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Luckily for the filmmakers, the imitation of a good movie still results in a fairly suitable (if flawed) copy.
Much like the titular foreign creature , this 2011 interpretation ofThe Thingpurports itself to be one matter , when it is in fact something else . While it is label as the prequel to John Carpenter ’s 1982 celluloid of the same name , in many shipway - mostly as a resultant role of some derivative scriptwriting - this photographic film is a meter - for - meter remake of Carpenter ’s moving-picture show , only with far less imagination and a forgone final result .
gratefully , the combined strength of the premise and an effectively scary monster saveThe Thing2011 from being a total waste .
The floor takes us back to 1982 Antarctica , where fossilist Kate Lloyd ( Mary Elizabeth Winstead ) has been raise to help oneself excavate the monumental find of an foreign life story pattern freeze out within the tundra . Kate is trepidatious about mess with the fogy too much , but the squad of Norse scientists - lead by the frigid Dr. Sander Halvorson ( Ulrich Thomsen ) - want the glory and acknowledgment for making the discovery . Halvorson has his men practise into the ice to compile a tissue paper sample , and in doing so , wake the long - dormant creature .
Things go from defective to bad as Kate get to a startling find : the alien is a mimic , able to copy its fair game ’s cell , thereby camouflaging itself in the skin of its victim . However , by the sentence Kate realizes that there are imposter in their midst , concern and paranoia have already begun to run rearing amongst the squad , leading to the decimation of the camp , and the beginning of the havoc depicted in Carpenter ’s film .
Screenwriter Eric Heisserrer ( A Nightmare on Elm Streetremake ) has once again managed to take a overbold and copious horror moving picture concept and drain it of all its juiciest number . WithElm Street , he reduced the imaginative machinations of a ambition stalker to a drab and routine slasher flick ; withThe Thing , he manages to take a concept that worked so well as a tense , boring - burn psychological thriller , and foreshorten it to a phrenetic and clichéd repugnance motion-picture show chemical formula .
At first it seems as though the picture show is make the correct moves : a good deal of time at the commencement is pass establishing relationship between the core character , such as the aggression between Kate and the authoritarian Dr. Halvorson , or Kate ’s fade attraction to chopper pilot Braxton Carter ( Joel Edgerton ) . However , once the creature is at large those family relationship - which seemed like seeds for plentiful psychological horror - are totally squandered as victims are dispatched willy-nilly and unceremoniously , impart little for the viewer to manage about or resonate with - other than the tingle of see the puppet in its various twisted forms , or the cheaper thrill of watching the body count climb . The film also manages to muddle the full franchise mythos by bring in expository facts which are totally contradictory to both chapter of the story - such as the alien not being able-bodied to replicate " inorganic material , " while somehow being capable to duplicate its victim ' clothing .
Former commercial music director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. seek to quicken the human beings of Carpenter ’s film , and for the most part deliver the goods . This plastic film has many playfulness Easter ballock and nods to the original , but like the handwriting , lacks true insight into what made the concept behind the story ( establish on the 1938 novella ' Who plump There ? ' by John W. Campbell Jr. , ) so terrify in the first place . Carpenter ’s film sagely used halter set pieces , time jumps , and selective editing to create its tense enigma and head games ; Heijningen adheres to the more mod preference for ' freehanded and good ' picture devising - i.e. , bigger laid piece and wide of the mark spaces . But again , broadcast thing out completely invalidates the potent aspect of this construct , which is the terrifying feeling of being trapped in close quarter with something cognate to a abominable virus ( as Kate herself state at one point in the film ) .
The creature in Carpenter ’s film was famously brought to life by old school VFX masterRob Bottinthrough practical effects like puppeteering and animatronics - but thanks to an overmuch of CGI force in this modern version , we once again have a hollow conception in place of a more credible , imaginative and original one . The most unnerving conniption of the puppet are the 1 where virtual effects are still put to use , but these are few and far between . Still , to Heijningen ’s credit , there are a few well - constructed sequence ( see : the dissection scene or the ' dentist ' scene - both direct echo of Carpenter ’s film ) , that manage to rectify that slap-up tension , if only for a few fleeting second …
Another warm degree of Carpenter ’s plastic film was that you were never really sure who to believe , because even the make bold " bomber " of the flick , R.J. MacReady ( Kurt Russell ) , disappears and reappears and slowly starts to become as paranoid and unhinged as the rest of his gang . Kate , on the other script , is clearly the agonist of this horror tale , thereby limiting the toothsome dubiety and dread ; she ’s present as the ' cool under pressure sensation ' type , who never once seems to lose her head or succumb to the rampant paranoia . Granted , not every picture show damsel need be in distress , but as one of only two woman maroon in the tundra , surrounded by likely menace , you ’d think Kate would be a little less composed and intellectual than she is throughout the photographic film .
Another very odd choice was to make the cast of lineament ( except for Kate and the amusing Norse workers ) almost direct echoes of the reference in Carpenter ’s film . Joel Edgerton and Adewale Akinnuoye - Agbaje are almost carbon - copy of Kurt Russell and Keith David ’s characters from the original ; Dr. Halvorson occupy the creepy skill bozo role originally occupied by Dr. Blair ; Eric Christian Olsen ’s character Adam is the same skinny coward as Thomas G. Waites ' fibre , Windows ; Paul Barunstein ’s Griggs is reminiscent of Donald Moffat as Garry - and so on … It ’s almost as if Heisserrer constructed the story concord to that old ' If it ai n’t go against … ' proverb .
And therein consist the biggest issue with thisThingprequel : it asks us to believe that the same chronological sequence of effect could happen to two groups of exchangeable people , all within a unforesightful time span ( a few days ) . While the outcome was always predetermined , the film maker behind this new chapter escape the chance to put their own unique twirl on how these event played into that ending . Even the end credit entry succession - which directly connect this film to the gap scene of Carpenter ’s - feel like a hard - handed contrivance think of to remind us ( in case we forget ) that this was a prequel , andnota remaking . But again , like The Thing itself , it ’s hard to make that distinction just by looking . Luckily for the filmmakers , the imitation of a good flick still results in a fairly desirable ( if blemished ) copy .
If you want to live if the plastic film is worth your clip , watch the dawdler below . Also , rate the movie for yourself by voting in our public opinion poll below .
Want to speak about looter or the many nods to Carpenter ’s film that are in this moving picture ? Head over to ourThingspoilers discussion .
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The Thingis now in theaters everywhere .
And so begins disaster…
In this prequel to John Carpenter ’s 1982 horror film , a chemical group of researchers in Antarctica discovers an alien eat up in the frosting . Upon bring it back to their site to study it , the puppet breaks free and starts kill the team members one by one before shapeshifting into them . Mary Elizabeth Winstead maven as Kate Lloyd , alongside Joel Edgerton ( Carter ) , and Ulrich Thomsen ( Dr. Sander Halvorson ) .
In this prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 horror film, a group of researchers in Antarctica discovers an alien buried in the ice. Upon bringing it back to their site to study it, the creature breaks free and starts killing the team members one by one before shapeshifting into them. Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars as Kate Lloyd, alongside Joel Edgerton (Carter), and Ulrich Thomsen (Dr. Sander Halvorson).
