Review of The Mist (2007) by Jayakrishnan R — 14 Jun 2014

Budget-18.5 Millions, gross- 57.5 Millions.

I would give the film 4 stars alone for its climax, without that kind of a shocking and tragic climax this movie would never have been what it actually is. The acting is strong, especially from Marcia and Thomas Jane. You would never expect this from the creator of the Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile( both being prison dramas) to make a film like this.

People don't recognize this film as a nominee of almost 5 Oscars. Unlike Frank Darabont' previous films, The Mist was less promoted. The film is an adaptation of the Steven King novel of the same name I think, but the director adapted a more darker climax which was not in the novel. I was first of all shocked in the end, it turned to depression and then I loved the depression. I would never want myself to be in the hero's position in the end. Every thing was up to place here, the bullets actually counted, not like an avg action thriller where bullets flowed without even a need for reloading.

I have suggested The Mist to a lot of my friends, almost all of them said that the film was bad, mostly to tease & bully me. But the reasons they made to justify their opinions were, ofcourse the provocative climax(ignore those senseless fools) and the religious lady. You could actually consider the 2nd reason, but I feel that her performance was all right. I liked her because I am an aethist, when she gets killed, Darabont tells us that being religious is not the solution for any hazard as well as citing the humans responsible for their own fate(how the monsters came to be in the first place).

I liked the scene where army men looking & passing by the screaming hero, when everything is over, but only he knows what he had lost, a few moments later the hero sees a woman who had went out alone from the shoping mall earlier, whom they then thought had died. Fate was merciful on her and his lucks were odd.

It was 3 years back when I saw The Mist with my family, I knew they liked it, but were shocked. Not even The Sixth Sense(1999) haunted me like this one. Once Shyamalan was considered to be the master of the surprise endings, but Frank proved to be even better.