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The Mist
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
Mad props to Frank Darabont, the guy has quite the string of adaptions under his belt.
Too bad The Mist kinda ****s it up.
I mean, not that The Mist isn't well made. It's paced great, it builds tension well and it totally kept me engaged the whole way through. Even the CG monsters looked decent for the most part.
But the script is... bad and I can't even blame it solely on the source material or the changes.
In any survival horror movie we're forced to ask the eternal question, "How stupid are the protagonists?"
Any degree of "stupid" is bad and here I would have to say "mild to extremely stupid".
First off we establish the Mist is dangerous. We're not sure why, but it's suggested that it could be poisonous.
It's reasonable, but no effort is made to say, "Hey, she's standing in the Mist and she feels fine, must not be poison."
That may seem flat and needlessly explanatory, but the absence of this sort of inquisition leads people to recognize the Mist is dangerous, and then immediately assume that it's perfectly safe to walk out into it despite evidence to the contrary.
Sure enough, MONSTERS! We dismember a tentacle and instead of IMMEDIATELY moving the thing to show everyone else, "Hey, monsters!" we leave it and expect to convince everyone to just take their word.
Sure enough a couple guys go back, see the thing, discover it's still alive before dissolving into a puddle and WELP, THERE'S NO EVIDENCE NOW BECAUSE YOU SEE THAT WE COULDN'T HAVE TOUCHED IT BEFORE WITHOUT IT REACTING AND DISSOLVING WHICH WE NOW KNOW BUT COULDN'T THEN HAVE KNOWN.
It's retroactive justification. Weak.
Sure enough, most people still take them for liars despite Token Black Guy's relatively pleasant exchange with our protagonist up to this point, he just suddenly assumes that in the wake of this unexplainable mystery, the only guys with any remote certainty explaining it are specifically conspiring to spite him over an old lawsuit?
Weak.
It's also the perfect time to get hot and heavy and makeout in the backroom of a supermarket besieged by unseen forces that want to tear you in half at the waist. With totally undeveloped characters.
GOSH I WONDER WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ONE OF TH-*dead*
Weak.
A few characters decide that since every single other person who went outside never returned or wound up dead, WELL I guess we gotta go outside too! As soon as they're outside, they're walking slowly with their lights on.
I'm sorry, did we not already establish that there's a limit to how far/long we can survive outside and that the monsters are SPECIFICALLY ATTRACTED TO LIGHT!? It's FOG (mist, whatever), light isn't going to do you any favors! And they do this EVERY SINGLE TIME THEY'RE OUTSIDE, even when they escape to one of their cars they proceed to SLOOOOOOOWLY drive past the supermarket window to spite all the naysayers!
Weak.
Finally, when they finally run out of gas their first and only thought is "WELP, GUESS WE GOTTA COMMIT SUICIDE."
"WE'LL MAKE IT WORK." *shoots the other 4, cries uncontrollably*
Uhkay, first, was it beyond your spatial reasoning to figure out that all 5 of you could die if you lined your ****ing heads together?
Second, HOW ABOUT WAIT???
How about you not immediately conclude the worst BECAUSE IT WOULD COST YOUR ****IN' LIVES? How 'bout you not rush to kill yourself? HOW 'BOUT PATIENCE!?!?
NUP, OUTTA GAS, TIME TA DIE.
Weak.
And I know what you're thinkin', "But Omni, what about the drama in the supermarket and the danger of fear-mongering mob mentalities?"
You know what? You're right, it was good. Carmody is a good love-to-hate-her sort of character. SO GOOD in fact, that SHE ONLY TAKES A COUPLE BULLETS??
WHAT THE HELL!? The first guy to die went out worse then that and the guy who killed her dies immediately after with his last words being an apology for KILLING THE EVIL HAG!
We don't even get the full satisfaction of seeing her skin ripped off, infected with alien venom, or turning into spiders!
And the guy who killed her was punk'd out by a monster you never totally see!
And the old woman who dented her skull with a can of peas is shot with friendly fire mere MINUTES BEFORE RESCUE!!!
WEAK.
Final Verdict: [Meh...]
The Mist
Survival Horror / English / 2007
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Originally Posted by CosmicRunaway
I actually rather like The Mist.
Originally Posted by Camo
The Mist is a good film watch that.
"We're a civilized society."
