The Thing (2011)

 

Genre: Horror/Sci-fi

Time: 1h 43mins

Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

Quick Summary: At an Antarctica research site, the discovery of an alien craft leads to a confrontation between graduate student Kate Lloyd and scientist Dr. Sander Halvorson.

To start off this isn't a reboot, it's a prequel. A lot of people go into this thinking it's a reboot and look semi-down on it.

Now, this is nowhere as good as the 1982 one sadly, but I think it was an okay addition. 

Surprisingly the special effects weren't bad in this one, even though clearly they are mainly CGI but from what I can tell it is a mix of practical and CGI which I honestly really liked. I wasn't overly keen on the idea of making the "Thing" more humanoid, even though yeah it does make more sense for it to have more humanoid features it just didn't sit right with me. 

I wasn't overly keen on the acting in this one too, it all felt very rigid and the script was very to the point. Making the crew more diverse was interesting too and what I did like is that the danish/Norwegian people actually spoke their respective languages and not just English with an accent. Like the previous one, everyone felt very underdeveloped and poorly written. Everyone is basically archetypes again.

 Where this one falls flat is that it nowhere conveys the same feeling of paranoia and distrust as the 1982 one. Nobody gets development, half the crew don't even know each other anyway. Anytime we get a small quiet moment "the thing" attacks. Honestly, it felt like this film could go 10 mins without having it attack. Another thing is that this does nothing new. It doesn't add to the story aside from the base of it happened before the 1982 one, and it tries to add information that never fully fits. I did find one small piece of information a clever addition, that "The Thing" can't replicate metal or anything man-made. 

Essentially this is the same film but with other little bits of information added in an attempt to keep it fresh. Sadly not much happens, as it felt like everyone just stood there and did nothing when "The Thing" attacked. I'd say it's worth a watch if you really like the original and want more of it, but don't expect much. 

5/10

"You think they're gonna pay a bonus for bringing home an alien instead of core samples?"