Movie Review: The Mist - Page 2

I apologise to anyone who may count my synopsis of the film as a spoiler but I can see no way I can even talk about it without telling you something about the threat which looms on the characters. The CGI is both a strength and a major weakness of the film. When we’re inside the supermarket looking out at this mysterious mist, the creature effects look great, probably because we can only vaguely see what they are and are left to make up our own minds. However when the first scene of attack occurs, and we get up close and personal with the creatures, the computer effects are very apparent. This again takes back something they managed to accomplish earlier on – the fact that they showed more means that the effect is less. And I sense it was supposed to be the exact opposite.

One of my biggest complaints about the film has to be the character played by Marcia Gay Harden. Although she’s nothing short of great here as far as her performance goes, as she always is, this religious, and sorry for being so blunt, nut-job jabbers on and on about how this is the “end of days” and that the people who want to survive aren’t “bending to God’s will”. Frankly I got sick of it after only a few minutes of hearing her but that’s not enough. For some reason she is allowed to carry on, with no one doing anything to shut her the hell up. I usually don’t want to hold a single element (or in this case a character) against a film, but the beating over the head of this religious element using this woman really just annoyed the hell out of me.

Darabont’s strength is his ability to garner tension and fear through us not knowing just what the hell is going to happen next. It’s a very unpredictable film with an almost unbearable, venom filled ironic conclusion, and it also serves up some great mystery, fear and tension and a few gleefully gory moments to boot. I could go on and on about its weaknesses too, as it goes without saying that there are many I have failed to mention, but I’d rather end on a fairly high note; The Mist is worth checking out even if it’s nothing overly great.

Article Author: Ross Miller

I am a film critic and blogger, and have been so since late 2007, going from starting my own movie review website, Movie World (which is still running), and then moving on to writing for various movie blogs.

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