The Mist - Movie Review (+ "Torchwood - Children Of Earth" Review)

[philosoraptor42]

I was very happily surprised to find out how good this was. It seemed to have some pretty lacklustre reviews with a lot of people focussing on the shocking ending. To be honest, I'd have been more shocked if I wasn't expecting a shocking ending. I actually found the movie very engaging from start to finish. Maybe it helps that I wasn't looking for a scare-fest and so I found this intelligent "is this the end of the world?" movie to be highly satisfying. It has some very well developed characters and it even passes the Bechdel Test (something which the first half of Vicky Cristina Barcelona - and most likely the second half too - entirely failed to do, despite passing the first requirement by virtue of the title and therefore inevitably passing the second).

The movie begins with a fairly typical trip to the shops, however as a mysterious thick mist moves in, things start getting interesting. Someone runs out of the mist insisting that something in the mist attacked them. As one might imagine, there's lots of scepticism about how much danger could be lurking in some mist, but rather than going "what fools they were to doubt" there is always a particular reason for the scepticism with some people having rather better reasons than others. Within the movie some rather interesting ideas develop regarding reason, scepticism, faith and human nature.

There's also some rather excellent CGI in the movie.

Thrilling from beginnging to end. Check it out!

5/5

(The following review includes a short summary of the endings of the four Doctor Who series, each one written by Russell T. Davies. Spoiler tags are made as clear as possible and the relevant section is placed after the main body of the review and my rating for this TV series. You have been warned. As always there will be as little in the way of spoilers for the programme I am actually reviewing as possible.)

I wasn't expecting too much from this since, heck, it's Torchwood for goodness sake. However, I'd say that this was far better than most of the new series of Doctor Who (never mind the horrendous episodes of Torchwood I've been unlucky enough to watch). The quality is right up there with the Doctor Who episode 'Blink'. While the first announcement that an alien is involved is the very creepy sight of millions of children all chanting "We Are Coming", this initially seemed a little overly reminiscent of the Christmas special of Doctor Who which introduced us to David Tennant. This Torchwood alien also sends a message contacting the government, so there was an initial worry that was a recycled story. That said, even from the beginning the aliens seem rather more sinister and it very quickly becomes obvious that this is going to be a rather more chilling storyline. By the end of the second episode, I'd stopped making comparisons to Doctor Who entirely and when The Doctor gets mentioned at the beginning of episode five it caught me entirely by surprise.

After the first disc, which features the first three out of the five episodes, I was still a little concerned. The plot had been fantastic and I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was coming next, but I also knew that Russell T. Davies had written the last episode. Russell T. Davies has a horredous track record of using Deus Ex Machina to finish off a series. (I give examples at the end of the review. Obviously don't read that bit if you don't want the endings of all four series of the new Doctor Who spoiled for you.) I was very happily surprised to find that the ending did not feel like it was pulled out of a hat like at the end of each Doctor Who series. That said, in the featurette on the DVD Russell T. Davies reveals that he had originally intended a different ending, but was told not to be so soft. Thank goodness for that!

And certainly if there's one thing this series isn't, it's soft. There's no airy fairy fantasy here and any technology seems reasonably down-to-earth here. Even though we have come to expect alien invasion scenarios in both Doctor Who and Torchwood the tension never feels forced. Interestingly, the story is particularly effective since, while the threat from the aliens is always in the background, the most pressing issues tend to involve the actions of human beings. This story actually becomes political in ways that Doctor Who could never dream of. I find it remarkable to be talking this way about a programme which, in its previous series, I'd always found unintentionally hilarious, but this is a gripping piece of science fiction drama which explores real life issues in a compelling way. There, I've said it.

As you might imagine, I've not really been following Torchwood. I've seen a few episodes from series one and absolutely nothing from series two. Nevertheless, there's very little you really need to know in advance. There are three members of Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness is backed up by Gwen Cooper, a quirky ex-policewoman and Ianto Jones, who seems to have relatively recently become Captain Jack's major love interest. The only other thing you need to know is that, due to an event in the finale of the first season of Doctor Who, Captain Jack Harkness is immortal. This fact is exploited in some rather interesting ways during this five-parter which I'll leave you to find out for yourself.

Passes the Bechdel Test too BTW.

5/5

*SPOILERS for DOCTOR WHO*
So, without further ado, here are the various Deus Ex Machina endings from the various Doctor Who series. Damn you Russell T. Davies!

Series One - It randomly turns out that you can take the essence of the Tardis into yourself and become God-like, however this also potentially kills you. Rose is able to kill all the daleks with her God-like powers and also bring Jack Harkness back to life (incidentally making him immortal). Thankfully The Doctor is able to take the essence of the Tardis out of her and die instead of her thus allowing him to change into David Tennant. Handy, eh? Problem is, it's all a little TOO handy.

Series Two - This seems to follow a bit more logic. Daleks and Cybermen have both just come from a kind of void/portal thing. It turns out that this leaves some residual energy which allows them to be sucked into the void. The problem is that both The Doctor and Rose have also been through the portal and yet while they seem able to prevent themselves from being sucked in by tying themselves down, Daleks and Cybermen who are on the other side of a wall (and a wall seems like a better option than a rope) seem to simply come flying into the void without a hitch. Still, at least this ending didn't feel like a complete break with what we'd seen so far, even if the resolution did feel a little bit too easy.

Series Three - After a fantastic first part to the two parter, the ending to the series made everything which came beforehand completely pointless. It turns out that The Doctor becomes super powerful and able to fly if enough people think about him and believe in him all at the same time. Wtf?

Series Four - Not only does The Doctor's hand turn into a full-scale second doctor, but Donna also becomes half-Doctor. Never mind how any of this works since none of the rest of the plot ties together properly anyway.
*SPOILERS for DOCTOR WHO END HERE*