Review of The Mist (2007) by Jane M — 26 Jul 2018

I would have given it more than one star, but the ending was so pointless that it made the movie that much more of a waste of time. It felt to me like a cheap knockoff the "Legion" which has a similar end of world theme with trapped strangers in a store with evil uglies outside.

While Legion was thick with moral lessons as The Mist seemingly tries to do, it actually succeeded, and The Mist fails spectacularly in that regard. I'm not sure whether The Mist even seriously tried to convey any moral lessons, it seemed too cynical, sarcastic, and cartoonish.

The flick starts our promising, a simple little erie tale spun around small-town characters, but whoever made this movie destroyed it. The special effects were cheesy, the characters were way lacking, and the decisions made by the group were nonsensical and erratic.

On the one hand, the protagonist suggests (wisely) not to go outside then he wants to do the very same thing so he can wander about a pharmacy. A very rational supporting character doesn't even want to see what happened in the back of the store when someone got hurt, which is nonsense.

There are some stolen moments from a bunch of other films, like Alien, for one, and absolutely no new ideas and not much emotional investment in the characters despite the lengthy time with them. Plenty of stereotypes, like bible thumpers and hicks, and a very odd portrayal of a young boy, who is clearly at least 8 years old but for this movie is infantilized.

He is carried around like a baby, he sucks his thumb, he cries and sleeps, and is cajoled closely by the father. It got to the point where I was almost uncomfortable watching it because clearly there was some subtle, sub-textual fetish going on for the director.

I laughed when after one long hugging scene with the "father" that he pressed him to his stomach/belt buckle, it was so obvious. Given this faint pedo thread running through the film it makes sense that at the end, the survivors with the man are the non-judgemental type and solidly in his corner no matter what.

One of them in fact previously threw a can at the head of the evil bible thumper. In a final ironic twist, while the man rejected the notion of a "sacrifice" or giving up to the monsters, this is exactly what he essentially tries to do himself.

What sins need to be washed away, I wondered. And as the moved (gratefully) ended, the credits rolled and Harvey Weinstein's name appeared as producer. Save yourself some time, find something else to rent.