Quick Reviews!!

Rating: 10/10 (22 February 2005)

Carpenter does it again with his remake of The Thing from Another World, but does the unthinkable by making it superior to the original. Extremely atmospheric, excellent effects which to this day have not been beaten, scary, thought provoking and ambiguous, good characters, great story all make The Thing one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever made.
Out in the arctic are a crew of men, working for months at their outpost. With little contact with the outside world, little entertainment and the same 10 or so faces every day, life can become monotonous. One day a helicopter appears, shooting at a dog on the ground. The 'copter lands, and the pilot shots one of the outpost crew, who is in turn shot and killed. The other pilot accidentally blows himself and the Helicopter apart. The dog is taken inside the camp, and the men decide to investigate. They realise that an alien spaceship was uncovered, and that a being which can reproduce itself many times by killing its host and making an exact copy has invaded their base. it could be anyone of them, or two, or 3...and soon the men are falling to pieces, not trusting anyone. A test is worked out to decide who is real, and who isn't, leading to a final confrontation.
A brilliant idea, flawlessly executed, The Thing is one of those films which can be repeatedly watched without becoming boring, and we can find new things each time we watch. Some brilliant dialogue in the typical vein of Carpenter, spoken by typical Carpenter characters, and a haunting score all add to the atmosphere. We do not know who is what or what is who, but it never becomes complicated. Our paranoia grows, the isolation soon affects us as it does the characters, and we do not know what to expect next. The effects are, quite simply amazing- the arms being bitten off, the digs changing, heads turning into spiders, they are insanely innovative and work wonderfully. Russell as Mac is a strong leader, but only because he wants to get out alive, and if that isn't a possibility, then he won't let the thing get out either. The whole world would be screwed if that happened. As the rest of the cast are good actors, but hardly established names, this adds to the mystery. Palmer is funny, Childs is volatile, Blair loses it quickly, each man has their own traits, but the thing knows this.
The ending has gone down as a classic cliffhanger, another classic Carpenter trademark- we must imagine what will happen to any surviving character, the story is over but we will always want to know more. We wonder if the thing is dead or not, if it is how will anyone get out, if it isn't, what does the future hold. Carpenter was at his prime here, and when he is, no-one is better.
10 out of 10