I want to give Frank Darabont the benefit of the doubt, because if nothing else he's a pretty good director in terms of making things look nice and evoking emotions and shit.  Honestly, though, he doesn't really seem like an IDEA person to me.  Three of his four major movies have been based on Stephen King books, so I kind of get the feeling that he's more about just putting a book on the big screen and not about injecting his own ideas and interpretations into it (unlike, say, Stanley Kubrick, who's movies are all based on books but they are still HIS MOVIES as opposed to the author's book as a movie, if that makes any sense).  So quite frankly I probably am "wrong" about this movie in the sense that Darabont probably didn't have this in mind when he was making it.

That said, I'm the type of person who thinks that there's no such thing as an incorrect interpretation of a movie (unless the interpretation is absolutely ridiculous like saying a movie where a dude gets his hair cut is about SEXUAL DOMINANCE hey guy maybe andy warhol's just a boring douche).  Quite frankly I think directors should be more like David Lynch (isn't it funny how I manage to bring him up in every topic ever) or Stanley Kubrick who usually refuse to reveal their intentions with their movies and instead let them speak for themselves.  I remember reading about American Psycho the other day and the director said something like "a lot of people think the murders were just in Patrick's mind but they all actually happened" which I think is mad gay because she was basically saying NOPE SORRY YOUR INTERPRETATION WAS WRONG and fuck that because the idea that the murders were in his head was much more interesting anyway.   

edit: yeah i know i said STEEL YOU ARE WRONG ABOUT THE MIST'S ENDING but when i say "there's no such thing as an incorrect interpretation of a movie" i really mean "shut up i'm right about everything"

don't forget that you said that there is 0% chance that the actions of Carmody are just luck. That sounds like a fact to me rather than an interpetation.

don't forget that you said that there is 0% chance that the actions of Carmody are just luck. That sounds like a fact to me rather than an interpetation.

this is called nitpicking

shut up im right about everything

I totally agree about shit being left open to any interpretation (yours is wrong). That is really dumb about American Psycho, what a dumb director.

it's based on a book. So guess the author should have the final say. The director interpreted the book, made a movie and told everyone who took it a different way that they were wrong. brilliant. But it could still be valid as long as the author doesn't say the same shit.

I enjoyed the ending because MASSIVE TRAGIC IRONY but also I had just seen I Am Legend the week before or something.

I Am Legend Ending: Neville encounters a Hispanic woman who believes humanity survived the infection in Vermont because GOD TOLD HER. Blah blah protect the Latina and her son, scary vampirezombies etc. Neville's last stand, sacrifices himself so she and her son will live. Then they go to Vermont. HAPPY END HUMANS 2 INFECTED 1. Can we write a great movie where humanity doesn't win?

Now, I liked where the Mist's ending was going. I was really pushing for the Mist creatures to dominate earth or whathaveyou. Granted that didn't happen, and I got the AMERICA FUCK YEAH ending instead, BUT the whole shooting everyone else in the car thing almost made up for it.

The titanic creature that shook the car as it walked literally awed me into silence.

I rather enjoyed The Mist. But for some wierd reason, I thought The Punisher was putting on a fake American accent. I had to keep reminding myself that he is actually the American Christopher Lambert. Maybe he just has a funny voice... I dunno.

I almost turned it off about half way through though, 'cause I thought it was coming across as a generic horror movie. Then the whole religious thing kicked in and things got good. Although, it was a bit unrealistic how some religious looney could brainwash a bunch of people in about two days, but then I've never been trapped in a shop under attck from killer mist before so what do I know?

As for the whole "Is Carmody a prophet/psychic?" argument, naw, I think it was just coincidence.

i'm not completely sure i even understand what steel dislikes about it so much.

okay well let's ignore the better endings (one of which I just came up with after hearing the end of the movie) and the horrible fact of the woman returning from the beginning (a chilling moment in the book reduced to kind of HEH...LOOK HOW GAY YOU ARE).

even if you ignore all this, I think the problem extends into actual plot.

