POLL: The Mist's ending, good or bad?

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by DjMethod

But it's the extremity of the decision that emboldens that specific change in character. Sure nobody saw it coming, but that's precisely why it's flawed. It just does not fit in the movie, which is why it ruined it for me.

I see it as he remains the strong heroic one. Only 4 bullets. He volunteered to do the deed (hard thing to do) and be the one to face the critters.

The man will suffer from inescapable guilt and emotional pain for the rest of his life, after doing what he and the others thought was the right choice.

I'm not happy that he will suffer, but I thought it was an ending that made no apologies... in other words, it didnt lay down to please the studio.

[Q?]

btw you shouldn't be sorry of your opinion and it is not unpopular Jhigggy.

This is only hypothetical! please keep that in mind.
If I was in that situation and everything looked bleak with no sign of a positive way out, it'd rather shoot my kid in the head than let my kid suffer the most grueling and horrible death.
But I'd definitely make sure that he did not know what were to come and make sure that all options were tried first.

But I don't think anybody of us (me included) would know what we would do, in a situation as bleak as theirs.

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I THINK, but I'm not sure, the director attempted to convey that the boy was shot while sleeping.

see, now that's another thing that made this movie so unpleasant to me--
he woke up and saw his father-- he was not asleep-- the scene would not have been so horrible if he had been asleep-- but he looked up to see the 1 person he would trust more than anybody else (and not understand what was going on because he had been asleep).... and then....

yow- that was worded poorly after reading it but you get my point!

[jhiggy23]

ha...i was more joking than anything about the apology, i think this is actually good conversation. While I don't like the ending, and don't have enough time to elaborate on the whole "faith" angle now, I think the ending is successful. Why? Because even now, people are discussing its merits and talking about it.

[Lepidopterous]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I see it as he remains the strong heroic one. Only 4 bullets. He volunteered to do the deed (hard thing to do) and be the one to face the critters.

The man will suffer from inescapable guilt and emotional pain for the rest of his life, after doing what he and the others thought was the right choice.

I'm not happy that he will suffer, but I thought it was an ending that made no apologies... in other words, it didnt lay down to please the studio.

I see your point, but I cannot bring myself to appreciate it given the damage it did to the story. And unfortunately, not giving in to conventions is irrelevant to how badly an ending impacts it's preceding developments, both logically and thematically (as jhiggy pointed out). Running out of gas is a very weak excuse to be held as the last string of hope. It does not justify the turn of events to leave the viewer satisfied. That's imho.

Thanks for the debate Q and Squid. I'm off to study then watch the SuperBowl.

[Q?]

This has been fun
Thanks likewise..

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by DjMethod

I see your point, but I cannot bring myself to appreciate it given the damage it did to the story. And unfortunately, not giving in to conventions is irrelevant to how badly an ending impacts it's preceding developments, both logically and thematically (as jhiggy pointed out). Running out of gas is a very weak excuse to be held as the last string of hope. It does not justify the turn of events to leave the viewer satisfied. That's imho.

Thanks for the debate Q and Squid. I'm off to study then watch the SuperBowl.

Enjoy the game.

[GORT]

Originally Posted by Q!

Well ok then

But let's think for a moment that the military or the US army (or whatever) did not come to help and you're stuck, while everybody is 100 % vulnerable with no weapons, just "survived" a "bleak fest" and all hope is lost.
Would you rather everybody die a horrible and painful death or a quick one?

The point is Never give up hope. I would rather go down fighting than just give up.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by DjMethod

I see your point, but I cannot bring myself to appreciate it given the damage it did to the story. And unfortunately, not giving in to conventions is irrelevant to how badly an ending impacts it's preceding developments, both logically and thematically (as jhiggy pointed out). Running out of gas is a very weak excuse to be held as the last string of hope. It does not justify the turn of events to leave the viewer satisfied. That's imho.

Thanks for the debate Q and Squid. I'm off to study then watch the SuperBowl.

I know you're not online but...

[Show spoiler]After everything they had been through prior to running out of gas to then be trapped in a car surrounded by the mist, and seeing the 50-60 foot whatever that was walk over them and knowing what else was out in the mist what hope did they have? They had used an entire tank of gas and seen no one else. They had no reason to expect a rescue. No reason for the thought to even cross their mind. I guess the director could have drawn it out and shown them sitting for days with no food or water, slowly going mad as their organs shut down and finally came to the conclusion that no rescue was coming, but I don't think it would have changed the impact of the decision one way or the other.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by GORT

The point is Never give up hope. I would rather go down fighting than just give up.

With four bullets? Wouldn't be much of a fight.

[Q?]

Originally Posted by GORT

The point is Never give up hope. I would rather go down fighting than just give up.

But he had a son that would not be able to defend himself, if he was killed his son would be f'ed.

[KubrickFan]

Indeed.

[Show spoiler]His son said to him 'please, don't let the monsters get me.' He doesn't. They also said that they were pretty much dead when they were still in the supermarket. But they'd rather die trying to get out of there, or rather in a car with an empty gas tank than within the supermarket.

I think it's a great ending. You don't expect it at all, but it's not contrived.
The only thing that bothers me a little bit is the overacting Thomas Jane does outside his car, but that's the only negative thing I can think of.

[Michael1989]

I thought it was great, but a bit depressing too. It did fit in with the film though I thought.

[vegeta88]

As I've stated in I don't know how many other posts, I think The Mist has one of the best endings of any movie I have ever seen. The promise he made to his son, the last shot of the son opening his eyes , and Thomas Jane's acting right after the deed is just amazing IMO. And then we see that it was the wrong move to make, very tragic.

The movie itself is pretty good but the ending makes it awesome.

[Q?]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

Indeed.

[Show spoiler]His son said to him 'please, don't let the monsters get me.' He doesn't. They also said that they were pretty much dead when they were still in the supermarket. But they'd rather die trying to get out of there, or rather in a car with an empty gas tank than within the supermarket.

I think it's a great ending. You don't expect it at all, but it's not contrived.
The only thing that bothers me a little bit is the overacting Thomas Jane does outside his car, but that's the only negative thing I can think of.

He just shot his son and realised it wasn't necessary after all, he acted right in my opinion.

[SillyMammo]

I thought the ending was very powerful. The only thing that kind of bugged me was that the surviving group seemed to give up all hope very quickly (after driving through a tank of gas).

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by Q!

He just shot his son and realised it wasn't necessary after all, he acted right in my opinion.

Oh, I can fully understand why he acted the way he did, it just was a bit awkward. It looked like he was acting, instead of going through it.

[ChadFL]

I'd say fantastic. It was one of those rare endings that left me in complete shock.

[Tcan21]

i liked the ending that Darabont wrote and filmed for the movie

[Fighter]

Beautiful ending