The Thing

"The Thing"

A totally unnecessary "prequel" to John Carpenter's vastly superior remake of the original '50's Sci-fi classic. There is nothing here to excite an audience. The acting is minimal and logic has been totally thrown out the window. We're told it winter in Antarctica and yet the days are fairly long and people walk around outside dressed like it's + 30 degrees rather than - 30 degrees.

The creature effects are fair but will fail to shock anyone and shape changing plot line never reaches the level of suspense in the John Carpenter version. The direction is horror movie 101 with quick edits, false jumps, and tight close-ups. I will give some credit to the film score which does it's best to create a suspenseful mood.

The entire cast is relatively unknown, a mix of Americans and Norwegians. The female lead, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is no "Sigourney Weaver" action hero but she does try her best. A good deal of the film has Norwegian dialogue with English subtitles which is a complete distraction.

This film didn't need to be made and doesn't need to be seen.