The Mist – Film Review

Based upon the original (1980) Stephen King novella of the same name, the 2007 Frank Darabont film is a strong standout from other modern horror movies in that it allows tension and suspense to slowly burn, as opposed to going for the quick easy scares. The story itself revolves around a disaster in a small American town and a group of survivors who are trapped inside a supermarket. Outside however, remains an unknown menace that keeps the characters trapped in this ever-growing claustrophobic location.

As tensions rise, personalities clash and tribal groups begin to form as people begin to search for answers as to what appears to be going on outside. Escape attempts are made, yet after the failures and causalities that result from these - the already high tensions begin to bubble to the surface.

Essentially during the film the characters revert into a more primal, tribal like society. With the threat of the unknown, many people wish to guess as to what may be happening. Immediately as these ideas begin to develop you begin to see the troublemaker’s surface. Nevertheless, as a member of the audience we find ourselves powerless to stop the slowly approaching confrontations. It is this feeling of helplessness that suspends you during the film, putting you at ill ease. It’s the fact that we can see the approaching dangers coming and the odds of avoiding them seem to be growing ever slimmer.

Now although the film does achieve what it sets out to do on this point, that isn’t to say there aren’t any flaws in its execution. Towards the beginning of the movie, the characters that are incarcerated seem to act quite rationally. With only a few characters being seen as abrasive or potential troublemakers. People who through their jobs would have experience or training for dealing with difficult people in intensive situations do little to disperse or separate these people from the main group. Teachers, army soldiers, retail staff and management do nothing – acting almost obliviously to the potential threat that some of the other members of the group may present.

It was small details like this, that at times felt missing from a film that wanted to be down in the trenches with its characters and give realistic reactions to their mysterious situation. The story itself balanced a fine line between a subtle group struggle and an apocalyptic scenario. At times characters and situations were realistic and intense, yet at others the film became a caricature of itself. The film never really stayed grounded for to long, and at times it was this that really kept you in suspense, but at other varying points this was one of the movies main detractions.

The end of the film itself continued with this jumbled presentation. It was in ways truly heart wrenching, but there was still a feeling that the conclusion was somehow tainted by aspects of its presentation.

In the end the most important factor is – did the movie achieve what it set out to do? And yet my answer to this would be that I don’t really know what it set out to achieve. Overall you could say that the film is well crafted, however descanted at certain points it may seem. The most off putting of these points being its overlapping tonal shifts. Perhaps if the film were more concise in this aspect then it would be wholly more of an ease to view.

I wanted to like this movie, I truly did, but there was just too much incoherence in that it never attempted to establish to its audience any kind of continual ambient tone, for which they could follow with a degree of ease.