Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

First of all it’s a Kurt Russell movie, always a good thing. Secondly, it’s tremendously assured, crisply created by a master movie craftsman. Last but not least, it portrays a classic grim-trigger game, where a dozen marooned guys have to kill one comrade after another upon determining that the Thing has taken over a body.

Intense intrigue comes from guessing how many survive the gauntlet. One, two, three, six? None? More than a little gallows humor leavens the toll.

A horror movie that even non-horror fans can appreciate, The Thing probably deserves the Perfect that Massie and others awarded it. My Great carries a grain of salt, coming as it does from a non-horror fan.

This Thing is the real thing.

Acting - Great 4.0

Kurt Russell makes a bitchin’ action star. Solid, capable, decent – he’s a guy you want to get behind even as he evinces no need to lead.

• Wilford Brimley appears sans the droopy mustache he wore in Cocoon three years later.
• Keith David gives any cast a dose of serious manliness.
• Richard Dysart appears here some four years before L.A. Law made him a big TV star.
• Richard Masur is just an interesting guy, kinda geeky but not a pushover.
• Donald Moffat has played more than his share of authority figures, here as the camp commander who’s willing to shoot a man when necessary.

Film - Really Great 4.5

John Carpenter masterfully presents alien action and human intrigue in his Thing.

Edge - Sordid 2.9

There is a monster on the loose, so the violence rating could have gone up to Monstrous but I chose not to because of the grim humor of the goings-on.

Reality - Supernatural 3.1

The circoreality is a bit of a hoot when you consider that the crew of an Antarctic outpost never questions the appearance of the Thing, almost like they expected it to arrive. Glib.

The supernatural Physio and Bio reality are par for the course, with Conservation of Energy enthusiastically ignored.

1 Comment

• Wick Sep 25, 2011 1:12AM

  Regarding Wick’s Review
  Now in two weeks we see if the new Thing can hang with the real Thing.

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