Bland and boring

Rating: Null/10 (24 June 2010)

After a vicious storm wreaks havoc in their small town in Maine, artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) heads out to the town supermarket for some much-needed supplies with his young son, Billy (Nathan Gamble), and his neighbor, Norton (Andre Braugher), in tow. Their trip soon turns to terror when a menacing white mist settles in, leaving this group of locals and out-of-towners fighting for survival against an unknown, bloodthirsty enemy. When the local religious zealot (Marcia Gay Harden) begins to convince the group that the mist is punishment from God, Drayton and his cohorts realize that they may be trapped inside with an enemy just as dangerous as whatever is lurking outside. Tension runs high in this tale as the trapped group faces difficult moral decisions. Should they stay and wait out the terror, or make a break for it and risk suffering a terrible fate?
The Mist is an incredibly bland film. There's that mysterious atmosphere and a little bit of tension because of the unknown but nothing really that excites you. The film also has this claustrophobic sensation, not because the action takes place in the same spot during the entire film but because the plot is always the same. There's all kinds of nasty cgi monsters, some little, some big, some with wings, some with tentacles and then there's the group of civilians who have to defend themselves and this goes on for more then an hour. Plus, the film isn't scary at all, more disgusting and nasty then anything else. At one point the film turns into a morality play but by then I was completely exhausted and fed up.
The acting was solid and the film was well directed, but as I said, the script (which is inspired by a Stephen King novella) doesn't do anything for me. We've seen this kind of story hundreds of times, it's just not that effective anymore, at least for me.
5/10