One of the most powerful Horror films ever made

Rating: Null/10 (7 April 2009)

If you had told me that The Mist would turn out to be not just a great horror film, but a great movie overall, I would have laughed. The trailer for this film was laughable, and it looked like a Sci-Fi network film. But it turned out to be a very powerful film. The plot itself is simple, and I loved that the film knew what it was, and it took all advantage of it. It has really well done suspense, and it has great action scenes. But it also has some morality and religious themes that shine through. The performances were all great, for the most part. Thomas Jane is effective as David, as is Andre Braugher and Laurie Holden. But to me the most effective performance was Marcia Gay Harden. She commands the screen as Ms. Carmody, a very religious and very obsessed woman. I think her performance really is a wonder, even award worthy I must say. The direction actually started a little bit off for me. I did not like the 'real' feeling to it, nor the camera-work. But as the film went along, I really came to appreciate it and love it. It really worked. The lack of music I also very much appreciated. I really got into the suspense and the action, thanks to the lack of music, which really had an impact on the scenes. The writing also started off a little bit weak, but I came to realize thanks to the smart script we were given a sort of simple, yet truly remarkable story, but there was some lines here and there that were bad, but some that were really great and well-written.
Now we come to the extremely powerful ending. I had heard a lot about the ending of this film, and I thought it would have something to do with the creatures or the story behind how the mist got there. But I was entirely wrong. It turned out to be a very realistic, a very humane ending. Like I said before, the film already had a lot of religious aspects about humanity and human ways. There was even a certain scene involving the sacrifice of a soldier lead by Ms. Carmody (which I thought was one of the strongest scenes in the film). I thought the ending really was so sad, a true shock. It also marks everything that was wrong with most people. The people in the car, who actually wanted to fight for their lives and had courage enough to go out and try to flee, were the ones that got screwed in the end, while the cowards who stood in the store, just refusing to learn the truth, were the ones who got to survive, is a real downer. But I think the ending works in a lot of different ways, and gives the film a bit more of balance.
Overall though, I was very, very happy with The Mist. I think it is one of Stephen King's best adapted novels-to-films. I also am sure this will become a horror movie classic.