The Thing (2011)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Kate Lloyd, a paleontologist who is called to an Antarctic research base to study the remains of an alien, that was found metres away from a 100,000 year old wreckage of a space ship.   

So okay, I’m a massive fan of Carpenter’s The Thing, and to hear they were going to make a film about the Norwegian camp was surprising. I felt like it was a story that didn’t really need telling, I wanted the mystery and horror to be left to the imagination but alas here we are and I’m met with mixed feelings. 

Too keep it simple I’ll say it like this. 1. The score. So okay it wasn’t as bad as it could have been but it was very generic. It didn’t stand out like it’s 1982 sister film although whenever the Dum Dum did appear it was great to hear. (especially at the end.)

2. The cast were okay too. No one really stood out or made you care for them, all you really wanted to see was the alien nail these people. Well, Mary Elizabeth Winstead was good as the lead but she is no Kurt Russell.

3. The Thing itself seemed to be a completely different character too how we saw it in the ‘82 film. It was very fast and seemed to go against the rules set by Carpenter’s creature which was a major issue because of how this film was trying to marry itself to the 80’s classic. Don’t change the rules man! 

A side from those points it did have some great sequences including the filling test scene, the tense kitchen scene with split face and the ending that literally leads into the ‘82 film.

A box standard monster movie that feels nothing like it’s…sequel…I guess…pfft! Whatever. Isn’t it ironic how this film tries to imitate Carpenter’s version of the Who Goes There? story just like the Thing! Wheey! Oh two more things: this needed a lot more blood and shouldn’t have had the exact same name.  

P.S My short review of the 1982 masterpiece The Thing: 

http://allaboutfilm.tumblr.com/post/113318071/the-thing-1982-renowned-as-probably-the