Cathryn (formerly catslash) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
remindmeofthe) wrote2007-11-21 07:12 pm
remindmeofthe) wrote2007-11-21 07:12 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
I saw a movie on my own today for the first time in ages. It's been the case lately that I couldn't afford to, or nothing fit my schedule, or nothing I could get to was appealing. (Mostly the latter. Movies have been CRAP lately.) But today I had a couple bucks, I didn't have to work, and I suckered myself into seeing The Mist.
If you haven't heard of it - I barely watch any TV, so I have no idea what kind of promotional campaign it's gotten - it's based on a Stephen King novella about a bunch of people who get trapped in a supermarket by a thick mist with things in it.
Yeah, I know. Cheese central, right? The set-up is a cliché, the mist shrouding the store and making it impossible to see eighteen inches ahead is not original, and I know I don't need to tell you about the storm that cut off all sources of communication with the outside world.
It's a good thing, then, that the movie isn't nearly as interested in its monster story as it is in exploring the sociological drama that forms as the situation wears on with no sign of anyone coming to the rescue.
I am a total sucker for stuff like that. I love stories about people and how they work and what they do, and this one isn't shy. It doesn't pull any punches about the kinds of things that happen when you get a bunch of scared people trapped together without any reason to hope that everything will turn out okay. It started out kinda slow, and I got a few unintentional laughs along the way, but by a third of the way into the movie, I was riveted.
You should see this movie. I can't tell you the best reason why. Just telling you that there IS a best reason why is telling you too much. Please just trust me.
As for the monsters . . okay, how do I put this? I scare so easily that it shoots right past "not even funny" and loops back around to "completely hilarious." A movie doesn't have to be all that scary to have me getting jumpy at night for a week or two afterward. I was prepared to sacrifice a good two weeks' worth of peace of mind to see this movie.
It is dark and I am fine.
The monsters are not scary. The monsters are kinda lame. They're where I got those unintentional laughs. I even got up to go to the bathroom after the first big attack scene! If I'm in a dark theatre watching a scary movie, my bladder will rupture before I'll be able to stir from my seat. The attack scenes are well-done and interesting to watch, but they aren't scary.
This worked really well for me, though, because a) I do not enjoy being scared and b) it really kept the focus of creepiness on the people, where it belonged. Effectively frightening monsters might make you think, "And I care about the crazy Bible-thumping lady why?", but the lack of real fear associated with the monsters highlights said crazy lady as the real threat. Sure, the things outside are killing and eating people, but inside, she's whipping people into a frenzy and readying them to do much worse. It eventually becomes a question of whether it's really safer to stay inside.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Right, so if you're reading this and you haven't seen the movie (but are planning to), you are dumb.
If you've read any other reviews of this movie, you know all about the big shocker ending. I did going in. And I tell you what, none of my guesses, as bleak as they were (it's all a hallucinogen and they're going to find out they killed people for no reason . . . the mist has covered the entire world and there is no escape . . . the crazy lady is going to end up inciting mass hysteria that kills everyone . . .) came even close to the real gut punch.
No hallucinogens. Bible lady was shot before she could do any damage on a massive scale. And hey, it even looks like the military got shit under control.
Too bad they couldn't have done it before the protagonist used his last four bullets to kill his four companions and spare them from violent, painful deaths - including his own little boy.
That shot of the mist clearing, of soldiers on tanks emerging from it - of the convoy carrying the survivors from the supermarket!!! - not two minutes after he fulfilled his promise to his son to not let the monsters get him by putting a bullet in the boy's head . . . that is grimmer and nastier than anything I anticipated. I was blown right the fuck away.
I loved it. I am so tired of tacked-on happy endings, especially when the movie has been so dark up until then. I want the ending that feels real and organic to the story. If that ending is happy, awesome. If it's not, then it's not. Have the fucking courage to tell it.
This movie was made by people with balls of steel. Even better, the ending can be attributed entirely to the screenwriter, Frank Darabont - the original ending of King's story was, from what I've read, very ambiguous - so not only did Darabont go with the nasty ending that fits with a nasty story, he can't even "defend" it by pointing the finger at King.
I'm sure there's gonna be lots of bitching about it. Mean spirited, gratuitous downer, broke the no-killng-kids rule, blah blah blah. I don't care. I admire Darabont for writing it and sticking with it (he also directed). And I admire the producers for not fucking with it. This was the right ending. Period.
