many Things wrong...

Rating: Null/10 (7 June 2004)

Wow. Of the near 400 reviews on IMDB, I'm only one of about four or five who didn't go for this. Sure the effects are mind-blowing and the score's pretty good, but so much more was needed. Start with the pace. In between some pretty good scares and gore, are painful lulls that drag forever. The set-up is intrigueing, but then goes on too long. Later it's far too much talking that does the film in, "Is it you or you or you or...". An unidentified "thing" happens upon an unidentified research team to inexplicably devour them from within. Tack on one of the biggest loose ends in film history, and you've got a plethora of annoying unanswered questions. And of course this is better than the original. That film came out in 1951, far from the advances of Rob Bottin's awesome transformation effects. But that's all this has going for it, and that's not enough to recommend this Thing.