Film Friday: The Mist (2007) Movie Review

Title: The Mist
Genre: Horror
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Written by: Frank Darabont
Starring:
Thomas Jane
Marcia Gay Harden
Laurie Holden
Andre Braugher
Release Date: November 21st, 2007
Rating: 2.5/5

WMZCZZZ7PQF3

Since I wrote a review of The Mist on Monday, I want to primarily talk about the differences between the book and movie.

My main problem with the movie is its need to be...well...cinematic. By that I mean that elements of the novel are translated into film language, to its detriment I think. One thing is the need to A. have the 'jump at you' scares and B. show off the creatures. To address the first complaint, earlier on before you see the creatures, it is more terrifying than when you do because you mind fills in the blanks and creates something far worse than the designers can create. (this is in no way to harp on Berni Wrightson's designs which are, as with all his work, awesome.) But they resort instead to have them jump out of the fog at the audience for cheap thrills rather than creating an atmospheric horror movie like The Thing.

This goes into the next part: showing off the monsters. Part of the terror is not seeing The Thing or the alien in Alien, but knowing it could appear at any moment, to keep you on the edge of your seat. In The Mist  they are all over the place and, as such, when they do attack it is less terrifying and has less of an impact on the audience. In most horror movies, less is more is often a plus, and I feel they could have had less of the monsters with more of an impact.

The ending. I don't want to ruin either the book or movie, but lets just say the movie was extremely maudlin and heavy handed with its ending. I prefer the book's ending myself.

However, what is most important is the characters and their interactions and I think the movie is fairly successful in this regard. Much like the book, the film is very visceral with its characters and you either like the characters or hate them (you only have to look at youtube comments on the trailer to see this). Despite this, I can't get past the ending. I am in the middle of the road on this movie, I like parts, don't like others. So, if you are intrigued by the book, or the trailer, watching the movie adaptation certainly won't hurt.

Book Review: The Island of Dr. Moreau

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
Release Date: 1896
Publisher: Heinemann, Stone & Kimball
Audience: Everyone
Pages: 209
Read the Book: Project Gutenberg ; Kindle
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 4.5/5








I suppose H.G. Wells has done more to incite my interest both in Anthropology and English than any other author to date. The Island of Dr. Moreau was no different, as it explored the possibilities of science and evolution much like his creation of the Morlocs and Eloi in The Time Machine. Relatively straightforward plot, The Island of Dr. Moreau follows Prendick (thank you for a name this time around Wells), a bourgeoisie victim of a shipwreck who lands on, as the title implies, an island run by a man calling himself Dr. Moreau.  The main brunt of the story follows Prendick as he slowly uncovers the truth of the island, dicussions with Dr. Moreau over what makes one 'human' and, eventually his attempts to escape the island as things turn for the worse.

If you have only seen one, or more, of the movie adaptations, I strongly suggest reading the book as the themes presented in the movies and the themes explored in the book are, while similar, more questioning, ambiguous, and deeper than those presented in the movies, especially the 1996 version, which I think went for shock value more than anything else. What is especially interesting to me is the moments where Prendick is in the village of the beast-men and encounters the Sayer of the Law, and Prendicks own thoughts on the blurring of man and beast and his own place within that spectrum.

Now, I don't want to ruin anything, but where the movies end, the book does not, and the book takes the plot in an interesting direction though, in the case of Wells, less is more. Further, we get a bit of an epilogue with Prendick back in England with the now tired claim that 'men are just animals in suits, etc, etc' but, understandably, was fresher in 1896.

The Island of Dr. Moreau is a shorter book for those on the go and a compelling read. If you have only seen the movies, or, more likely, the 1996 version, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. The movies don't do Wells justice.

Short Story: The Birthmark

The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Release Date: March 1843
Publisher: The Pioneer
Audience: Everyone
Pages: 19
Read the Story Here: The Birthmark
Story Rating: 3.5/5







What was it with the 19th century and mad scientists bent upon the perfection of the human body? We had perhaps the most famous of all mad scientists-Dr. Frankenstein-create a monster in search of bodily perfection, and now we have Aylmer who, believing that the birthmark upon his wife's face represents the imperfections of nature, sets out to remove it using the technology of man.

