The Thing

Most helpful review The Thing

• A Genuine Classic

   

  By jezfernandez (25 reviews) from Wantage , 03 Mar 2004

  [Highly rated reviewer]

  Set in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, 1982, John Carpenter brings us a genuine ?re-imagining? of Howard Hawkes? 1957 classic, ?The Thing From Another World?. The premise is the same - a group of scientists working at a remote outpost discover the frozen remains of the titular ?thing?, an alien creature which has been buried in the ice for 100,000 years. When the specimen is brought back to base, havoc ensues as it goes on a ravenous rampage.
  
  Yet here is where Carpenter takes an audacious detour, deftly abandoning Hawkes? Frankenstinian tall-man-in-a-suit, and employing the considerable talents of FX whiz-kid Rob Bottin. Gone is the lumbering bi-ped, shuffling down the corridors like some geriatric basketball player. In comes a shape-shifting terror which assimilates its host and imitates it to perfection, revealing its identity only when survival is threatened. It?s a bold move by Carpenter, extraordinarily executed through restrained performances from the cast and an eye-poppingly gruesome turn from the thing itself.
  
  The movie kicks off with a lone dog running franctically through the snow and into the US outpost, pursued relentlessly by a Norwegian helicopter. When the crew suddenly pull out a rifle and start shooting, the Yanks suddenly twig that all is not well. One misplaced grenade later and the Norwegians are history. So is any hope of an explanation. The US team take their own helicopter out to the Norwegians base, where a grim discovery is made?
  
  This is a movie about survival and perhaps works so well because the characters (all male) don?t suffer from stupidity syndrome. These are not nubile teenagers, butchered to death because they were daft enough to wander semi-naked into the basement unaccompanied. These are scientists, thrown into a terrifying scenario as they battle against an unseen intruder.
  
  Shot with a genuine sense of mounting claustrophobia and paranoia (the camera frequently weaves silently through empty corridors), Carpenter avoids the usual bag of horror cliches and instead allows the concept itself to chill. What if man is the warmest place to hide (as the tagline says) and the creature you?re most afraid of is impossible to find?
  
  Kurt Russell is well cast as the reluctant leader of the team, a man with little to lose and enough attitude to take this creature apart. He?s supported by a competent array of actors who play it straight and react believably to Rob Bottin?s mesmerisingly grotesque ?thing?. The level of imagination here is mind-blowing, particularly when the thing takes every conceivable step to preserve itself. Be prepared to catch your jaw when you get to the operating room scene ? it?s one of cinema?s finest.
  
  The Thing is a tremendous effort from a director who?s sadly gone the way of the dogs in recent years. Hailing from a pre-CGI era, the special effects are streets ahead of anything you will see today (sincerely) and the action cracks along at a relentless pace. A must-have addition to anyone DVD collection.

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