EddieVIP

3

There are films that are so good that, due to the emotional response you receive as a viewer, you never forget the first time you experience them.

The Thing is one of those films!

As a 15 year old, watching The Thing on a rented (may have been a bootleg) VCR tape in 1984 was a sublime, awe-inspiring and mind-blowing affair. The edge of the seat drama, the melodic soundtrack and, oh my, the special effects! Effects so good, so well done, I had to watch and then watch again just to take them all in.

It really is hard to describe the joy I experienced that day. I felt like I had watched something that would change my life. The adrenaline I had pumping through my system by the end was amazing.

I didn't know it at the time, I didn't really understand it, but I had just watched a film where all the people working on it were at the top of their game. I tip my hat to them all.

I wouldn't mind the race swaps, as long as there's a decent storyline. Sadly there isn't. After 8 episodes it seems the whole point of this series is to belittle, as much as possible, the original.

What made the original so good (or bad in some ways) was the fact there was a mystery to solve, one which had red herrings and different possible solutions. Yes, it was played for laughs and aimed at a younger audience but that didn't detract from the mystery (too much). Of course, this balance between silliness and mystery completely broke once Scrappy-Doo was introduced and it went all down hill from there.

Given that this is, from the start, aimed at a mature audience makes the failure of this show even more tragic. Can you imagine what a correctly balanced mature comedic Scooby-Doo series could be like? A decent mystery, adult yet fun relationships between the main caricatures, scary horror filled sequences and above all a story of 5 "friends" looking to right the wrongs of bad people. The movies failed, this series has failed; it's depressing that a fantastic childhood memory has been taken this low and completely shat on.

Went to see this in the cinema on Boxing Day. A mistake. So bad that I walked out during the "whaling" scene. I loved the first movie, this one not so much.

I really enjoyed this movie. I watched it at 2am and could easily have fallen asleep but the pacing of the movie was great, the story was satisfying and it wasn't until it finished that I realised it had been over 2 and a half hours long.

Do I like MCU films, yes, but I found Shang-Chi to be a one watch wonder whereas I can see me watching this multiple times and looking forward to both the sequel and follow on films that it sets up within phases 4 & 5.

1st & 2nd seasons were wonderful! 3rd season went completely woke, but luckily the 4th season has pulled back from the woke based storylines and are now similar to seasons 1 & 2 and much much better for it!