The Fog




"The Fog" Review

Written by Scarlett

DISCLAIMER - Please remember that this review does not represent the opinions/viewpoints of everyone; it is the personal opinions of the reviewer only. Thank you.

The Fog was Tom Welling's first starring role in a film. While the movie overall could best be described as an average, mediocre horror film, Tom's presence onscreen showed promise as a leading man. Although the special effects were sometimes good, the script overall was lacking in character development, and the direction was uneven. Overall, I was not impressed with this remake of The Fog. However, if you are a Tom Welling fan, it's worth seeing the movie, just to see him onscreen. Tom is undoubtedly one of the most gorgeous and talented actors today. Hopefully, he will get a role that showcases his talent soon.

The Good

Tom Welling has an onscreen charisma that is hard to resist. His natural charm and boy-next-door personality draws viewers in, and makes us want to know more about him and his character. It's a shame that his character, Nick Castle, was not explored more in-depth. Nick's main role in this movie was to be the local hero, to save the ladies from the impending fog, and to even rescue Stevie's son too. Tom has had experience playing a hero, having played Clark Kent on Smallville for several years already, when this film was made.

However, viewers didn't really get to know Nick, beyond the fact that he owned and managed a charter boat business. We were told he was an eligible bachelor, and that he had relationships with both leading female characters, but neither relationship was really portrayed onscreen in a satisfactory manner.

Even though The Fog was not well-written, it still provided an opportunity for Tom to get some experience and to show that he is definitely leading man material. And, Tom did do the best he could, given the script. Tom gave a good performance, in spite of working on three projects (The Fog, Smallville, and Cheaper By The Dozen II) at the same time for part of the filming of this movie.

Nick Castle and Stevie Wayne: Selma Blair played DJ Stevie Wayne, the "voice" on the radio, which was heard throughout the film. Although Tom and Blair only shared one brief scene together, there was chemistry between these two actors. Unfortunately, there were not more scenes with just these two characters, and the relationship between Nick and Stevie was not really explored. The viewers were told there had been a relationship between them, but we were never shown that onscreen. Their relationship could have provided some much needed character development for both characters.

Special Effects: Some of the special effects, especially those that involved the swirling fog, were pretty good. There were several scenes where the characters appeared to be enveloped and "trapped" by the Fog, thus illustrating how difficult it was to escape from it. In this manner, it seemed as though Director Rupert Wainwright treated the Fog itself as one of the characters in the movie.

The Bad

Nick Castle and Elizabeth Williams: Even though Tom and Maggie Grace looked good together onscreen, there was little romantic chemistry between them. The shower scene could have been very sexy since wet Tom is always good! But Grace seemed almost afraid of Tom. In spite of this, Tom did his best to make the scene believable, and still managed to make his kisses hot and steamy. In fact, Grace appeared to be aloof and distracted for most of her scenes in the movie. It's difficult to cheer for the main romantic couple of a movie, when the female actor turns in a wooden performance.

Character Development/Script: The writing for this movie was mediocre. There was little in-depth character development, and some of the scenes seemed superfluous. The ending scene, with Elizabeth leaving with the supernatural beings seemed out of place and ridiculous. It also changed one of the motives for the violence from the supernatural beings, from revenge for past crimes, to a search for a lost love. Again, without more exploration of the Elizabeth character, this ending seemed to come out of "left field".

Directing: It seemed as though this movie was put together quickly, and with little to no regard to details. The direction seemed uneven, and seemed to lack clear leadership from the Director. The movie just didn't flow well. Of course, horror films are mostly intended to be an "escape", but to be entertaining, they need to be more interesting regarding the characters in the movie. If the audience doesn't relate to the characters, then they don't really care what happens to them.

My rating? I give The Fog 2.5 out of 5 stars. And, I give Tom's performance 4 out of 5 stars.

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