The Mist

--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

Plotline: After a tremendous storm, a strange and inexplicable mist rolls in on a small town. A group of folks find themselves trapped in the local grocery store, fighting for their lives against the strange things inhabiting the mist.

Scariness factor: I jumped really hard in one scene. So yay for that.

Gross-Out Factor: Again, medium...



Complaints: We all knew this was coming, but my major complaint, of course, is the CGI. I was actually pleasantly surprised that I liked this movie so much, especially since I knew it was going to be heavy with CGI. But yeah: the CGI was lame in parts. I mean: do you really need to CGI mist rolling in?? I mean, is it really necessary? Especially if someone can fricking TELL it's CGI-ed? I also sort of wish they would've kept the "creatures" in the mist a little bit more mysterious. Granted, the Stephen King novella doesn't really do so. But I guess I would've still preferred it over lame CGI. Plus, some of the beings they CGI-ed I was kind of like, what? WTF kind of creature IS this? I mean, we've got spiders. Which are spiders. But then we've got weird pincer-creatures that don't seem to be a part of nature. So what's the deal? Also, I was a bit irritated that they explained away the mist so lamely. I mean, I think in the novella (it's been awhile since I've read it but) they MENTION that it could be related to goverment-stuff, but they never concretize it. I think that's what always kind of creeped me out: that you never really KNEW why the hell the mist rolled in or what it was due to.

High Points: Marcia Gay Harden was actually quite creepy and good in this. I loved to hate her character, and she added a bit of maniacal credibility to the film with her performance. I also really kind of liked the ending, despite the fact that it strayed dramatically from the ending of the novella. It really quite caught me off-guard, and it was terrible and horrifying and shocking and kind of interesting in that regard. I was actually, overall, surprised that I enjoyed this film as much as I did. I was extremely skeptical since "The Mist" has been one of my favorite Stephen King stories since I was little. So I figured there was no way in hell I was going to like it. But they did a pretty decent job with it and the sense of impending doom. I also knew that the CGI was gonna irritate the piss out of me, but it didn't bother me quite so much as I expected (probably because I went in prepared for it).



Overall: I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Much creepier (and with a strangely unsettling and kind of ballsy ending) than expected. Thanks for the recommendation, Bijoux!

Grade: B