Now if only Thomas Jane's anguished screams had been even remotely convincing . . .
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Again: Go see it. Avoid spoilers. Trust me.
If you haven't heard of it - I barely watch any TV, so I have no idea what kind of promotional campaign it's gotten - it's based on a Stephen King novella about a bunch of people who get trapped in a supermarket by a thick mist with things in it.
Yeah, I know. Cheese central, right? The set-up is a cliché, the mist shrouding the store and making it impossible to see eighteen inches ahead is not original, and I know I don't need to tell you about the storm that cut off all sources of communication with the outside world.
It's a good thing, then, that the movie isn't nearly as interested in its monster story as it is in exploring the sociological drama that forms as the situation wears on with no sign of anyone coming to the rescue.
I am a total sucker for stuff like that. I love stories about people and how they work and what they do, and this one isn't shy. It doesn't pull any punches about the kinds of things that happen when you get a bunch of scared people trapped together without any reason to hope that everything will turn out okay. It started out kinda slow, and I got a few unintentional laughs along the way, but by a third of the way into the movie, I was riveted.
You should see this movie. I can't tell you the best reason why. Just telling you that there IS a best reason why is telling you too much. Please just trust me.
As for the monsters . . okay, how do I put this? I scare so easily that it shoots right past "not even funny" and loops back around to "completely hilarious." A movie doesn't have to be all that scary to have me getting jumpy at night for a week or two afterward. I was prepared to sacrifice a good two weeks' worth of peace of mind to see this movie.
It is dark and I am fine.
The monsters are not scary. The monsters are kinda lame. They're where I got those unintentional laughs. I even got up to go to the bathroom after the first big attack scene! If I'm in a dark theatre watching a scary movie, my bladder will rupture before I'll be able to stir from my seat. The attack scenes are well-done and interesting to watch, but they aren't scary.
This worked really well for me, though, because a) I do not enjoy being scared and b) it really kept the focus of creepiness on the people, where it belonged. Effectively frightening monsters might make you think, "And I care about the crazy Bible-thumping lady why?", but the lack of real fear associated with the monsters highlights said crazy lady as the real threat. Sure, the things outside are killing and eating people, but inside, she's whipping people into a frenzy and readying them to do much worse. It eventually becomes a question of whether it's really safer to stay inside.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Right, so if you're reading this and you haven't seen the movie (but are planning to), you are dumb.
If you've read any other reviews of this movie, you know all about the big shocker ending. I did going in. And I tell you what, none of my guesses, as bleak as they were (it's all a hallucinogen and they're going to find out they killed people for no reason . . . the mist has covered the entire world and there is no escape . . . the crazy lady is going to end up inciting mass hysteria that kills everyone . . .) came even close to the real gut punch.
No hallucinogens. Bible lady was shot before she could do any damage on a massive scale. And hey, it even looks like the military got shit under control.
Too bad they couldn't have done it before the protagonist used his last four bullets to kill his four companions and spare them from violent, painful deaths - including his own little boy.
That shot of the mist clearing, of soldiers on tanks emerging from it - of the convoy carrying the survivors from the supermarket!!! - not two minutes after he fulfilled his promise to his son to not let the monsters get him by putting a bullet in the boy's head . . . that is grimmer and nastier than anything I anticipated. I was blown right the fuck away.
I loved it. I am so tired of tacked-on happy endings, especially when the movie has been so dark up until then. I want the ending that feels real and organic to the story. If that ending is happy, awesome. If it's not, then it's not. Have the fucking courage to tell it.
This movie was made by people with balls of steel. Even better, the ending can be attributed entirely to the screenwriter, Frank Darabont - the original ending of King's story was, from what I've read, very ambiguous - so not only did Darabont go with the nasty ending that fits with a nasty story, he can't even "defend" it by pointing the finger at King.
I'm sure there's gonna be lots of bitching about it. Mean spirited, gratuitous downer, broke the no-killng-kids rule, blah blah blah. I don't care. I admire Darabont for writing it and sticking with it (he also directed). And I admire the producers for not fucking with it. This was the right ending. Period.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Again: Go see it. Avoid spoilers. Trust me.