The Thing

One of the key elements about the failure of a prequel is that the director of said film never bothers to watch the original. Key plot points are changed, elements that made the original become repeated and overused in the prequels and then there is the overwhelming sense that sequels of the prequels will follow and the whole franchise will be changed. Xmen taught us that.

With The Thing, I am happy to say this did not happen. Though the movie was in no way better than the original, they did try. Plot points were fluid and the main theme from the original was maintained within this newer film. At the end there was a clear connection made with the original and it all ended on the same down, somber note, that the original did AKA the good guy might not have won.

The only problem I have with the film on a whole is the CGI. Again directors and special effects artists passed up a chance to actually shine and went for the cheaper, less real, animation. In The Thing, the thing wasn't very impressive, didn't look real in any shape form or fashion, and the bigger the effect was, the worse it became. In the end, the director lost the feel for fake blood, prosthetic heads, and goop vomiting monsters, and followed in the foot steps of every other horror movie director and went with what was easy. Bummer, this could have been a much better film if the time were taken to give it the sense or realism that horror movies lack nowadays.

Good plot, bad effects,
Just my thoughts

J.