TheRedHood Reviews The Thing (2011)

When The Thing remake was announced, I was pretty pissed off. The original is a classic film that I remember just as fondly as anyone remembers any other classic like Star Wars or The Godfather. I kept an open mind, thinking about how hot Mary Elizabeth Windtead is, I figured, why not.

First observation I made is just how garbled the film is. This film tries to be the original 1982 film and a bit of Alien and Aliens for equal measure. However it loses almost all the subtle parts that made those movies great. The film spoils itself by borrowing plot devices from the first film. You'll see the characters test eachother for who is the creature, use grenades, and burrow underground. Hell, they even show a mutilated dog!

As for the Alien influence on this film, Winsteads character gets little to no sympathy from me. There's one character who she kills on suspicion that he's the alien when only a few minutes ago you see the character kill the alien. It's like the film trips over its own logic, and the actors can say whatever the screen writers want them to say, but It doesn't change things. Either you notice these flaws or you don't.

I did like the characters and the few spots of original mystery with this film. There are parts that genuinely are at par with what the original film, but most won't notice because it's hard to tell what's original and what isn't.

All in all, this isn't as bad as some other movies out there. I'd probably reccomended that you see a matinee show of the film, it seems silly to say but this film is more passable when you see it for $5 less.

Oh, and don't leave when the credits roll. There is a sequence during the credits that if you miss it, all you'll think about is a massive continuity error. I almost left but I'm glad that I stayed, otherwise I'd be a bit more frustrated with this film.