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Frank Darabont makes films that could be called, to use Quentin Tarantino's terminology, "movie movies": that is, they adhere more to the conventions set out by decades of Hollywood cinema than to reality, and the viewer is always well aware that they are watching a movie. The approach has served him well thus far, with the unashamedly sentimental melodrama that is The Shawshank Redemption being justifiably one of the most beloved films of all time. With The Mist - yet another adaptation of Stephen King source material by the writer-director - Darabont swaps genres to horror, but the film retains several of the director's recognisable traits. Principally, his emphasis on character remains, with the film spending a substantial amount of time on the relationships between the participants in the narrative. There are times, however, when Darabont's old-fashioned writing style seems at odds with the tale he is telling: where the hackneyed dialogue sounded natural coming from the mouths of prisoners in the 1950s, it often just sounds corny and contrived within this present-day context.
Leader of the ensemble, but for no particularly apparent reason, is Thomas Jane's everyman David Drayton. Jane is certainly watchable, and in the later stages is really able to stretch his acting muscles, but his character is rather bland and seems to be simply a de facto lead. Other than his level-headedness (which few of the other characters possess), Darabont presents no real reason as to why Drayton assumes the position of leader. It would have been more feasible if he had been written as an off-duty policeman, or a doctor, or perhaps ex-military, but Darabont chooses to make him, of all things, a designer of hand-painted movie posters. The sheer size of the supporting cast means that there are a lot of characters to introduce, and while this is mostly done efficiently, the amount of dialogue becomes slightly tiresome; for a horror film, The Mist is extremely talky, its pacing occasionally tests the patience, particularly in the first half, despite the strong cast and acting. The beginning is extremely well done, but after the titular mist firsts envelops the town and the characters hole up in a supermarket, the pace slows to a crawl and the tension dissipates after a while.
Thankfully, when Darabont delves into full-on horror-film mode, the results are frequently thrilling. There are several set-pieces that superbly ratchet up the suspense to almost unbearable levels, and the director keeps unveiling plot revelations at well-judged intervals. The only real misjudgement in the set-piece department is that, surprisingly, the director falls into the trap of showing too much too soon. The first major encounter with the monsters in the mist suffers from overuse of CGI, giving away the supernatural nature of the plot too soon and diminishing the scares. Fortunately, the film does recover, becoming increasingly engrossing towards its shocking conclusion. Without mentioning any spoilers, Darabont deserves huge credit for the bold ending, which proves that he is a man who sticks by his convictions, and also suggests that the romantic optimism of his earlier work has given way to a more cynical outlook reflecting the mood of post-9/11 America.
The summary
The Mist is something of a mixed bag: overlong and at times clunky, but worth it in the end. It may be best watched on DVD where impatient teenagers cannot distract you by laughing at all the wrong moments.
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