"John Carpenter's The Thing" DVD Review (4/5) -Jeremiah

I hate it when aliens have the unmitigated audacity to crash land on our planet and attempt to mimic our form. It's just a pet peeve of mine. Concurrently, I love it when people like Kurt Russell make it their mission to a) Snoop out who the counterfeit person is, b) Eradicate the hell out of them and c.) Do their damndest to stop the single-minded shape shifting baneful aliens from conquering our little space-rock.

Which is why "John Carpenter's The Thing" is, I believe, his best work. It has all the typical Carpenter ingredients, but in rare form. While the plot is still the Carpenter-esque recipe of a band of friends stranded in an isolated location forced to deal with an unabated evil, he managed to put together a top-notch ensemble cast.

With a dozen essential parts, he does a precise job of framing and coordinating his actors. His pacing is in rare form as well. We move at a leisurely pace, not zooming heedlessly through the movie, as another director would be prone to do. Instead, Carpenter is more interested in the psychological aspect of the story. "Are you you, or am I me?" Alliances form, are questioned and disintegrate. It's high-quality suspense.

He is assisted in this effort by his phenomenal cast: MacReady (Kurt Russell), Dr. Blair (Wilford Brimley), Childs (Keith David), Gary (Donald Moffat), Norris (Charles Hallahan), Clark (Richard Masur), and Copper (Richard Dysart). There are some others, and their work is fine as well, it's just that I had to stop. It was becoming too much like a grocery list.

The actors rise to the occasion, particularly Brimley and Moffat. Russell is reliable as usual, as he brings his rugged demeanor and all the same Russellness that we love him for. Brimley and Moffat, however, seem to be playing a different game. Their eyes betray certain anxieties and fears before the alien even shows up. Their performances impressed me the most. Masur manages to have the most haunting eyes of the cast, though. A sort of forlorn longing that peers out of Carpenter's shadow in a way that's just a touch disturbing.

This may be Russell's best performance, sans “Death Proof.” From the first moment we meet MacReady, we're on his side. What makes his performance so good here? It could be his natural charisma, his swagger or his full and manly beard.

I'm guessing it's how he wields a flame thrower.

Also, few things are as fun as watching Wilford Brimley coming unhinged and swinging an ax at large control panels. Russell's beard and Brimleys raging insanity alone are practically worth the price of the DVD.

The film balances itself perfectly with gore, dialogue, music and plain old anticipatory tension. Sometimes the special effects are so good they are in danger of stealing the show, but Carpenter manages to offset this problem with the story. The movie is, in fact, not a re-make of the Howard Hawk's original -- although Carpenter does pay some homage to it. It's based on the story “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell, Jr. Which is a sort of hodge-podge of an Agatha Christie/sci-fi story.

What the movie shows us is Carpenter, the master of low-budget film making, is at his best when he has a budget. It's weird; it's like it completely disproves everything I've talked about.

Long story short, “The Thing” is a great movie. Sure to have you guessing and jumping at the same time.

4/5 Stars

Yours Until Hell Freezes Over,

Jeremiah