Great telling of a good King story

Rating: 8/10 (5 December 2007)

How many times have you said or heard the words "the book was better!" Well, Darabont has done something quite exceptional here. He's made a movie that is exactly like the story...in the best possible way.
I've read and enjoyed The Mist several times since its publication. I've always respected King as a spinner of great yarns who gets unfairly stereotyped as a schlock writer. But the main reason King has been so successful over the years is his talent for people. He's great with people. His characters are complex, varied, believable, and most importantly (when he's hitting on all cylinders), they evolve! While The Mist is a more straight-ahead horror story than many of his other gems, it's still more about how people respond in different ways to horrific challenges, than about the challenges themselves. King's a master of irony too. If you have to be stranded somewhere for an extended period, doesn't a supermarket full of food seem like a desirable choice? In his evil scenario, while people elsewhere might be plotting how to reach the food, people in the supermarket are praying for a way out! Beautiful! I'd agree with some of the critics of The Mist that some of the characters could use a bit more subtlety. And FD did add a couple characters and events, and dropped a couple. But for the most part, the movie was pretty much exactly how I pictured the people, places and events when I read it. This is also a testimony to King's skill with artful description.
Plenty has been written about the story itself, so I'll spare you that. And as you probably know by now, everyone's talking about the ending -- that it was a departure from the book and that they love it or hate it. All I'll add here is that, if one reads the story, King actually sets this ending upÂ…he just leaves you with your imagination. Darabont brashly follows through on one possible scenario that actually seems plausible given the circumstances. I salute his courage and recommend this movie.