Can The Thing Think?: A Movie Review

*here be spoilers.

Director: Matthijs van Hejiningen Jr.

Writers: Eric Heisserer (screenplay) and John W. Campbell Jr. (short story).

Unless audiences are not paying attention to movie news, The Thing (2011) is a prequel that leads up to the events that started in John Carpenter's classic of the same name. Short of mentioning the year of release, to which movie, the original or the prequel, can easily become a running joke just to distinguish which film is the better of the two. Both movies are better off watched back to back.

Even though there will be similarities between the two products, that is only because what else can these scientists placed in Antarctica do? They lack the resources to save the world. But is there anything new that either director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. or writer Eric Heisserer can add to the product? They offer a few new ideas like how the alien cannot replicate inorganic material, and it helps the humans to identify them, but that is no game changer.

Instead, the production team dissected everything they liked from the original film, Alien and Predator 2 to make their own set piece. If this movie was given any other name, Aliens versus Predator 3 comes to mind. This time, the humans are the predators; they have to put down the aliens adept at disguise.

In the new version, Dr. Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) only affirms this theory. She’s the Ripley of the crew. Winstead does a standup job in being the most developed out of all the characters and holding her own when the male testosterone falls flat. The men she has to deal with vary in terms of their appeal. Some are simply red suits from "Star Trek" and others are simply supporting roles which parallels the two base camps in the winter wasteland. Sander (Ulrich Thomsen) leads the Norwegian team with a charm of a devil and he believes the alien discovery will be mind blowing when revealed to the world.

Unlike the original film, this one lightly touches on the horror of human isolation and how man can turn on each other when mistrust is bred. The archetypal winter landscape simply says it all to those who understand symbology. Just where can you run when the terror is all around you? There's nowhere to go. But in the 2011 film, the feelings of isolation are broken when the Norwegians simply say that the American base is nearby. They know there is safe harbour, if they can reach it, or if the alien entity lets them.

The one touch that is appreciated is the fact this creature learns from its mistakes, and tries to remain camouflaged for as long as possible. Why it has to reveal itself before killing is one of those mysteries still left unsolved. The alien force does demonstrate human intelligence when it is in disguise. It can communicate, but it does not say anything to help the narrative become just as constructive as that moment in ID4, when Dr. Brackish Okun reveals their purpose for being on Earth.

Maybe the Thing is simply trying to phone home. Their purpose is never revealed, but if the original film is supposed to be any indication, it does want to leave the winter wonderland. It does have a destination in mind. Just where it is going is deceptively unclear. In one film, the spacecraft is being prepped. In the other, it is building one.

The 2011 film has plenty of body mutilating detail that is terrific to marvel at, but does it help this film? Nothing is left to the imagination anymore and that is sorely missed. There is no silhouette of a husky undergoing transformation, or dark shadows to disguise the mountains of flesh. At least this film combines prosthetics, some old school effects work, and CGI to make the monsters blend seamlessly into the environment.

Even the sets are flawless when the two films are seen back to back. From where walls get smashed to where the axe is found, the details are perfect. Even the corpse the American science team eventually find looks correct. Continuity buffs cannot be any more prouder. Now all they have to ask is what the Kate’s fate is going to be - which will not happen until there is a sequel. Lets just hope it will not be like Alien 3.

Overall: 7 out of 10.

The Thing's homepage is here:

The Thing's Official Website


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