Movie review - The Thing (2011)

There are movies in the world that should never be made for the second time. Especially if its premiere is 30 years after the original movie. Unfortunately, the commercial potential of some titles successfully attracts new creators. As a rule, however, they must be ready that fans will be constantly comparing their work to the original version. Especially if they are trying to make a prequel.

The heroes of "the new thing" are the Norwegian scientists from the base which ruins were discovered in the first, original movie from 1982. What in the first film remained a mistery, here is the main story. Researchers led by the overbearing Sander (Ulrich Thomsen) discover a spaceship in Antarctica and an alien frozen in an ice block. Paleontologist Kate Lloyd played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead has to get the body of the alien out of the ice, but something goes terribly wrong and the creature breaks free. It quickly turns out that he can change the shape and pretend to be one of the crew members. The team, having no contact with the rest of the world and remaining dependent on each other, will have to defeat the alien and figure out how to trust the colleagues.

The movie theoretically tells the new story, but in fact, it's almost the same as in the previous movie. So we observe twin similar scenes, including isolating suspects in a separate building or developing methods to identify a stranger. Details, like a number of suspects or ideas to get rid of the alien, do change, but in general, it's more like a remake than the prequel. Bad remake, because what was the advantage of the old movie (the atmosphere of distrust and isolation), is completely ignored here. The main idea of the creators is using constantly the trick known to all fans of horror movies - the sudden appearance of a threat. Unfortunately, it does not work as it should, because the director does not even try to hide his intentions, schematically using the silence right before the kaboom. In the second half of the film when the number of characters is drastically reduced, the atmosphere of the original is captured for a moment. However, it goes away quite quickly, because the writer's idea was a "saving the world" from the invasion grand finale, which does not fit well with the intimate story.

The bad quality of the movie is easy to notice while studying the characters. Friendly at first Sander, for some unknown reasons, quickly turns out to be the type of scientist who values ​​history more than his companions. Kate is the only rational type who not only keeps a cool head in the face of danger but also tries to think globally, preventing the alien from leaving the base. Carter is the only person in the database open to arguments. The rest of the characters play the role of extras, who are created just to die in a more or less drastic way. They are not allowed to experience psychological dilemmas or even fakes of emotions experienced by the heroes of the previous "The Thing", and thus, we don't care much about them.

The creators also give up the atmosphere of mystery to show everything directly. So a lot of computer-generated monsters appear on the screen, but they are more disgusting than terrible. Even if the effects were impressive at the time of the premiere, they have aged very quickly and today they look quite pathetic. Virtual creatures and the "boo!" effect are unfortunately all we can expect in terms of building tension because there is no chemistry between the characters. We don't care who dies, up to a point you may even have trouble figuring out who is who. However, it does not bother you at all, you know from the very beginning how it will end.

The movie of Matthijs van Heijningen is an example of a completely unnecessary production. It does not bring anything new to the world of Carpenter's work, nor does it try to reinterpret it or play with it. It is simply a poor copy, without any climate. Even the scene that appears during the end credits, which is a reference to the beginning of the original "The Thing", seems to be pasted in the last minute, as it has nothing to do with the action shown in the movie... Don't lose your time for watching it - better read some articles on Steemit instead

---

Thank you for reading,
@papi.mati