For a 17-year old movie, this still wasn't half-bad. The creature effects were a little dated, I have to admit (if I'm being honest) but it was still a decent film. In my opinion, this is one of the better screen adaptations of a Stephen King story. (I've read almost all of his books and most of the screen adaptations I am NOT a fan of.) Despite being quite aged, though, I still found this to be a great "creature feature" movie that plays on most of our fears of the unknown, the "something's out there" paranoia that most of us would feel while trying to traverse some deep fog, whether on foot or in a vehicle. The acting was decent by most, in spite of there only being a few recognizable names in the cast. Props to Marcia Gay Harden for her supporting role as "Mrs. Carmody" because she really had me itching to see her "get hers", so to speak. She finally did but it was far too fast and to merciful for what she deserved. LOL Andre Braugher (RIP) of Brooklyn Nine-Nine fame was brilliant and left the story far too early, IMO. The others, as I mentioned, were decent in their roles, certainly playing the parts well enough in a film where the creatures and the mist itself was the primary focus. The huge plus that King's novella had over the screen adaptation was, IMO, the ending. I suppose, had they left the ending in the film as it was in the story, there would have been numerous complaints or questions that detracted from the art of the story itself. Along with that, the novel didn't have that oh-so-annoying droning soundtrack in the waning moments; nothing against the soundtrack itself (as far as the MUSICAL score) but man that "ahhh ooohhh aahhhh.. angelic choir or otherworldly ghastly voices" thing was... well, to quote Princess Fiona from her famous scene with the Merrymen in Shrek : "Man, that was annoying!!!!"
It has its gruesome moments, it's loaded with tension and suspense, it has plenty of characters that you can buy into (some more easily than others), and it has bugs, tentacles, and other things that go "bump" in the fog. Not a bad movie for one of those evenings that you're bored and just want something to entertain you while being mildly spooky at the same time. I've watched this before (a couple times, I think?) and wouldn't be averse to watching it again sometime. I'd love to see a modern-day reboot of this with some modern CGI effects to really ramp up the creatures but again, they weren't ridiculously silly like some movies this old are. I enjoyed it all over again.
Review by moonkodiBlockedParentSpoilers2016-12-20T02:46:46Z
Started off well paced and with some forgivable clichés. Looked interesting.
The main characters were OK and the actors did a decent job. The crazy religious lady was truly awful. I really disliked her character as well as the direction she took the story. Go away! There are no fun characters in this movie at all, so it made its mind up as to which direction it wanted to go. Serious Did it pull it off? Nah.
The effects are pretty poor at times e.g the lighting of the effects didn't match the environment, the movement of the animations were not always convincing The monsters themselves were bland.. ... If this movie had non computer effects it would have benefitted a lot and added something interesting to admire.
Half way and things fly around and that's where it gets mediocre with the egg laying....alien meets arachnophobia meets the mummy etc...
Later it carries itself for a while on a more serious level. It doesnt work. Half characters having surface level tensions with some religious social commentary isn't exactly psycological or meaningful stuff. Religious lady is even more annoying.
Soon a boring military science plot is revealed. Riiiight. This movie doesn't seem to know what style it wants to be. Too much flirting with many elements. Unfocused. What was the end goal of this movie exactly?
At times it seemed to want to entertain but then restricted itself of fun characters to try and be serious. It tried to be serious but the messages were weak and the character study was to basic.
A very average and forgettable movie. The ending was ridiculous. I didn't feel the tension or see the logic leading to that particular moment so it seemed out of place. It seemed forced to try and have some realistic, meaningful or dark feel. If only he had waited one minute longer. Duh. Some say it's a message of not giving up and faith. Well if so, that message failed like all the rest. The real message was, check your mirrors and learn to count bullets.
It would have been a great ending in a different movie. It started off half promising and got worse.