Amazed

Rating: 10/10 (22 November 2007)

Got to get this out of my system. If you go to horror/apocalyptic movies looking for happy endings, it's time for that follow-up head examination. One more thing. Religious overtones in the movie were not some contrived addition of the movie's creators. If you read the novella you would realize that Mrs. Carmody and her religious stance are as tantamount to the plot as anything besides the mist itself. After reading some of the bashing comments, I had to make these points because common sense apparently isn't that common and reading with comprehension seems to be a lost art.
With that out of the way, I can say that in the past I have been a fierce defender of Kubrick's deviation from the Shining book in favor of what will work to scare in a movie. I had to do an about face here because I found myself dying to see the story on film the way it was written.
For the most part I did. There were tons of lines that I remembered verbatim from the novella that were faithfully reproduced here. Yes, there were scenes that were not reproduced. Quite a few of them I agree with, because they seemed to have been added into the book for reasons that would not necessarily justify the added length of the movie had they been added.
I was skeptical about Jane as the lead character at first, having remembered him last in The Punisher. I didn't think he could be uncomprehending enough to pull off this role, but he did rather well. I think it could have been done even more convincingly, but it was not a detriment. The other characters, from Amanda to Ms. Carmody to Norm the bag boy to Norton and Mrs. Reppler, were played to perfection by the respective actors. The sense of hopelessness, dread, and fanaticism was played up brilliantly, leading to a truly claustrophobic and harrowing exercise in fear and dread.
The CGI was as good as it needed to be, considering the bizarre creatures that were encountered. And the mist itself was as impossibly white, impenetrable, and oppressive as I had always dreamed it would be if someone decided to make this movie.
The ending? If you're gonna rewrite, this is how it should be done. Bear in mind that I walked into an end of the world film expecting just that. Not expecting some poppycock happy Hollywood template. I got a mind-blower. It was an absolute gut punch, as someone else so accurately put it. Sums up how the mist robbed the characters of their sense of hope and turn the unknown into the insurmountable quite nicely thank you.
I will watch this movie many, MANY more times. And then I will buy the DVD the day it comes out and repeat the process. For the thinker, the movie buff who enjoys the complications and unseen undercurrents that a presented situation contains, this movie can't be missed. If you are looking for Bambi or dark comedy or anything besides dread, fear, and utter hopelessness, do us all a favor. Don't buy the ticket. Nobody likes a whiner - LOL