Now, this is interesting. Here we have the underrated William Sadler. I was going to to say that no film that features William Sadler can be all that bad. But then, in the other thread, Stacie just mentioned a dislike for "The Hills Run Red." Is that Sadler's first true stumble? I haven't seen it. By the way, huge props to "The Mist" for one of the ballsiest endings ever.
There are ballsy endings and then there are no-way-in-the-frickin-world-would-a-person-ever-do-that-in-a-bazillion-years endings. I'm afraid that The Mist, sadly, falls into the latter category.
Eh, it would've been ballsier to keep the original ending of the short story just to show that Howard Johnson's motels still exist. Which they do, in Jersey, I think.
The ending simply came too abruptly, I think. It was a plausible nihilistic ending, but it happened WAAYYY too quickly. I'd think you'd do EVERYTHING you could to survive, and the gun would be an absolute last resort...which it was here, but they'd only been stopped for 10 minutes.
I'm not saying I like the ending, or that it works dramatically, or that I think it's well-handled, or that it would have been my decision to end it that way. ... I'm just saying it was ballsy as hell for a commercial film that was risking a serious Word of Mouth disaster with an ending like that. If nothing else, I admire the chance it took. Doesn't mean it worked, though. Part of the problem is that Thomas Jane didn't sell it enough for me; he's a better actor than that, but not in the last 6 minutes of that film
I have had this film in my draft folder for way too long. I loved it really. Many people harp on the ending but I agree with you in an above reply to a comment that the problem with the ending was that it was rushed. Had the tension built up more and more to where the guy killed the other people out of desperation and mercy it would ave been perfect. Had they sat in the car and heard the approaching sounds of the 'creatures' and became more willing to die it could have been great. Not an irredeemable flaw really. Horror film endings are often flawed.
Thanks for the review. Now I need to get mine finished.
Now, this is interesting. Here we have the underrated William Sadler. I was going to to say that no film that features William Sadler can be all that bad. But then, in the other thread, Stacie just mentioned a dislike for "The Hills Run Red." Is that Sadler's first true stumble? I haven't seen it. By the way, huge props to "The Mist" for one of the ballsiest endings ever.
ReplyDeleteThere are ballsy endings and then there are no-way-in-the-frickin-world-would-a-person-ever-do-that-in-a-bazillion-years endings. I'm afraid that The Mist, sadly, falls into the latter category.
ReplyDeleteEh, it would've been ballsier to keep the original ending of the short story just to show that Howard Johnson's motels still exist. Which they do, in Jersey, I think.
ReplyDeleteThe ending simply came too abruptly, I think. It was a plausible nihilistic ending, but it happened WAAYYY too quickly. I'd think you'd do EVERYTHING you could to survive, and the gun would be an absolute last resort...which it was here, but they'd only been stopped for 10 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying I like the ending, or that it works dramatically, or that I think it's well-handled, or that it would have been my decision to end it that way. ... I'm just saying it was ballsy as hell for a commercial film that was risking a serious Word of Mouth disaster with an ending like that. If nothing else, I admire the chance it took. Doesn't mean it worked, though. Part of the problem is that Thomas Jane didn't sell it enough for me; he's a better actor than that, but not in the last 6 minutes of that film
ReplyDeleteStacie
ReplyDeleteI have had this film in my draft folder for way too long. I loved it really. Many people harp on the ending but I agree with you in an above reply to a comment that the problem with the ending was that it was rushed. Had the tension built up more and more to where the guy killed the other people out of desperation and mercy it would ave been perfect. Had they sat in the car and heard the approaching sounds of the 'creatures' and became more willing to die it could have been great. Not an irredeemable flaw really. Horror film endings are often flawed.
Thanks for the review. Now I need to get mine finished.
Bill @ The Uranium Cafe
I think the IDEA of the ending is great but the execution of it was so heavy-handed, with the slow-motion and warbling chorus music.
ReplyDeleteIt was like Darabont was so in love with doing a shocking ending that his handling of it was too precious.