A missed opportunity

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2014)

It is hard to believe that this film was directed by Frank Darabont, the very same man who directed two of the best films ever made, namely The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption.
Don't get me wrong, The Mist is in many ways a very good film, but it could have been so much more. It's nowhere near the same quality as his other two milestones mentioned above. The plot isn't very original (I might even say, Stephen King took quite a bit of inspiration from John Carpenter's The Fog), occasionally it's frustrating, a little bit too slow-paced, the special effects are average at best and the end is just - dare I say it - ridiculous. It's the sort of thing you come up with if you're actually stuck for a decent ending; you just make one up. You then either go with whatever comes to mind first or you try to think of the most ridiculous or outrageous thing possible. Same here. And not only here, but the film adaptation of Stephen King's "It" smacks of the same problem. Perhaps it was just a desperate attempt to come up with something that will stay with people regardless of whether or not they actually liked the film itself. If this was their objective then they've certainly achieved it. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the ending will be the only thing you'll remember about this film.
Darabont clearly did not have the same sort of budget for this film as he did for the other two, and he clearly didn't have the sort of high profile writers and producers; he certainly didn't have any high profile actors for this. David Jane, William Sadler and Jeffrey DeMunn are great and carry the film very well, but they're not of the same calibre as Tom Hanks or Morgan Freeman.
The Mist is very good. It's not one of those films that will make you feel like you've just lost two hours of your life that you'll never get back, but it's certainly not a blockbuster either.
Watch it and enjoy it ... just don't expect too much.