anyway (its basically the same thing, only instead of Jews and the west they want to destroy gays and liberals)
if the world becom,es a battle of religions, rather than each person loving whatever they love because they are driven to it personally, and not under threat of taliban torture, then we are screwed.
relating this to the Mist...the Christian character in this movie is essentially a Christian member of the Taliban. she is hateful, and plays on fear in a terrifying situation to rally the weak around her, and, like almost everyone who tries this, they claim they are right because they have a direct connection with God and, therefore, anyone who opposes them is in direct opposition to God, and therefore doing the work of the devil...and that last sentence is the absolute perfect reason why separation off church and state exists and is SO FREAKING IMPORTANT!!!!!!
the character in the film is not bad because she is a Christian. she is bad because she does not act anything like what a Christian is supposed to act like. she is a charlata, who uses Christs name to trick people into believing her...like a number of public figures in american politics, and i defy you to name one single 'Chrisstian' politician or televangelist who is not doing the same thing.
what makes me happy? when she gets her just desserts, like she does several times, i have never heard louder applause from an otherwise quiet crowd...alomhg w/shouts of 'YES!!!' and, when she is spouting off, things like 'shut up, b&^ch!" after watching some of the scary thing that have happened in this country in the past 5 years, seeing that we could all recognize a charlatan was quite ennervating, to say the least.
so then, a note about the ending...ill try to not spoil it, but lets just say, it is one of a few recent examples oif a tough ending...im not sure this film really earned it. you need to fee, in a film that will pull a tough ending, that anyone is at stake, and you never really do in this.
but i'll tell you, n o one can say they went for the easy way out. they took about as tough a road for the audience, and hile it isn t necessarily a 'feel good' film, you definitely dont feel ripped off by the kind of crap that often got pulled...
i'm not certain i think it really got to the point it needed to have us really see that one coming, and i ddo believe you need to be able to imagine the ending while watching, otherwise you run the risk of a tone difference, and this one cuts that cl;ose.
but i give them credit for not going all hollywood on us...unlike that religious movie i saw, this movie actually gave me something thaty i didnt think hollywood could ever give me, and that is also a hopeful thing. maybe we'll see tom cruise die on film someday...
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Post by Born of Darkness on Dec 9, 2007 18:21:30 GMT -5
Hey all! This is my first post in months too. Great review, Mike, as usual. I just saw this movie a few weeks ago and really loved it! It's been a long time since I read the story, but I remember it being just as creepy. what makes me happy? when she gets her just desserts, like she does several times, i have never heard louder applause from an otherwise quiet crowd...alomhg w/shouts of 'YES!!!' and, when she is spouting off, things like 'shut up, b&^ch!" after watching some of the scary thing that have happened in this country in the past 5 years, seeing that we could all recognize a charlatan was quite ennervating, to say the least. YES! The crowd I was with did the same thing, and nobody was yelling louder than me. That woman was a loon!
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Post by Michael West on Dec 10, 2007 10:46:49 GMT -5
Glad you enjoyed the movie and the review. Good to see you both back in the fold. ;D
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