Why So Blu?

The Thing (Movie Review)

Let’s face it; every movie idea has been done. So what does that leave? Remakes….and prequels. Case in point: The Thing (Strike Entertainment). While it leads one to believe it’s a remake, it in actuality is a prequel to the John Carpenter film of the same name.  We all know that John Carpenter’s The Thing is utter perfection, so how would the new “prequel” compare to Carpenter’s film?  Be careful who you trust, because not everyone is who they appear to be…  

 

 

 

In 1951, The Thing From Another World became a film adaptation of the 1938 novella Who Goes There? By John W Campbell, Jr. In 1982, John Carpenter remade the film under the title The Thing. A scientific horror film about a parasitic extraterrestrial lifeform that assimilates other organisms and takes their form.  Which leads to The Thing (2011) telling us the story of how all of that came about.

The movie begins with a paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) being recruited by Sander Halversen (Ulrich Thomsen), a Norwegian scientist to travel to Antarctica and unearth a frozen corpse of an alien creature.  After arriving at camp and securing the frozen block of ice in the back of the base, the crew decides it’s a good time to partay! While the crew is busy living it up – drinking beer, playing pool and just plain having fun, the ice melts and all hell breaks loose! The frozen block of ice thaws just enough for the not quite dead creature to escape and wreak havoc on the little station and its 16 crew members.

The creature itself was very hard to distinguish with so much action going on and not a lot of actual face time and the movement made it impossible to really witness what The Thing was actually doing. Aside from a time or two that you could clearly see it attacking its victims, it was indiscernible. When you could see the alien, it was very obviously computer generated and not at all scary. Down right funny at times.

Kate Lloyd has only one expression and that seems to be surprise and breathlessness combined. I, personally, as a woman would have screamed, cried and basically acted hysterical at least an iota of the time this thing was coming after me. I don’t think I would have the cojones to gather myself together and take charge like her.

My personal favorite was Lars (Jorgen Langhelle), he made the movie for me, as bad as it was, and he was at least a very likable character. As for the rest of the crew, forgettable and definitely did not feel any emotions when one of them bit the dust.

Since all of my review has not been favorable up until this point, I will not disappoint you fans that actually enjoyed the movie….I had one favorite part:  The pilot asks one of the new crew to please tell him how the Cavaliers are doing. Shout out to Cleveland!

Having seen John Carpenter’s The Thing many years ago, but still remembering enjoying it very much, what a disappointment this film was. Maybe I am biased, I love Kurt Russell, but even if they had a big name in this movie, it could not be saved.

Okay, so my take on this film? The graphics were cheesy, the acting emotionless and the few laughs were not enough to make anyone pay for this movie in the theater, on demand, or even from the Redbox.

 

Final Thoughts