"The Mist" was ok....

[IndianaJones]

until the ending. Kinda ruined it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. I thought the ending was the best they could have done. *spoilers*

In the short story, they just keep driving and never find an end to the mist. It just ends there.

Incredibly haunting ending for a story. I don't think it would have translated well to film. So they needed a different ending.

I normally would have disliked the "gotcha" ending of the film. That said, the whole thing was an unsubtle allegory for current events, and the ending perfectly fits that allegory. A bunch of people die pointlessly, but nothing else really changes.

[IndianaJones]

2. There was a small glimmer of hope in the story...

I think it could have been written into the movie, although you may be right, and it may not have played well. I really didn't have that big a problem with what he felt he had to do, but what happened after that. It would have been more satisfying to end on him stumbling off into the mist...something along those lines.

I thought they did a good job with the rest of movie though.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. If it had ended like the story...

I think it would have come off like the movie "Limbo." Which was interesting in an art house film sense, but I think if they had done it in Mist it would come off as kind of conceited, I may not be explaining it well. If the "heroes" had all made it out, then it would have been cheesy, and you would have lost the 9-11/Bush/Iraq allegory. I'm not saying I like the ending, but I don't think I could think of a better one.

I do think they did a fine job with the rest of the pic. Particularly when it came to panic in the crowds. I don't mean the religious stuff, but the screaming. When they recovered the victim's corpse and the whole store screamed simultaneously... I think that's a realistic look at human behaviour, and not seen often in movies.

[IndianaJones]

4. I would like to see this director tackle The Long Walk....

perhaps more challenging than The Mist to bring to the screen, but if done right, I think it would make a great movie.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. That's a fantastic story.

But I worry about a translation.

King's prose, I think, is what makes it so exciting.

It's told from the thoughts of the protagonist.

You can't translate that literally to film. So if you did make a movie, you'd have to retell it from some other perspective, and that might not be nearly as interesting.

And then there's the ending to worry about.

But I think I read somewhere that it's in production.

Also the Dark Tower series, J. J. Abrams is supposed to direct. I loved the Gunslinger easter egg in the Mist movie. I wonder if it's a reference to the movie production.

[Aristus]

7. It's getting ready to go into production.

I'm really jazzed:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mist/news/1689450/

[SKKY]

6. Isn't that the case with 99% of King's books that get made into a movie?