The Thing (**½)
Directed
by: Matthijs van Heijningen
Starring:
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Adewal
Akkinuoye-Agbaje, Eric Christian Olsen, Trond Espen Seim
Seen:
January 16th 2012
**½
Out of ****
The Thing is a direct prequel to the 1982 sci-fi horror of the same
name created by horror legend John Carpenter. I haven’t seen the 1982 movie,
but I’ve read up on it a bit, and it seems that this movie, without copying too
closely, replicates some ideas from its predecessor-sequel. The end of this
movie runs directly into the opening of the 1982 movie, and elements from the
older movie is recreated in this version, even though I can’t speak for the
visual accuracy of these elements.
This movie opens with a Norwegian research team stumbling onto the source
of a distress signal, and it’s a big find an alien craft. They suspect the
signal started when the massive UFO’s survivor left the vessel, whom they find encased
in ice close by, and they take the entire block of ice to their research
station, where the alien escapes from the ice. As the team searches for it, Henrik
is killed by the alien. While it’s swallowing Henrik, the team kills the alien,
and they take it inside. While head of operations Dr. Halvorson (Thomsen) is
adamant that research continue despite the loss of Henrik, the relatively young
palaeontologist Kate Lloyd (Winstead) discovers disconcerting evidence
indicating that this alien life-force is far from dead; but Adam Finch (Olsen),
Halvorson’s research assistant, remains uncertain of how to proceed. Pilots
Carter (Edgerton) and Derek (Akkinuoye-Agbaje) lift off to take Griggs and
the traumatised Olav (he witnessed Henrik’s end) to civilisation, but Kate makes
a gruesome find and while trying to flag the helicopter to land again, the
alien manifests on the helicopter, and they crash out of sight.
The
team now realises the danger, and Kate takes initiative to attempt separating human
and alien among the survivors. Things are never that simple however, and the up
to now relatively invisible alien threat (it imitates humans relatively perfectly)
reveals itself as a grotesque mutation of humanity, intent on only one thing,
killing every human it finds. In a blaze of fire and blood the movie reaches
its conclusion which we now know isn’t a conclusion, as the movie is a prequel.
The
Thing is slightly better than what I expected, but still a not-that-good
science-fiction horror movie. The action sequences are well-handled, with
explosions and pyrotechnics that will keep the viewer happy. Mary Elizabeth
Winstead is good as the lead, a welcome change in that she is a strong female
character who, despite the panic (or absolute lack of emotion/urgency as
exhibited by the stone-faced Ulrich Thomsen as Dr. Halvorson) that sets in
among the other characters, keeps her cool and thinks logically. Entertaining enough
for a quick afternoon escape, The Thing won’t be seen by many and will really
only be remembered by a few. Time will tell whether I form part of the few, but
I suspect some if will stick in memory, which is at least something to say for
the movie.
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