November 23, 2007

  • So I saw Stephen King's "The Mist" on the Eve of Thanksgiving just after church.  And...well...WOW. What a movie.  What a freaking movie.  It started out kinda rough, and for awhile I thought the monster would be just one monster whose appendages were nothing fantastically new to gaze upon. Fortunately, the movie had more to it than meets the eye.  Apparently, I must have missed many of the TV spots with the trailers for this movie that had quick glimpses of the other monsters, because I sure as hell wasn't expecting all of those crazy critters.

    SPOILER ALERT!

    I'M DEAD SERIOUS. DON'T READ ANYMORE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE BUT PLAN TO

    Well anyway, as I said, what a freaking movie.  Not only were the monsters cool, (even though many were very obviously CG, but I'm not complaining) but the plot itself was cool.  It wasn't a horror movie just for the sake of being a horror movie.  And actually, the monsters weren't even really the point of this movie all. There was so much more going on than mere mist filled with creepy creatures.  In fact, they were more the catalyst of the movie instead of just the threat of the movie, something to trigger a series of events that were far more crucial to the plot, and that otherwise would never have been put to the test.

    And that's actually what it seemingly was:  a test.  A test of humanity and their reactions to strange, mysterious, scary, or flat-out dangerous situations.  A "what would YOU do?" type of test.  Gradually, as their fear of the unknown begins to dominate them, many begin to lose their grip on whatever hope they may have had left, and in desperation for answers, will cling to whatever may make the most sense.  As the movie progresses, the real monsters begin to emerge, and they're not from the actual mist at all, but from within the deep recesses of the tormented souls of humanity.  Souls tormented by the dread of what they cannot comprehend.

    Sometimes, I just love movies when they're not JUST gore-fests. Not that I don't appreciate some mindless monster killings every now and then, but once in a great while, I find it refreshing if there was more to a movie than that, something that arouses the mind to think beyond normal things.  This one is one to do it for me.  It's almost like a slap-in-the-face about how mankind can stoop so quickly to what he was before the luxury of technology and the like to solve his problems.  There's always a possibility that even the most primal of emotions can come out when all you have is you, your neighbor, and any sort of surrounding terror threatening your safety.  In this day and age, we have all sorts of solutions to our most greatest of fears. But what happens when those solutions are taken away from us? What happens when the solutions we DO come up with quickly begin to unravel before our very eyes and prove to be utterly useless? How long before we all break down?

    This is pretty much what "The Mist" covers. It isn't at all just about some mysterious mist or the monsters that roam within its gloom.  This is about what people can do when they're overwhelmed with fear, doubt, uncertainty, and whatever else.  This is about what can happen if too many people lose focus, lose faith, and most importantly, lose all hope.  And already, most of the internet is already buzzing like friggin' worker bees over the insanely altered ending, which apparently is not at all how Stephen King ended it in his book.  But even King himself has approved of this new ending, claiming that he would have definitely made this his ending if he thought of it, and I can totally understand why he did.  The ending of this movie was absolutely crazy, but in a good way.  It defied all other movie endings out there, both the unpredictable and predictable alike.  This wasn't no mushy, gushy, feel-good, cheap Hollywood ending. This was a horror movie's ending in all its raw glory.  This was an all-out freaking GUTSY ending that, to me, was definitely a proper close to the entire message of the movie as a whole. 

    Yes, it was horrible, yes it was disturbing, and yes, it was completely shocking and totally unexpected.  But damn, that's the very reason why it was great.  My sister was in shock and literally jaw-dropped. She couldn't say not a word even after the credits rolled.  But as disturbed as she was, even she preferred this movie ending to the book's ending.  This one surely broke the mold of movie endings.  There are plenty of people who despised this new ending and preferred the one in the book, in which the remaining bundle of people just drive off into the mist, not knowing what to expect and not knowing how far they'll go. And that's where it ends. No explanation and no closure.  It was apparently up to the reader to use their imaginations as to what could have happened.  But King offered nothing and left it all a mystery.  I love King and all, but damn, I'm glad that route wasn't taken for this movie. A movie with this deep of meaning and this much going on can't end so inexplicably.  I'm one to definitely want a REASON for what happened, or even what exactly happened at all.  This ending is a total 180 from the book's ending, something altogether different, something that definitely does make you think.  All you can ask is simply, "What would YOU do?"

    What a great, great movie.

    END SPOILERS!