Overly dark remake of classic 1951 sci-fi thriller

Rating: 4/10 (23 December 2000)

We know that John Carpenter revers the original "Thing," directed by Howard Hawks back in 1951. For one thing, he's said so but it's also playing on the TV the kids are watching in Carpenter's original "Halloween." Too bad Carpenter was unduly influenced by Ridley Scott's "Alien" because this film's tone comes off a shade heavier than the atmosphere on Jupiter.
A good cast is generally wasted in a treatment spoiled by Carpenter's penchant for excessive violence. Maybe we've got a creature with mind-numbing power and a real threat to the human race but there's no dramatic build-up, no interplay between characters, absolutely no humor--in other words, a good time is had by none.
Would have liked to have seen a story unfold like the original instead of the steady series of blows to the gut that Carpenter delivers. He had all the pieces here--U.S. Antarctic post finds Norwegian camp destroyed near their discovery of a spaceship in the ice. Thing terrorizes US camp. But, whoa, we go into horror overdrive and everything goes downhill. Should do it again and get it right.