An overlong film unreflective of the author's or director's talents

Rating: 6/10 (14 March 2011)

"The Mist," is an adaption of a Stephen King story by a director now famed for these adaptations. Unlike, Shawshank or Green Mile, Mist is a supernatural horror film. One may expect that taking on a theme more typical to King would lead to a highly entertaining film. Unfortunately, the result is overlong and never escapes a "b" movie feel.
Clocking in at two hours, Mist lavishes time on creating a moody and oppressive atmosphere of unknown horrors. Firmly situated in the creepy context are the typical cast of King stock characters. The film focuses on the interactions of these characters more so than on the monsters or ominous fog. The result is a drawn out and rather predictable exploration of how a highly caricatured "humanity" deals with an abnormal situation. The assumption seems to be that by giving developed exposition to stock characters, a sense of realism and an important message can be established. The problem is that stock characters are by definition shallow. By creating easily identifiable character types, the audience is relieved of the need to analyze character action. For example, the ignorant country bumpkin will always respond in a bigoted and violent way. Developing such a bumpkin does nothing to the expectation that said character will ultimately respond as expected. In fact, lavishing time on hollow stock types eventually highlights just how poorly developed these characters are. The effect is a film that is populated by annoying people doing highly predictable things.
In fairness, the film does end with a twist. Unfortunately, some of the dramatic weight of the twist is removed because of the characters. Having been methodically ushered down the garden path, the final actions are somewhat inevitable, expected, and emotionally bland.
As a whole, Mist is a technically accomplished movie. The editing, camera work, stylization and direction are all highly competent. The problems arise with the writing and the story itself. Both writing and story rely so heavily on stock characterization that the film comes off as a modern take on a 1950's horror "b" film. All attempts to create a more realistic sense of foreboding are overshadowed by shallow characters puttering about in predictable ways.
On a personal note, this film strikes me as being a wonderful introduction to someone wholly ignorant of both horror film and/or Stephen King. The reliance on stock characters is well done, as long as one is not overly familiar with such character types. Unfortunately, finding such a specifically ignorant audience is a very tall order. Therefore, the mist will highly impress a scant few, and merely satiate the horror tastes of the masses. 5.7 of 10 stars.