Drayton has just escaped a grocery store full of religious nutjobs, his friend has died, his wife is probably dead. I don't know what he would promise his son, but previous to this, it's all been about surviving with his son alive with him. he's not going to leave him. so why shoot him in the head? maybe the movie did a good job of illustrating this but for some reason I don't think "don't let the monsters get me" means SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD IF THINGS LOOK HOPELESS PAPPAP. it doesn't ring honest to me; he's not going to go outside and try and desperately see if he can find a building up ahead? shift that sucker into neutral and run? fuck, wrap his kid in garbage bags and hurl him like a football towards a building? SO MANY DUMB IDEAS but none of them involve killing your own son.

so lets assume okay, it's hopeless for some odd reason, no one thought to gas up or switch cars or anything like that in this journey, they just avoided all these buildings even though the gas light is blinking, all this gets thrown out, it looks hopeless.

why in FUCK would Drayton shoot everyone ELSE in the car? they didn't say DADDY SHOT ME PLZ : ) they are just along for the ride! it's not a very good thing to do at all.

as a result I don't get the feeling the ending is so much tragic as it is kind of HILARIOUS. he shoots everyone for no reason OH GOD NO HE REALLY DID SHOOT EVERYONE FOR NO REASON NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *screams at sky*

maybe the movie drew this better than I'm thinking it did (still ain't seen it) but I just don't see it. the tragedy strikes me as just a little ridiculously over the top. heh...he killed his family and friends...for nothing lol!

imagine if Oedipus gouged out his eyes and ran screaming blind out of the castle only to be stopped by his real mom saying "FINALLY I FOUND YOU" and he screams "noooooooo i thought i fucked you argh"

It was really dangerous to go outside for even a minute. So changing cars would be super dangerous...Also, In Drayton's defense, he took out the gun and everyone in the car gave the nod of 'it's the only thing left to do'. The reason he shot them, becuase in the situation it was pretty clear that the monsters were going to ravage them in a horrible painful way. Better to go quickly than have you insides eaten out whilst you're still allive. It just sucks that if he had have waited a little longer they were would have been fine.

In fact this is the underlining theme of the story. Everyone thought they were doing the right thing, but in the end they turned out to be wrong.

The woman at the begining who they thought she was an idiot to leave the building is on the truck at the end safe and alive with her kids.

Drayton who thought that they had to make a run for it caused a few people to die. In fact, the people who stayed in the store were probably rescued.

And of course finally Drayton trying to do the right thing by ending all their lives painlessly went tits up.

Drayton is kind of like the cliche character were controls everything etc, but ends up being wrong in a lot of situations, which is quite chilling

honestly i think it is just TOO CONVENIENT that he killed everybody like two seconds before the mist cleared.  i dont know man that would just be kinda gay.

He didn't kill them all without consent apart from his son who'd just woken up. I don't know, they'd just shown that massive hellbeast walking along and I kind of thought SHIT that's big, the mist must be over the whole world, everyone's dead. It was still surprising when he did shot them (I thought he was going to say "no... life's too precious" or something as gay) but it seemed reasonable enough.

edit: I didn't notice the woman who left the shop early on but if I had I'd have thought it was mad gay

I don't think, that however bad it got I would ever shoot my son/self/friends. I don't think anyone would just give up like that. At least not in that way. Not to mention that he had been driving along with a full tank of petrol, I AM PRETTY SURE nobody is going to try and charge him if he just stopped to fill up for a minute and yeah it is dangerous to get out even for a minute but just WIND THE WINDOW DOWN, FILL UP AND GO which is what was so hilarious about the whole thing. He just gave up and shot his own son and the only way I can feel good about that is if Roman is right and the kid had to die for it to all end. If it was just a fact of BANG DIE SON I HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE TIME IN DEATH... OH WAIT HEH STUPID ME IF I HAD JUST WAITED ONE MORE MINUTE EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN COOL OR IF WE HAD JUST GOT OUT AND TRIED TO WALK IT OUT HEH STUPID ME OH WELL then it's just too tragically hilariously kind of stupid and that doesn't rest well with me refer to my original post.

yeah that's pretty much the gist of it. if the movie added another 30 minutes to it, you see him and the rest deciding to go on a highway to hartford, he runs out of gas, they are all getting tired and sick and ill and hungry, maybe then buuuuuuuuut...

He tried to shoot himself but then realised he didn't have enough bullets. Obviously he planned to kill himself aswell.

if only that one dude hadn't killed mrs. carmody

what a shame

i think

hahaha, well that's a perspective I didn't consider ever!