Review of The Thing (2011) by Gimly M — 09 Mar 2015

2011's The Thing is a misleadingly named prequel to John Carpenter's horror film of the same name (which was itself a remake of the 1951 film "The Thing from Another World" by Christian Nyby [Which was itself a film adaptation of the book "Who Goes There" by John W. Campbell]).

I seem to have a natural predisposition to favouring any horror film set in the snow. I also dig Norwegian culture, so forgive my minor bias in those areas. Other than that I'm pretty objective, even though I'm also a pretty big fan of John Carpenter's film.

Wrapping the cast I give a fuck about up, for starters we have Australia's Joel Edgerton (Above right - Ned Kelly, King Arthur, Star Wars Episodes II & III, The Square, Animal Kingdom, Warrior) who I've always listed as a personal favourite; playing a Sep helicopter pilot. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Above left - Final Destination 3, Grindhouse: Death Proof, Scott Pilgrim VS The World) in the lead role of Palaeontologist Dr. Kate Lloyd. And finally Eric Christian Olsen (Cellular, Tru Calling, Eagle Eye, NCIS: LA) as scientist Adam Goodman (who I can't help but appreciate simply for his having starred in Community).

This is Director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s first English language feature film, which was Produced by Zack Snyder. The two of them will team up again in 2013 when they release Army of the Dead, sequel to Zack Snyder's 2004 Dawn of the Dead, part of George A. Romero's zombie franchise.

Perhaps it was just me, but I honestly found the ability of the alien confusing. It was unclear exactly by what process it "mimicked" cells. I don't know, I won't go into it too much, but I haven't seen it for a couple of months, so post your thoughts if you've seen it and comprehend.

At the end of the day The Thing was not a great movie. It had lots of positive points sure, and modern day SFX made its monsters the best of the bunch, even on its CGI-heavy, relatively low budget. The premise, isolation element as well as its complete faithfulness to John Carpenter's setting were all great selling points. It's cliches and rehashes ultimately lead to its downfall. Sure The Thing has no major downsides, but there's just not enough to this sci-fi horror to keep you wanting more.

The Thing winds up being a perfectly serviceable prequel, but one that essentially leaves a killing blow in the franchise, probably forever.

42%.

-Gimly.