The Thing (2011)

November 9, 2011

I had no idea that this was supposed to have been a prequel to a more famous 80s movie of the same title. That film was directed by John Carpenter and starred Kurt Russell. I have NOT seen that film, so I had no idea what this film would be about, except that it is probably a monster movie given the title and the poster.

The story revolves around a group of scientists studying an alien preserved in a block of ice somewhere in the Antarctic. We soon would discover that this alien had the ability to copy human cells and turn into human clones, and kill. The first half of the film was very interesting in that once these scientists found out what the alien could do, they started to become paranoid about each other, giving the film a very tense and claustrophobic feel. Later on though, it becomes a typical monster movie where the members of the team are killed one by one until only one person remains at the end.

I felt this one was a so-so thriller. The CGI monsters were so obvious and grotesque in a very fake plastic way. The premise of the alien ability to transform into humans though was very good, but being a prequel, it is not original then. As this 2011 film is meant to be a homage as well as a prequel, I guess the next step for me is get a copy of that 1982 classic film and see how this one ties into that one. Maybe then I might have a better rating for it, but not now.