The Thing (2011)
Certified: 16
Duration: 102 minutes
Directed by: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Eric Christian Olsen
KRS release
The Thing is both a prequel and remake to the 1982 classic directed by John Carpenter which was in turn a remake of another 1951 classic.
The present third instalment, based on the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr, owes more to John Carpenter’s version than the said novella.
While the film has an air of familiarity for those who have seen Mr Carpenter’s film, director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr makes excellent use of computer-generated technology to depict the alien.
It is the latter’s shape-changing abilities that drive the film’s action sequences and the claustrophobic and paranoid atmosphere that pervades throughout the film.
Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) travels to an isolated outpost in Antarctica on invitation by Dr Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) and assistant Adam Goodman (Eric Christian Olsen).
Here geologist Edvard Wolner (Trond Espen Seim) has made a very startling discovery – an alien spaceship long buried in the ice and snow. And the startling thing is that an alien has been frozen in the ice.
Helped by French scientist Juliette (Kimk Bubbs) and Norwegian workers Lars and Peder (Jorgen Langhelle & Stig Henrik Hoff) take a tissue sample from the alien, unaware that the ice is melting. And the thing from outer space escapes.
It devours humans and embodies them perfectly, like a clone. It then manages to infiltrate the team.
This film ties in well with the original picture, especially in the way it makes use of Ennio Morricone’s reprise from the original score.
In The Thing, the main character is the alien and how it feeds, attacks, replicates… the real “star”, however, are the special effects. Comparisons to the original are inevitable but the difference lies in the effects. For all other intents and purposes, it’s a very efficient and loyal remake.
On the other hand, those unfamiliar with the original will find that The Thing has its own fair share of scares up its sleeve.
The production does not discard the original; instead it takes a reverential approach.
The 1982 film was actually a box office flop, as it was released at a time when aliens on screen all looked friendly and cuddly like ET.
However, it gained a cult following... And such success may also be on the horizon for this Thing.