Darabont builds the tension right, but not the ending !

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2012)

After watching this, I found myself saying ironically: "Man is the stupidest sane creature in the world!". Something good to quote, huh?!
This is - finally - a horror that has something to present beside its gore. Actually, it may be a movie about the human in the modern age; which happens to be a horror. Just remember that it's written and directed by (Frank Darabont) to know well that it's not another time filler slasher. (Darabont) wrote and directed before (The Shawshank Redemption) which was - as the same as (The Mist) - based on a book by (Stephen King). What (Darabont) did there, he does here, in terms of making something deep, with something thrilling.
A group of middle class people is imprisoned in local grocery store, being all besieged by unknown danger that turns out to be huge lethal bugs. It's outwardly a disaster / sci-fi / horror movie, but inwardly about that supermarket community, its fears, expatriation and aberration. That consuming society is all about eating and drinking. They are selfish, living as strangers, and never done anything together unless shopping. That grocery store became the only spot where they meet together, and thus represented their being itself. So when they are trapped together, their hidden facts are quickly shown. From class struggle and spiritual emptiness, to psychological complexes and plain cowardice. Being confused is the surface only, which develops some thrill to watch. But being stupid is the core, which demands some time to contemplate.
While the movie showcases many characters, it doesn't go deep in them. It just showcases their deeds. That wasn't enough according to a movie wants to go behind the surface I think. However, the most horrible shortcoming that this movie has is its ending. It wanted to say that human is a headlong, desperate, and so dumb creature. Unfortunately that was made in unconvincing way. The lead was an ideal action hero from the start. I didn't notice anything irrational about him. His thinking and doing showed nothing but intelligence and boldness. So when he did what he did at the end; that was totally bizarre. It was more than obvious that the script pushed him to do it, so the intended moral would be complete. But to "push", in terms of good writing, is bad. To "build" is the needed, which this script didn't really care about. It throws its pure perception in our faces without much attention to rooting it dramatically first. It seems to be that not going deep into the characters is the actual, and only, problem this movie has.
On the contrary, the rest of the movie is near to flawless. Artistically, it is well done. The directing orchestrated all the elements to make a solid horror, and philosophical testimony, all while having limited budget as well. In a rare time, the shaken camera managed to be smartly realistic and no annoying. The tense was about being tangible throughout. The CGI was thoroughly designed and moved. Their uniqueness along with truthfulness were another rare matter. The monstrous bugs can be read as a part of the characters' world's rot. Imagine what kind of insects that live in a filthy place, so accordingly imagine how big that place itself could be to have insects as the ones we saw (gives you a hint to how this movie pictures our world!). Surely, that harmonizes fine with the supermarket community theme whereas it divides those consumers' town into grocery store and one big dump around. The performance was into the point, however quite wronged by the script. The characters were stereotypical ghosts, with no creativeness. For a clear instance, the heroine is a good woman, and that's it! Talking isn't this movie's talent. It was about doing, which is good, but not to a degree where the characters seem underdeveloped.
Yes, believe it or not, unlike endless ordinary horror movies, the title has a wily pun. This is about the mist inside the mind of today's human who used to consume more than build, feed on joys of life instead of living that life, and fear as a substitute for faith. Being lost in that haze bemused the compass of reasonableness, ended any hope and easily killed the lead's kid by the lead's own hands. That's what this movie has in mind. The thing is the movie didn't mind about it much. So while trying to add something extra to a genre movie, something intellectual and critical, (The Mist) wasn't plenary. (Darabont), who stipulated earlier that the production company must not change his end, didn't play that end rightly.
In brief: A breathtaking and thought-provoking horror. Yet, if the thought-provoking side was as well made as the breathtaking side, this could have been one of the best movies in the last decade. Alas, as a scriptwriter, (Darabont) said that human was stupid, but not in a perfectly "smart" way!