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[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Ollie Knows How To Use It Part II


Rant.

Saw the movie on opening day, a theater which is no longer in business - turned into a Wal-Mart Grocer. And died once again. I think it remains vacant to this day. Man, I saw so many flicks there.

Anyhow, had a poor experience.

A newbie was getting trained to use the register; didn't have a name tag yet. I remember; could not tell if that person was a he or a she (not joking, gender was a genuine mystery). Person was taking too long getting the customers their tickets.

Finally I get mine - rush to that particular screen, I missed all the trailers and the start of the film. When I got there they were discussing the smooched-up boathouse, post storm.

It gets better.

Projector wasn't calibrated. We were seeing the bottom and top of movie. Frackin' grand. I leave to the concession stand, tell them what's going on and rush back to my seat. We've missed at least the first five minutes.

Wouldn't see that opening until I bought the DVD on release day.

- - -

Ready for tall drinks and drama? Fan rage!

As mentioned earlier, the book's ending is different from the film. King purists are angry with the new conclusion - a true dark feature. I love it, by the way.

Let me make the case for David Drayton's final actions. More spoilers.

The plan was to leave the grocery store; David (Thomas Jane), Billy (Nathan Gamble), Amanda (Laurie Holden), Ollie Weeks (Toby Jones), Irene Reppler (Frances Sternhagen), Dan Miller (Jeffrey DeMunn), Myron (David Jensen), Ambros Cornell (Buck Taylor) and store manager Bud Brown (Robert Treveiler).

Ollie had bags of supplies, hidden under to the final register next to the doors; food and water.

Mrs. Carmody discovered their plan and took away their grocery bags. The confrontation happens and in the chaos the gang flees the store without ANY of their cache. It was a dash to get out, before the mob killed them.

They scramble to David's jeep, Ollie gets killed by a crab-like beast. Ambros and Myron fall to spiders. Bud returns to "The Food House". David manages to retrieve Amanda's now bloody gun and the gang drives off.



An early conceptual artwork of the spider-creature by Bernie Wrightson.

This was an ultra slow precession - WE DO NOT KNOW how many hours they drove; visibility looks at about ten feet, thick. Plus they had to avoid the critters all around them. Unlike the book, David manages to get home and find a dead Stephanie (Kelly Collins Lintz), hung outside the second story in a cocoon; she had been ravaged by the spider-creatures. Dead probably from when the mist first rolled in.

David nearly looses it, but does not because he doesn't want Billy to see his mom that way; asleep in Amanda's lap.

He drives on - away from the store and home (through the remnants of Maine); the group witnesses the behemoth crossing the highway. Once again, do not how how much time had elapsed before they ran out of gas. They sit for awhile and hear an unearthly noise, huge, coming their direction. No food, no fuel, out of luck.

Their thoughts go to Ollie's gun - four bullets, five of them.



This is where the arguments happens. 'Why did he do that!!!?' Lots of people are pissed.

It all comes down to what folks believe they would do in that no-win situation. Some call for prayer, others saying they would push forward - regardless of the jeopardy; not giving up. Or just continue to wait (for what?). Many call David a murder.

At this point in the movie, the occupants do not know where they are, it's far too dense to make anything out. They could be out in the sticks with zero shelter; easy prey for the things.

Siphon gas from a nearby car? It could take too long. Try to find another car? How? Unless they know how to hot wire one on, it's pointless. Worse yet a creature inside the vehicle or underneath. More of those baby spiders or something even more horrible - remember what happened to that MP (Amin Joseph) in pharmacy.

Lets make this clear. What we saw was only a tiny sampling of the ecology of that other universe/realm. Things that horrify, terrify, forever scare. Hell, we never saw what was attached to the undulating tentacles that killed the bag boy, Norm (Chris Owen a.ka. 'The Shermanator').



An example comes from a deleted scene, not filmed. Once the bird beastie comes inside the store there was another denizen that entered, a mammoth centipede. Imagine being torn apart by such a monster or worse (crawling into your screaming mouth). This got nixed when filmmakers wanted to the Irene bug spray gag inside pharmacy instead. She would've killed this predator with insecticide.

The original story had another nasty, a huge flying, kite like creature - it does not want to be your buddy.

The escapees could not know what was truly coming their way at the time, all based on their experiences; no help had come - our world invaded by nightmares. Why would they think that oncoming commotion/rumbling wasn't another thing to be feared. Hell, it could be another one of those giant crabs that killed Ollie. It could easily puncture the car like it was made of tin. They would become the food inside a can.

That's just the way it is. And at that point it was utterly hopeless. At least they got out of store, that plate glass was just about to come down, more sooner than later. It was already cracking. The folks there could already be dead - remember we do not know how much time had passed!

I see no fault with the new ending. And when you really think about it, that's the only real way it should finish. Even Stephen King admitted he would've gone with that if he had thought of it back in 1980 ("Dark Forces" anthology; later re-printed in "Skeleton Crew", 1985). That's high praise of the creator. *nods*

David's action was that of love. Back at the store, he solemnly swore to Billy, none of the monsters would get him. They will, this was only way to save him from a fate far worse than death and the rest of people in the car. Four bullets, five people; he opts not to use a bullet on himself. He got them into this mess. *click click click click*

David stays alive to meet the demon(s) in order to save the people he cared for. A true captain.

The definition of hero - selflessness.

Talking to a friend of mine about the ending, he gave a solution I hadn't thought about.

What David should've done is have Billy on his lap, his head next to dad's belly. Put the barrel on the kid's temple; pull the trigger. The bullet would immediately kill his son and go into his stomach - dying slowly, fading away. He would be alive for awhile as he bleed to death; then shoots the others. Maybe the logistic isn't too defined, but it would've done the trick.

- - -

"The Mist" reminds me of 1970s Hollywood.



This was a time when films were made that followed their courses. Punches weren't pulled - you're not guaranteed a happy ending. The good guys don't always win and if they do it's not a clear victory. "The French Connection" (1971 engrossing flick) is a good exemplification - you won and LOST at the same time. Audiences today have gotten so spoiled that every film must have an upbeat conclusion. AND that the villain gets redeemed. Why? Grow up, that's not real life.

While fiction, it is rooted in reality ("The Mist"). What would happen if such a disastrous debacle occurred? This is a good slice of horror cake.

Call me a pessimist, but the events feel too real. At one of my local Wal-Marts (we have two), there was this fellow I call "Preacher Guy". I would see him regularly in the parking lot; talking about how we need to surrender to God to be saved - often just talking to the air.

This is a man who would be Carmody, if it happened at that store. I have very little doubt about that. Harsh? Yes, but true. Don't roll your eyes. Fear is the enemy of reason and it wins far too often - you don't have to look too far in history to see violent examples.

A nice touch was killing the music for most of the end credits. Silence with some audio; the military convoy rolling and flying by - so messed up.

No, I'm going back...

The Sylvester Stallone movie, "Driven" (2001); pure fluff feature, but I hate the ending. They made the bad guy - okay at the end. NO! The man was a bastard, why change him? 'Oh you!'

No, frack him. And that should've been an R rated flick, not PG-13.

- - -

The other woe is the antagonist, Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden). 'The film has a very negative portrayal of Christians'. Not true, she's a fanatic who up until now had been ignored. Don't confused militant beliefs with general God loving Christians. This is an atheist writing this.



Now I DO see a valid argument - the predominate use of Christians as zealots in media. But as the saying goes - America Is A Christian Nation. So, that kind of portrait is like complaining that films about slavery always feature Blacks.