
The Thing (1982) Directed by John Carpenter
I prefer the original. There. But that being said, I really think this is an excellent re-envisioning of three fine horror/suspense movies: Howard Hawk's original The Thing; the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and, to a less obvious extent, Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, a murder mystery about ten suspects, their number slowly shrinking, on an isolated island. The movie combines the first two mentioned films seamlessly--they're DNA melding together much more successfully than the gory attempts between human, dog and alien that occur in the actual movie. I forgot how 80's movies really got in to gore in a big way--and this one is right at the head of the class. That's enjoyable, but I was most impressed by Carpenter's direction. He did several things that I really liked:
1) The pace of the movie is never rushed. Carpenter provides some long tracking shots that remind us of the isolation and danger of the setting and also create just the right atmosphere for a movie about increasing paranoia in confined indoor setting. Freedom isn't just outside the door--a freezing death is the only thing that awaits the characters. But that doesn't make shelter feel safe, only more compromised.
2) Except for right at the end, Carpenter hardly uses music at all in this movie to hype the emotions. He lets the plot and the images do all the work and I think that is praiseworthy, even a little brave. There are a couple of times he uses a kind of drum sequence of double heart beats, but the rest of the time he relies on his ability as a story teller. Once I noticed this, I was amazed by some of the scenes in which he chose not to use music because I am so used to other director's taking that easy short cut. If a director's scenes can't do their job without music, then they probably aren't all that great to begin with. Major kudos for Carpenter for this.
3) Kurt Russell: The Thing was the second of five movies in which Carpenter and Russell collaborated and it seems like a perfect match. Russell is the guy you wanted to hate in high school because he was so good looking, terrific in all sports and always got the girl. But you couldn't because he was just too damn likable anyway. He and Carpenter always seem exactly on the same page. Carpenter's giving Russell a sombrero to wear when he is piloting helicopters is such a shrewd move--helping establishing Russell's streak of quirky independence but at the cost of almost no actual screen time. Russell gives a no muss and no fuss performance that is consistent and enjoyable right down to the final scene, a great ending in my book.
4) A good script--I mean we are not talking Edward Albee or Sam Shepherd here, but the script is perfect for what it does. We have interesting, mostly believable characters with intelligent, occasionally funny things to say. The script allows for even the eventual cannon fodder to do a good job of disguising the fact that they are cannon fodder. This seems like science fiction for adults, not for some scraggly ass kid living in his parents' basement. (Apologies to all scraggly-ass types--no offense intended)
All in all, a very fun ride.