As with the previous film, what is exactly the Thing? Was it the maker of the saucer, or were the saucer's pilots its victims just like the humans in Antarctica? The latter was the director's original plan, but as it was ultimately excised from the film, we are left in the dark on this matter.
What was the Thing going to do with the ship? Did it want to fly to more populated planets/Earth zones to initiate an assimilating rampage? Did it want to return to its native planet? Was it going to return with more of its kind and invade Earth? Or did it just want to escape before the hostile humans managed to kill it?
Awesome Music: The score of the original film makes a welcome (and haunting) return at the end of the scene that ties the final knot between the two films. If you listen carefully, you'll also hear bits and pieces of remixes of Ennio Morricone's music.
Contested Sequel: Or prequel, in this case. On one hand, this film did critically better than the original, which was so wasted at its time that it was proposed as the most hated film of all time. On the other hand, while the latter ended up developing a cult following and a reconsideration as one of the best science fiction or horror films around, this film received criticism for leaning too much on the original.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Lars and Jonas are secondary characters without much Character Development, but are probably the most popular characters in the movie. This is due to how Jonas is an adorable Nice Guy played by Kristofer Hivju, while Lars bravely and competently fights multiple Things.
Fanon Discontinuity: There are those who prefer to see this as a standalone work rather than a prequel due to its continuity errors and prequel nature meaning fan favorite Lars died in the next movie.
Fetish Retardant: Juliette-Thing. When she reveals herself to be a Thing, her clothes gets torn off, with a large mouth with sharp teeth and tentacles growing out of her torso. When she's assimilating Karl, we get a shot of her head still intact leaning backwards and looking at the protagonists in a rather suggestive fashion. Given the Body Horror and Humanoid Abomination in play, it could hardly be considered sexy.
Harsher in Hindsight: The 2015 film Harbinger Down was created and advertised by Studio ADI to show off what they could do without the CGI they were forced to apply over their practical effects in this film. However, given that Harbinger Down was widely considered a Special Effects Failure in its own right, considered by some to be even worse than this film's CGI, it is hard not to feel ill feelings about it.
Homegrown Hero: In a polar research station filled with Norwegians, of course the sole American will be the hero.
Narm: When Sanders-thing swallows the explosive that kills it, the viewer hears this very cartoonish GULP sound effect.
Older Than They Think: Bordering on Ironic Echo, both this film and the original film didn't do very well at the box office. One article did the math and found out the new film's ticket sales on opening weekend were nearly identical to the number sold for the '82 film on its own opening weekend. (The new film ended up being significantly more frontloaded than the original, however.)
So Okay, It's Average: Even though Rotten Tomatoes was characteristically harsh with the film, most viewers and independent critics found it a mostly decent horror film if one hasn't watched the original or avoids comparing them both.
Detailed or not, it's very difficult not to be aware that you're looking at mid-budget CGI, which stands out especially in the wake of Rob Bottin's original effects, especially in regards to the lighting and rendering of said CGI. It's worth noting that every monster was actually filmed using practical effects (with the intention of mixing the two methods as necessary), but later everything was "painted over" in CGI. The effects company noted that the CGI was faithful to their actual designs, but disappointed their work was covered up.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Several reviews noted that the movie could have made good use of the lone American on a Norwegian base to heighten her sense of isolation and paranoia by having no idea what everyone else is saying most of the time, but this was not used.
Vindicated by History: Not to the same extent as the original film, of course, but now people tend to view this film more favorably than before despite some questionable CGI effects. The main reasons are the still present horror atmosphere, as well as providing at least some backstory for the Norwegian outpost and its infestation and giving viewers some good characters in Kate, Jonas and the much loved Lars.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The few practical effects we see are pretty stunning, and behind the scenes footage of the original pre-CGI-facelift effects are likewise impressive - to the point that you have to wonder why the higher ups thought it would have looked better with CGI.
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