Hawthorne, not one to skimp on symbolism in his tales (See "Young Goodman Brown") also packs a lot of symbolism into the three main characters: Aylmer (our resident mad scientist), Georgiana (his wife), and Aminadab (Aylmer's assistant). Further, how these characters are described, what they say, how they play off one another and, ultimately, their fate in the story have lead to multiple modes of interpretation and analysis of this story.

However, that aside, this short story is a good read insofar as watching Aylmer's descent from loving husband to almost brute dictator over his wife in his attempts to remove the birthmark and the extremes he will go to to remove it, proving man's superiority over nature. Much like Dr. Frankenstein, what starts out as an attempt towards perfection soon turns the opposite way and the bright future envisioned by Aylmer becomes dark indeed.

I recommend a read, I mean, its only 19 pages and if you have a little time between stops, this is a good short story to check out. If you are interested in something less digital, Hawthorne did publish this short story in Mosses from an Old Manse in 1846 and the collection also includes "Young Goodman Brown", another excellent short story from Hawthorne. Check it out on Amazon.

Film Friday - The Surrogates Review

Title: The Surrogates

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Directed by: Jonathan Mostow
Written by:
Michael Ferris,
John Brancato
Starring:
Bruce Willis,
Radha Mitchell,
Rosamund Pike,
Ving Rhames
Release Date: September 25, 2009

Rating 2.5/5

The Surrogates is an idea that had potential, but was left in the lurch when executed. The basic story is that humans, through fear of personal harm or death stay inside while their robotic counterparts-surrogates-take their place in the real world driving, at their job, parties, etc, etc. However, a sect of the population are against the concept of surrogates and a cyber-terrorist develops a program that fries a surrogate on site, with the side-effect of killing the person operating it via. computer programs.

Bruce Willis, a cop, investigates the string of murders that leads him throughout the city through high society and the camps where the anti-surrogate humans live. However, his character's surrogate is destroyed and he must face the world merely human after years of living as a surrogate. Bruce Willis must find the terrorist and stop him from frying the entire mainframe-and all the humans wired into it.

While trying not to sound pretentious, the movie just felt conventional. I really didn't see anything new as far as tropes and plot points go: corrupt upper class, corrupt rebels, main character with one foot in two worlds and having to decide which to stay in, conglomerate majority, scattered minority, etc. That, and the exploring of this new world doesn't show anything that hasn't been seen before (beauty and body are easily sculpted, you can do all sorts of crazy things with your robot body) and nothing more than that is really explored. However, I feel that the makeup/CGI for the surrogates in the film is very successful in that they look human, but are not. The film succeeds in placing the surrogates in the uncanny valley for the viewer.

Also, it feels like many of the characters were phoned in. It seems that Bruce Willis was there for the paycheck. Yes, I understand they are robots and 'expression' should be dulled and all that, but all the acting seemed tired. I would say that the main 'point' the movie was trying to get across (that living vicariously through electronics and the Internet destroys what is human inside of us) is represented in the rocky marriage between Willis's character and his wife. However, this isn't really explored enough I feel to make the audience care about the characters or the negative effected the surrogates have on their marraige and society at large.

That, I feel, is the main failing of the movie. It fails on every account to make me care for the main characters, those in charge, the rebels, and the man who created the system. The only person I felt sorry for was the I.T. guy who got held hostage. And for a tertiary character to be the only one the viewer cares whether they live or die is a bad indicator that the relationship between the characters is flawed to begin with, or the actors fail to accurately portray the characters. I still think its on netflix instant streaming so, if you are bored and want to burn a couple hours watching a dystopic film, The Surrogates has its moments amidst the blandness, but those are few and far between. It's like a bowl of lucky charms with only a couple marshmallows.