"Sure, as long as the machines are workin' and you can dial 911, but you take those things away, you throw people in the dark, you scare the **** out of them... NO MORE RULES."
"Sure, as long as the machines are workin' and you can dial 911, but you take those things away, you throw people in the dark, you scare the **** out of them... NO MORE RULES."
Mad props to Frank Darabont, the guy has quite the string of adaptions under his belt.
Too bad The Mist kinda ****s it up.
I mean, not that The Mist isn't well made. It's paced great, it builds tension well and it totally kept me engaged the whole way through. Even the CG monsters looked decent for the most part.
But the script is... bad and I can't even blame it solely on the source material or the changes.
In any survival horror movie we're forced to ask the eternal question, "How stupid are the protagonists?"
Any degree of "stupid" is bad and here I would have to say "mild to extremely stupid".
First off we establish the Mist is dangerous. We're not sure why, but it's suggested that it could be poisonous.
It's reasonable, but no effort is made to say, "Hey, she's standing in the Mist and she feels fine, must not be poison."
That may seem flat and needlessly explanatory, but the absence of this sort of inquisition leads people to recognize the Mist is dangerous, and then immediately assume that it's perfectly safe to walk out into it despite evidence to the contrary.
Sure enough, MONSTERS! We dismember a tentacle and instead of IMMEDIATELY moving the thing to show everyone else, "Hey, monsters!" we leave it and expect to convince everyone to just take their word.
Sure enough a couple guys go back, see the thing, discover it's still alive before dissolving into a puddle and WELP, THERE'S NO EVIDENCE NOW BECAUSE YOU SEE THAT WE COULDN'T HAVE TOUCHED IT BEFORE WITHOUT IT REACTING AND DISSOLVING WHICH WE NOW KNOW BUT COULDN'T THEN HAVE KNOWN.
It's retroactive justification. Weak.
Sure enough, most people still take them for liars despite Token Black Guy's relatively pleasant exchange with our protagonist up to this point, he just suddenly assumes that in the wake of this unexplainable mystery, the only guys with any remote certainty explaining it are specifically conspiring to spite him over an old lawsuit?
Weak.
It's also the perfect time to get hot and heavy and makeout in the backroom of a supermarket besieged by unseen forces that want to tear you in half at the waist. With totally undeveloped characters.
GOSH I WONDER WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ONE OF TH-*dead*
Weak.
A few characters decide that since every single other person who went outside never returned or wound up dead, WELL I guess we gotta go outside too! As soon as they're outside, they're walking slowly with their lights on.
I'm sorry, did we not already establish that there's a limit to how far/long we can survive outside and that the monsters are SPECIFICALLY ATTRACTED TO LIGHT!? It's FOG (mist, whatever), light isn't going to do you any favors! And they do this EVERY SINGLE TIME THEY'RE OUTSIDE, even when they escape to one of their cars they proceed to SLOOOOOOOWLY drive past the supermarket window to spite all the naysayers!
Weak.
Finally, when they finally run out of gas their first and only thought is "WELP, GUESS WE GOTTA COMMIT SUICIDE."
"BUT MALE PROTAGONIST, THERE ARE 5 OF US AND ONLY 4 BULLETS."
"WE'LL MAKE IT WORK." *shoots the other 4, cries uncontrollably*
Uhkay, first, was it beyond your spatial reasoning to figure out that all 5 of you could die if you lined your ****ing heads together?
Second, HOW ABOUT WAIT???
How about you not immediately conclude the worst BECAUSE IT WOULD COST YOUR ****IN' LIVES? How 'bout you not rush to kill yourself? HOW 'BOUT PATIENCE!?!?
NUP, OUTTA GAS, TIME TA DIE.
Weak.
And I know what you're thinkin', "But Omni, what about the drama in the supermarket and the danger of fear-mongering mob mentalities?"
You know what? You're right, it was good. Carmody is a good love-to-hate-her sort of character. SO GOOD in fact, that SHE ONLY TAKES A COUPLE BULLETS??
WHAT THE HELL!? The first guy to die went out worse then that and the guy who killed her dies immediately after with his last words being an apology for KILLING THE EVIL HAG!
We don't even get the full satisfaction of seeing her skin ripped off, infected with alien venom, or turning into spiders!
And the guy who killed her was punk'd out by a monster you never totally see!
And the old woman who dented her skull with a can of peas is shot with friendly fire mere MINUTES BEFORE RESCUE!!!
WEAK.