jlandry-154-934678
Joined Sep 2011
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jlandry-154-934678's rating
First off, I will have to make a disclaimer: I love the 1982 John Carpenter's "The Thing". That being said, this review will try to be fair. Hopefully.
First off, "The Thing" is a prequel. I always have a fascination of prequels because they have a unique approach to writing in that the events must lead up logically to a movie already made rather than taking the idea of the first movie and going in different directions with it. This creates a lot of confinement and there have been some really cool prequels that, even in this confinement, still feel fresh and take whatever franchise into a new direction (case in point, From Dusk Til Dawn 3). So already, this movie has both a reputation to live up to (the 1982 movie is very highly regarded by John Carpenter fans, horror fans and even fans of good drama and story telling) and adding in the fact that the writers must somehow lead up to the original movie is a tough task to undertake. Overall, it was a valiant effort...but missed the mark.
The entire concept of the monster of this movie is that it dissolves any sort of trust between people. When these people are in a confined location like Antarctica, it becomes a boiler room situation with wills being tested, fears being escalated and the overall sense of any safety even with someone you've known for a while completely in chaos. I feel that this Thing movie missed that sense of despair, confinement and overall breakdown of the relationships between colleagues and comrades and even enemies when a shape shifting impostor is thrown into the mix. This is made blatantly evident when over half the characters don't seem worthy of care by the audience. Most have no personality to connect to, and the sheer number of characters just makes it worse to get to know these people. So when they start dropping like flies, one really doesn't care a whole lot.
And really, that's the fundamental flaw with the movie and why the whole thing feels forced. The pacing wasn't as deliberately slow, the whodunnit aspect didn't feel properly in place, and finally...and again, this criticism is as a fan of the original movie...why on earth did the thing not try to hide more than it did? At one point, it seemed like the movie shifted gears into a simple monster movie with *insert beastly monster* just running around killing which was completely uncharacteristic of the original movie where the thing, even when found out, would try to make an escape to hide again...
So in all, as a standalone movie, it wasn't bad at all. It was a nice return to gory disgusting things that go bump in the dark. But as a prequel, it missed the mark I think the film makers were trying to hit. John Carpenter laid out a very specific and deliberate tone to the original movie that this one just couldn't seem to figure out how to replicate...no blood test needed to find this impostor.
First off, "The Thing" is a prequel. I always have a fascination of prequels because they have a unique approach to writing in that the events must lead up logically to a movie already made rather than taking the idea of the first movie and going in different directions with it. This creates a lot of confinement and there have been some really cool prequels that, even in this confinement, still feel fresh and take whatever franchise into a new direction (case in point, From Dusk Til Dawn 3). So already, this movie has both a reputation to live up to (the 1982 movie is very highly regarded by John Carpenter fans, horror fans and even fans of good drama and story telling) and adding in the fact that the writers must somehow lead up to the original movie is a tough task to undertake. Overall, it was a valiant effort...but missed the mark.
The entire concept of the monster of this movie is that it dissolves any sort of trust between people. When these people are in a confined location like Antarctica, it becomes a boiler room situation with wills being tested, fears being escalated and the overall sense of any safety even with someone you've known for a while completely in chaos. I feel that this Thing movie missed that sense of despair, confinement and overall breakdown of the relationships between colleagues and comrades and even enemies when a shape shifting impostor is thrown into the mix. This is made blatantly evident when over half the characters don't seem worthy of care by the audience. Most have no personality to connect to, and the sheer number of characters just makes it worse to get to know these people. So when they start dropping like flies, one really doesn't care a whole lot.
And really, that's the fundamental flaw with the movie and why the whole thing feels forced. The pacing wasn't as deliberately slow, the whodunnit aspect didn't feel properly in place, and finally...and again, this criticism is as a fan of the original movie...why on earth did the thing not try to hide more than it did? At one point, it seemed like the movie shifted gears into a simple monster movie with *insert beastly monster* just running around killing which was completely uncharacteristic of the original movie where the thing, even when found out, would try to make an escape to hide again...
