Yesterday I managed to get hold of
The
Mist on DVD. I have to say that this was one of the best movies I''ve ever
seen. The Mist is a movie adaptation of Stephen King''s novel with the same
title and it was directed by Frank Darabont. This isn''t the first time that
Frank directed a Stephen King movie; many of you might recall The Shawshank
Redemption and The Green Mile, both of which are in my top-ten list of favorite
movies. Frank Darabont did an excellent job with The Mist...it couldn''t have
been any better!
I''ve identified Frank Darabont''s variable list that are included in most of his
movies:
Create characters which the
audience can identify withMake the audience love the good characters (the good
guys I mean)Make the audience really hate the bad charactersBe ruthlessly cruel with these characters (both the
good as well as the bad characters)
With The Mist, Frank Darabont
touched all the above points, particularly the first and the last one. Frank''s
aim is to make you feel as many
emotions as possible. While watching this movie
I felt these emotions (strictly in the following order):
HelplessnessDespairFearDeep seething rageJoyful contemptFearJoyTotal helplessnessHeart-wrenching sadnessShockSorrow
If you
don''t feel at least four of the above emotions while watching The Mist, you
might try visiting your GP to see if you''re really human. I need to point out
that I HATED the ending, a big shocker, yes, but it was so very sad and so
unfair I couldn''t think straight for the rest of the day.
There is a back-story to the whole thing, mostly dealing with monsters in the
mist but the movie is so smart and so character driven that you hardly pay any
attention to it. Basically the story revolves around a group of people who
become trapped together when an unnatural mist surrounds the grocery
store they''re in. Soon they realize that there are lurking
dangers in the mist and
anyone trying to escape dies a horrible death. However the dangers inside the
grocery store far surmounts the dangers outside and we get to see how fear and
crazy-talk can make people do unspeakable things to each other (think: Jews
being killed in concentration camps, suicide bombers, holy wars, witch-hunts
etc). This movie highlights the dangers of
faith and why a society should never
base their values on what''s written in archaic books or the ramblings of
power-thirsty, attention-seeking dictators: rules+irrationality=disasters.
Frank Darabont created the best on-screen villains ever: Mrs Carmody. I am a
very peace-loving person who opposes any kind of violence, but seriously, if I
was one of the people in that grocery store I would have enjoyed torturing her
ass off. I hated her so much, she was so evil and I just loved hating her every
time she opened her mouth.
This movie is a must see (though if you''re a religious republican you''re gonna
hate it, trust me), and even though the ending is 100% not cool, I guess Frank
used it to draw any remnants of unsurfaced emotions from the viewer, and with
that, he receives a big A+ for meeting his goal.
More summaries about the The Mist - abstract on human behaviour