Lets be honest, I know I'm not going out on a limb here when I say most Stephen Kings novels/stories don't translate well to film. Sure there's been the good ( Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Stand By Me) but there's also been plenty of bad ones (Graveyard Shift, Langoliers, The Mangler). So it's no surprise that when a film based on Stephen's work is released to the public, one can only fear the worse. So how did I feel about the adaptation of King's The Mist? Definitely one of the better.
The story starts off with a father (the underrated Thomas Jane)taking his son and neighbor to a local convenience store. Soon after arriving a large amount of fog surrounds the outside building containing the unknown and trapping them inside. As time goes by cabin fever sets in and the surviving towns people inside begin to turn on one another. While the story itself is not very complex or complicated, it's the way that it's told that keeps the audience entertained and drawn into this supernatural world.
Written and directed by Frank Darabont whose worked on previous successful King adaptations, is very precise when it comes down to making this film. Frank takes his time throughout the story to create suspense and mystery as we feel like we're in this with the characters. He's also very smart when it comes down to character development. These people aren't put into the movie just to have another face, yet to contribute to the story making you care, feel and relate to them.
While the movie was great it had one minor flaw that for me was hard to get past. I've never been a big fan of CGI (like most) yet for some reason other's love to use it. It doesn't ruin the movie really in any way, but it does take a little of the realism away from the story.
Overall it's one of the better Stephen King translations I've seen and also one of the better horror movies I've seen in awhile. If others could just take a clue from movies like these and worry more about character development and situations as opposed to CGI and creative ways to kill someone, maybe their films too would become classics.
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I am with you on the fact that they can be hit or miss. I liked your review but would have liked to see more involved with the reason the people were turning on each other. To me that was the story. The crazy spiritual lady and how she began controlling the minds of the weaker people. You are also dead on when it comes to CG, when its done right you don't really notice it. I thought it was a little over the top in this film though. Great review and movie selection!
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