29/11/2008 16:35 - (SA)
The Mist
Babalwa Shota
The Mist (Ster Kinekor)
Director:
Frank Darabont
Featuring:
Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden and Andre Braugher
Rating: ***
Two of my favourite authors during my teen years were Danielle Steele and Stephen King – Steele because she awakened my curiousity to things I did not even know I was curious about (and screwed up my outlook on romance and love forever in the process), and King because he was a guilty pleasure I would read by torchlight under the blanket when my mother went to sleep (and this is probably how my masochistic personality developed because I was terrified of the worlds this man painted).
Both authors have sold zillions of books and even when they dish out nonsense, the sheer power of their name alone pushes the novels to the best selling list. Both authors have also had their books adapted on film.
Steele’s books have make sucessful featurettes and series on American television, while King’s rock the cinema. His last movie, which City Pulse reviewed a few months ago, was the creepy 1408 starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.
The Mist sees the hot Thomas Jane (The Punisher) in the lead.
After a vicious storm that rips the small town of Maine apart, most locals and visitors congregate at the supermarket for supplies. Artist David Drayton (Jane), his young son, Billy (Nathan Gamble), and neighbor, Norton (Andre Braugher) are among them. But the simple shopping trip turns into a horror rollercoaster when a sudden mist traps everyone inside the supermarket, thanks to a mysterious “thing” that lives in it and is hellbent on gobbling up the entire Maine population.
When the town’s religious zealot, played brilliantly by Marcia Gay Harden, starts telling the masses gathered at the store that it is the wrath of God coming down on them, not only does Drayton and company have to deal with the lurking danger outside, but they have to confront the growing mad mob mentality driven by “religion” inside the store.
With the “thing” outside slowly picking the people off like cherries on a tree, and the restless mob inside being driven to violent acts by their prophetess inside, Drayton and his friends have two choices – take your chance on the unknown outside, or stay inside and meet a surely violent death from the Bible punchers.
This is a fun movie that boldly goes where others have gone before – in the 80s. Yet it’s still so much better that the new age drivel that is coming out of Hollywood now. Director, writer and producer Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile) has done a commendable job here.
And be warned: the last five minutes of the movie is vicious – and King has apparently approved it. Go figure.
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