So in all, as a standalone movie, it wasn't bad at all. It was a nice return to gory disgusting things that go bump in the dark. But as a prequel, it missed the mark I think the film makers were trying to hit. John Carpenter laid out a very specific and deliberate tone to the original movie that this one just couldn't seem to figure out how to replicate...no blood test needed to find this impostor.
I just saw 50/50 on a whim having seen one trailer (which I will talk down about in a moment) and liking Seth Rogan in pretty much anything I've seen him in. I wasn't prepared to be fighting the movie as it tried to yank tears out of my eye ducts, mostly because of the trailer.
Now granted, I kind of dismissed the trailer a bit. Again, I saw Seth Rogan doing his usual funny comments on and coming up with plans that backfire but the gist of the trailer made it seem like two desperate friends come up with a scheme to get women. My guess based on the trailer was that sooner or later, the secret would come out that no one was suffering from cancer. Yeah, thanks a lot, trailer. That's TWICE you've completely misrepresented movies in a span of a month (Drive being the other).
So to the actual movie, it centers around a young guy who seems to pride himself on being healthy, doing the right thing (we see him in the opening credits wait for a crosswalk to turn green even while someone else just crosses the street anyway because no cars are coming) due in no small part to an over concerned mother who seems to be overbearing but with good intentions. But even living healthy cannot stop the emergence of a rare cancer in his spine.
While the movie was very heartfelt (again, tear-jerking galore from the middle to the end of the movie), it was also very funny. Seth Rogan provided the goof-ball comic relief while Anna Kendrick and Levitt's interactions as first timers on both sides of the psychologist and patient relationship provide at time hilarious interactions as both deal with reality. Angelica Huston was very convincing as the too-much- concerned-with-everything mother who wants very badly to help but keeps offering it in ways Levitt doesn't want.
Overall, it was very fun in the scenes where Seth and Joseph dueling with the cancer and insincere girlfriends. One of my favorite scenes involves Seth Rogan's reaction to learning of Levitt's girlfriend's secret and how he lets him know. Very funny stuff.
If you're looking for a goof-ball comedy, don't let the trailers fool you. This is more or less on the same lines as movies like Knocked Up, but with much more emphasis on the drama side of things as cancer and death are a lot more serious issues to deal with as a human than being an unexpected parent. In all, a good rounded flick and one to watch and actually take something from when you leave the theater.
8/10
Now granted, I kind of dismissed the trailer a bit. Again, I saw Seth Rogan doing his usual funny comments on and coming up with plans that backfire but the gist of the trailer made it seem like two desperate friends come up with a scheme to get women. My guess based on the trailer was that sooner or later, the secret would come out that no one was suffering from cancer. Yeah, thanks a lot, trailer. That's TWICE you've completely misrepresented movies in a span of a month (Drive being the other).
So to the actual movie, it centers around a young guy who seems to pride himself on being healthy, doing the right thing (we see him in the opening credits wait for a crosswalk to turn green even while someone else just crosses the street anyway because no cars are coming) due in no small part to an over concerned mother who seems to be overbearing but with good intentions. But even living healthy cannot stop the emergence of a rare cancer in his spine.
While the movie was very heartfelt (again, tear-jerking galore from the middle to the end of the movie), it was also very funny. Seth Rogan provided the goof-ball comic relief while Anna Kendrick and Levitt's interactions as first timers on both sides of the psychologist and patient relationship provide at time hilarious interactions as both deal with reality. Angelica Huston was very convincing as the too-much- concerned-with-everything mother who wants very badly to help but keeps offering it in ways Levitt doesn't want.
Overall, it was very fun in the scenes where Seth and Joseph dueling with the cancer and insincere girlfriends. One of my favorite scenes involves Seth Rogan's reaction to learning of Levitt's girlfriend's secret and how he lets him know. Very funny stuff.
If you're looking for a goof-ball comedy, don't let the trailers fool you. This is more or less on the same lines as movies like Knocked Up, but with much more emphasis on the drama side of things as cancer and death are a lot more serious issues to deal with as a human than being an unexpected parent. In all, a good rounded flick and one to watch and actually take something from when you leave the theater.
8/10
