The Mist
Submitted by dgeiser13 on Sun, 03/30/2008 - 01:07
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According to Jeremy Wheeler of The Allmovie blog the recently released Two-Disc Collector's Edition of The Mist includes a black and white version of the film as well as the color version which played theatrically...
"vast amounts of the production are energized by the limited color palette, giving everything from the actual mist to the mix of practical and digital effects an added layer of dynamics that the crisp theatrical version just didn’t deliver in hindsight."
I was really looking forward to this one as the original story is a Stephen King favorite of mine but the additional option of a viewing in glorious black and white sounds equally intriguing.
Hopefully this black-and-white version has a different ending, too.
My guess is, No! :-)
Of course, I was being sarcastic there. The ending Darabont chose for the film just seemed highly inappropriate to me; there is a reason Stephen King chose to end his novella the way he did and I don't think the director should have changed it.
That said, I imagine that watching it in black-and-white might make the movie a different sort of viewing experience. Perhaps even a better one.
Yeah, I figured you were. It's been awhile since I read The Mist so once I watch the movie I'll go back and revisit it. I hope the difference between the two endings isn't too absurd.
Um, well, I could tell you if the difference is absurd, but that might be considered a spoiler by some, so...
Yes, the difference between the endings is DEFINITELY absurd.
How did Stephen King end it? No matter what the ending, it couldn't have been worse than Darabont's. I never read the book after seeing the movie (unless the book is apparently MUCH better and not that related to the film), so it wouldn't be ruining anything for me.
I enjoyed the movie after the first half hour, and up until that (awful) ending, so any ending to me would be better than what was there.
Spoilers: I believe that the protagonist, the woman & child plus another character drive off into the mist and the narrator says something about hope, which is the exact opposite of what Darabont was going for.
That sounds much better to me. I felt empty and miserable after Darabont's ending, which made no sense to me. It was like listening to a classical piece go atonal in the last 6 bars. Not artistic, not interesting, just completely out of touch with everything that went before it. I don't hate tragedy (IE: Requiem for a Dream is one of my favorite movies), but in The Mist's case, it just felt tacked-on and silly.
And extremely inauthentic.
SPOILERS ABOUND! For those who have seen the movie (or don't care about being spoiled) only.
I'm sorry, but NO father in his right mind could murder his own child in cold blood unless an immediate and unbearably torturous death was at hand.
Also, what father would rather murder his own son (and a number of close acquaintances) in cold blood than stand up and fight to the death?