MovieChat Forums > The Mist (2017) Discussion > Better than it's being given credit for

Better than it's being given credit for

posted 7 years ago by PrimeMinisterX (8291)
10 replies | jump to latest

I mean, I don't love it. I don't think it's great. But I do think that it's good, or at least good enough for me to keep tuning in every week, and it's better than a lot of people are giving it credit for.

I think the acting is pretty solid. Some of the players are better than others, but overall, I think these guys are doing a pretty good job.

I think the story is intriguing enough, and the character interactions are interesting enough, that I want to see where they go. Will the main dude and his wife get their marriage on track? Will the daughter and that dude who allegedly raped her get their shit worked out? Will the preacher end up losing his faith or find it strengthened through these events? I'm interested in finding out.

And sure, the effects are not great--I'd say they're uneven, some work pretty well while others do not--but it is a Spike series and not HBO, so I'm willing to give them some allowances for what I suspect to be a fairly low budget for the series.

All in all, I'd give the show a 7/10. The fact that I keep watching is a testament to the writing, because there are plenty of shows that I have started in the past and ended up abandoning two or three eps in because the story just didn't hold my interest.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

the first positive review/opinion I have heard

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8291) 7 years ago

That might be because it seems like for many people movies and shows are either 10s or 2s. It's either great or it's shit. Nothing in between.

I don't think The Mist is great, but it's written in a way that has held my interest and has kept me tuning in for 44 minutes each week, which is more than I can say for a lot of shows.

[–] sayan (11) 7 years ago

That's true. The show feels cheap, the acting is not great, I roll my eyes sometimes, but I kinda like it, and it keeps me entertained. I remind myself to watch the show every week, even though I have posted some negative thoughts on this site.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8291) 7 years ago

Kind of like I said in my last post, it seems like some people treat shows as either 10s or 2s, with little middle ground for a show to just be "pretty good" or "okay" or "flawed, but with some interesting ideas."

And when people start piling on to a show, sometimes it's hard to stem that tide.

There has pretty much been NO positivity about the show on here so I figured I'd be that lone voice in the wilderness.

[–] Sandoz (2021) 7 years ago

No, it's really not (better than people have been saying).

I watched the first 4 episodes, and I was keeping an open mind... But this show is boring: we get about 1 minute of genuine horror per episode, and the rest is just a bunch of unlikeable characters jabbering at each other .

When I began fast-forwarding through scenes of characters yakking to each other and hoping something interesting would happen (you know, something scary, or at least trying to be scary--not a bunch of bugs that kept swarming on people), then I knew it was time to give up on this show.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8291) 7 years ago

I would argue that you're missing the thrust of the show.

It's not REALLY about the mist or the horror. It's really about the human drama in the midst of a conflict. It's about the way that stressful situations bring what is buried deep down within people to do the surface and they have to deal with it.

If that's not interesting enough to you because you don't care about the characters, then fair enough, but personally I am interested in seeing how everyone's stories will play out.

[–] Mrjjj (2) 7 years ago

The show isn't unwatchable, but I think around episode 5 is when I decided I'd rather do quite a few other things. What I mean to say is that whatever was compelling me to continue watching the show fell away in episode 5, and I don't even remember what specifically caused me to turn it off. I think it was just a culmination of bad dialogue and character direction. I think the only character I mildly cared to see more about was the "Bryan Hunt" character. That said I figure I pretty much know where that is going.

It's not a show I would rate as 2 or anything, although I think the rating it has on IMDB of 5.3 isn't far off where I would place it. It's something I'd continue to watch if a friend of mine had it on a hard drive and we were at the cottage, and it was raining outside and we had no internet, and we already played monopoly, and my phone's battery was low and I didn't have my charger with me and wanted the phone to last the whole weekend.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8291) 7 years ago

I think that episodes 7, 8 and 10 were the best of the series, so of course I'd argue that you quit too early. But then again, if by ep 5 you just weren't into it then maybe it wouldn't have mattered.

I gave the season a 7.5/10. While it could be argued cartain other shows I was watching around the same time--like, say, The Handmaid's Tale--are more well-made, The Mist ended up being more interesting to me in the long run.

[–] Mrjjj (2) 7 years ago

I can see what would appeal in this to some people, there are definitely worse things to watch. But I think some of the points you made in your initial post touch on why I won't like it even if I keep watching. I started watching this mainly because I was interested in the sci-fi aspect and how they were going to portray it in a series. I think the more I watched the more I realized it was going to be more an afterthought, and on top of that I didn't really like any of the characters..

Character driven shows where I don't like any of the characters very much usually don't keep me around. For example I really like Sense8 even though the plot can get a bit silly sometimes because I like a good number of the characters. This show just didn't grab me in either aspect.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8291) 7 years ago

Indeed. Well as a closing thought, if--and I do think that's a big if--they get to do an S2 then it might have more of those sci-fi elements you were looking for as they explore the military's Arrowhead project.