MovieChat Forums > The Mist (2007) Discussion > The ending, for myself...

The ending, for myself...

posted 8 years ago by darkshadow851
12 replies | jump to latest

... was absolutely awesome. I realize the topic of this movie's ending has been beaten to death at this point, but I just felt like making a celebratory topic to change the pace a bit.

Personally I thought it was go great because, honestly, I found it very realistic. It's SO insanely easy for people to sit on a forum and tell what they would do in this situation, how they would fight to the end because it's easy to picture ourselves as some unstoppable warrior-like figure from a movie. The reality though is people don't function like that. At all.. And even those that do, there's always a point when you have to realize that it's over, when logic tells you the end is here.

Try to really think of it from their perspective. How many of you have seen (actually SEEN, not an internet video) of someone being ripped apart? Been in that situation? Now imagine several of those. With strange creatures that are impossible to even exist on this planet.

With that imagery, now imagine finding someone right before their body rips open with baby giant spiders as they scream... Frankly, I can't even begin to put together the sheet horror one would experience at witnessing these things because I've never come close to anything so awful. Not to mention the insanity of the people in the store.

Now imagine your wife/husband, or whatever form of significant other suffering this fate. Because don't forget, he found his wife in this same position... an egg host being eaten from inside by baby spiders. Again, I can't even wrap my mind around what kind of anguish I would be feeling, it's too much to fathom. A horror beyond anything this world would ever be able to present.

And after much driving, all the way until the tank is empty, there's still no sign of escape from the mist. No end in sight. Now with no mobility, they're an open target and a horrible death is coming. But as they've already seen, it isn't going to be quick or easy. Any loving father would do what he did to spare his son that fate.

So I guess my gripe is, again, with people who say it was weak and they would fight to the end. The ENTIRE movie establishes there really isn't much for fighting. There's avoidance, but ultimately if you're caught out in the mist, you are absolutely sure to die. For what they had been through, and where they were, it was perfectly logical to assume it was the end. Just turns out, it wasn't...

Anyhow, I guess this is a bit of a rambling. But as I sat here watching the movie again (have watched it several times, a large part BECAUSE I enjoy the ending so much), just thought I would check the forums to see if everyone is STILL complaining about the ending. Felt like voicing my perspective, and maybe provide a thread for others who actually liked it to speak up too. :)

[–] debunkerboy 8 years ago

Opinion is divided, darkshadow. I dunno, maybe 50/50, love it/ hate it - it's funny that way - kind of white dress/blue dress the way different people fall into one camp or the other. So don't fret over being in the minority or anything. The ending has been well defended here.

Your defense is pretty much what others say, about being all too easy to drive the Land Cruiser from the safety of your own living room. As a hater myself (sorry to hijack your celebratory thread) I'm unmoved.

My main issue (which you fail to even consider) is the framing of their predicament - the way they appear to just passively drive the car out of gas - where was the effort to find more gas, another car, or shelter? It all feels rushed, contrived, our group of fighters just suddenly arrive at hopelessness, as if replaced by a whole different set of impostors, and all to set us up for the big twist. It doesn't help to beg us to try to imagine what, in the abstract, someone would do stuck in the middle of nowhere with the monsters still about. It just didn't sit right IN CONTEXT that it went down like it did and it had to go down that way for Darabont to force in this rather facile shock and twist. That's why it irks so much, the way he cheats to get his big, ironic twist. We feel the basic direction of their character is reversed, that our vicarious investment has been mistreated, and if you have to ask us to try to feel differently I think you won't get anywhere. We already tried. You can't revise your feelings. The writer/director has to create that feeling and he failed. If he made their decision seem believable then he probably loses his shock and his message - that's why it was dirty cheat.

[–] darkshadow851 8 years ago

Well, that's where we would have to agree to disagree. Where you think to failed completely, I think he perfectly succeeded. That was kind of my point in the first post. I saw it as being totally reasonable and fitting, given the context.

[–] therefdotcom 8 years ago

the thing is that at the point where they drive the car, after all they have been through and with all their have seen, it was their last stroke of hope was gone at that point. for all they know, the whole world is already inhabited by the creatures, ergo no search for more gas or another vehicle. in their mind, which is pretty understandable, it was all over, which makes the irony of the ending even more bitter. still the best ending in horror film history.

[–] JaneParker 8 years ago

I just wacthed it for the first time and I absolutely agree with you. The moment I saw the mutant spiders I thought to myself "there's no escaping this". There were so many! And to add to all the other creatures we had seen before. And that was before they even showed the HUGE, gigantic creature stomping around like it owned the planet.

I thought the suicides were a very realistic choice. There was no escape in sight and I too would prefer to die on my own terms. It's easier to fight at first, when you're full of adrenaline and in survival mode. After a while and after seeing so many die you're just tired and hopeless. It's easy to be a superhero behind a screen, no doubt.

But man, was that ending cruel or what? I kind of saw it coming but I was hoping I was wrong.

And on some small level, I think you owe me something for deceiving me so exquisitely.

[–] moondawg_32304 8 years ago

I would've waited till an immediate threat was posed before opting for suicide. They fought tooth and nail to survive to just give up. Like the responder said they still had other options to pursue before suicide. I realize waiting could've opened them up to the grizzly fate they hoped to avoid but they still had a ways to go before the end.

[–] therefdotcom 8 years ago

they fought with a larger group, in a confined space against an unknown threat. once they saw the actual size of the attackers, there was no hope left.

[–] Cameo87 8 years ago

I agree. I would've been with them right up until that truck ran out of gas and I'd be the first to volunteer to get shot. I'd rather a quick bullet to the head rather than suffer in the way some of those people did. Such a brilliant ending and the most realistic part of the entire movie.

[–] sprmtp 8 years ago

imo this one of those endings that cannot be forgotten. rather than taking the safe route and choosing a focus-group and test-audience approved happy ending, they went full night of the living dead/the wickerman and decided to drop something so disturbing we cannot forget it.

i love it!

[–] tenantennae 8 years ago

It needed a better build up, imo. They didn't seem that tired, scared or hopeless. The mood wasn't that dire. "Whelp, we're outta gas! Better kill ourselves." It didn't feel genuine. Good idea for an ending, just didn't care for the execution (no pun intended).

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[–] herbf-07855 8 years ago

The problem IMO is that it's hard to believe that they see NO sign of tanks or troops or anything while driving, then, just AFTER he shoots them the troops appear (and from BEHIND). You would think that if there was a battle going on they would have had SOME inkling of it as they made their way down the highway.

Now IF in fact there was no one potentially coming to save them then I am OK with the shootings. You can fight as long as you don't know how hopeless the situation actually is, but once you lose all hope then, given how mentally and physical exhausted you've become, suicide is the reasonable choice. But it just seems contrived and self-serving to show no evidence of troops until just after he shoots them all.

[–] tenantennae 8 years ago

The timing is certainly convenient, but I think they didn't see anyone because the convoy is coming from the military base where the mist began (since the mist is receding behind it, implying they sealed off the portal) while the characters have been slowly poking along trying to get as far from there as possible. That was my take on it, at least.

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[–] daggo22 8 years ago

It just seemed out of character and hurried, 1 minute they are fighting to survive throughout the whole ordeal then the next minute when they are actually safe because for some odd reason the creatures don't bother to attack them inside the vehicle, choose to off themselves, it just didn't make sense, and also they should have been able to hear those convoy of vehicles 20 meters away. they should have been put in an immediate danger before doing that. I actually never laughed so hard at the ending it was funnier than a comedy movie.