The Mist that became The Mess

Rating: 6/10 (4 July 2008)

It has been a long time since I have waited for the theatrical release of what was (and still is) my favorite Stephen King novella. When I heard that Frank Darabont was directing, it escalated the excitement. Even looking at the actor/actress castings, it seemed this movie was bulletproof right out of the gate. Then I saw it on opening day.....
The End.
The film itself started off solid. It was easy to see where Darabont took liberties with the original story and made them work-an area much like he beautifully mastered with both Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile. The character development was terrific. Darabont's initial liberties were fairly clever: The poisonous stinging bugs, much more character development with the soldier from the dark and mysterious Arrowhead Project. In addition there were even tips of the hat to Stephen King's other grand work, The Stand, in which the infamous line, "My life for you" was prominently used. It was well-balanced definitely not out of place.
The movie went along fine, some areas even appearing more frightening than the read, such as teeth on the tentacles. The Pharmacy expedition also done well with the notable Aliens rip off excluded. Frank Darabont creates an atmosphere of fear and a dreary sense also contained in the book that the whole world may be gone. I'm getting ready to rank this as one of King's best screen adaptations.
So how does something this good go so bad? Easy to answer: The last three minutes.
Now there has been a whole lot of hoopla about David's choice to kill his own child in addition to three comrades at the end when they are out of gas and see no hope. Those who are not happy with this ending have often been stamped as being shocked by this transpiration, couldn't handle the grim reality of David's decision and that must be why. Not in this writer's opinion-there's a reason why this ending will go down as the one of the most ridiculous in the annals of Hollywood film making and that psychological pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey diagnostic explanation certainly isn't it.
The novella mastered the art of "hope". It also made the reader realize dread. Nothing seemed to survive The Mist. Darabont's vision alluded to that as well in the beginning; A man running into the store just screaming about how something in the mist took his friend, John Lee. Another man runs out to his car and within 5 seconds of being enveloped lets out a terrifying death scream-so fast the people inside believe it to be a pollution cloud. Norm, the bag boy, opens a door and then within seconds is being torn to shreds by a tentacle. Yet what does Darabont give us in between these assaults? A woman who decides she's gonna walk home and makes it there for a happy reunion with her kids. Not only that, but she finds a way to thumb a ride along on a military truck and gives a slow motion stare at David?! OH COME ON!!! That was about when this movie became an unintentional comedic stink fest-all it needed was the Stripes theme and Bill Murray with a cheesy grin right next to her. Oh, and then there's the clear sky behind the Army guys-looks like this whole mist mess was mostly a town phenomenon to the viewer, definitely can and will be solved-who were all of us to think this was possibly a global problem growing with future questions of survival.
The end of the book gave the reader a sense of hope in the face of dread. Darabont's bastardized version gives a ridiculous "see? That's-why-you-never-give-up-hope" horse apple to the viewer and as a result, completely killed the spirit (not to mention consistency) of the story.
I certainly "hope" this will be the last time an otherwise great movie will suck out loud so badly in the end to the point of ruination. So there ya go Mr. Darabont, you gave me hope and never wanting to give up.
Congratulations!