I read this short story in the book Skeleton Crew by Stephen King and I really liked it. I remember reading it and thinking how it would make a great movie someday. But that was a long time ago when I was into Stephen King. So when I heard the movie was coming out I didn't really thinking about it.
So today I finally got around to watching it and I must say its actually pretty good except for the ending. Actually it seems to be even gorier then I remember. I'm not really much of a horror fan but I really enjoy this story except for the ending. I thought I may be the only person that hated the ending but apparently not check out these comments I came across on IMDB. There are a few comments that think its the greatest movie ever (they must be payed off) but the mass majority give it a 1 star rating and every one of them mention the ending as an issue.
I wasn't really going to write about this but in the second half of the movie there are some great lines that really made me think about how fragile our society really is. I picked out one of the quotes that makes this point pretty well:
Amanda Dunfrey: You don't have much faith in humanity, do you?
Dan Miller: None, whatsoever.
Amanda Dunfrey: I can't accept that. People are basically good; decent. My god, David, we're a civilized society.
David Drayton: Sure, as long as the machines are working and you can dial 911. But you take those things away, you throw people in the dark, you scare the shit out of them - no more rules.
*SPOILER ALERT*My beef with the ending is that they changed it. Now i wouldn't really mind but I guess its supposed to be twisted in some kinda Twilight Zone way. In the book the main protagonist, his son, and a few other escape the supermaket they are in and drive away in the protagonist SUV. The story ends with them driving but seeing no end to the fog. I don't care for this ending because of the lack of closure but at least theres some kind of hope so thats fine.
However, in the movie it turns out differently. They still escape and its the protagonist, his son, a lady the protagonist has grown close to during the incident, and old lady, and an old man. They drive for awhile and the movie takes this opportunity to show how the mist has effect the town. Everything pretty much destroyed or covered in webbing because of the crazy mutant spider things. So after a few minutes of this driving and looking the car finally runs out of gas and they are still in the mist. In the car with them there is a revolver that only has 4 bullets left. After a long piece of silence and time spent looking at each other the protagonist is seen loading the 4 bullets into the gun. Next thing you see is an outside shot of the car then you see and hear 4 gunshots. Next its inside the car and everyone is dead except our "hero". Then he screams a few times then leaves the car to accept his death. And heres the twist it appears that the army has actually beaten back the mist and there are survivors. So now our "hero" has killed everyone that I have come to care about and the calvary was a few minutes behind. Not only is it a downer but its doesn't make sense for the characters who spend the whole movie doing everything they can to stay alive and not give in to the madness that over takes everyone else to switch on a dime and decide its time to commit suicide.
I read somewhere online that Stephen King likes this ending as do many other people but I can't stand it. You spend all this getting to know and like these characters and then the end of the movie comes to punch you in face, give you the finger, and kick you while your down.
*END SPOILER*
This brings me to another thing I've come to hate about movies that have been coming out lately. What is the deal with all the depressing endings to movies? I'm not paying an outrageous sum of money to go see a movie thats going to leave me more depressed leaving then when I came in. Life is depressing enough without having to pay for the privilege of being more depressed. I know some people like the endings that are not happy but not I. When I spend my hard earned money on anything I expect to be happy with what ever I spent it on. I guess when your the person making the movie it may seem more artsy by putting in an ending thats based in reality. But I don't want to pay for what amounts to a buzzkill.
Anyways shifting away from the ending if I remember correctly in the book there was no real explanation for where the Mist came from but since its an actual movie I guess they had to give a reason. Now if you have ever played Half life then the explanation may seem a bit familiar. And by familiar I mean its like they pretty much took the story behind half life and transplanted it onto this movie. I mean they even put in things that look like striders from half life 2. So I guess if you like half life and half life 2 this movie maybe the closest thing to a real life adaptation for awhile.
So ultimately I would recommend this movie except for the ending. If you feel that you can't watch a movie without watching the ending then I would say skip this movie. The ending is that much of a kick to the nuts. I hear theres an alternate ending on the DVD and as much as I'd like to see it (cause from what I heard its a more pleasant ending) I don't feel like spending money just to see it. I'll just read about it on the internets and image it in my head. Mmmm...imagination
No comments:
Post a Comment