FILM REVIEW: The Thing (2011 prequel)

Director: Matthijs van Heijiningen Jr.
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Running Time: 102 minutes
Genre: Horror thriller

A prequel to the 1982 classic of the same name on paper is totally unnecessary and uncalled for. Even now, 30 years after its release, the original film remains a masterpiece of psychological horror storytelling and the creature effects remain miraculously decent despite its age. So this prequel has an awful lot to live up to and it essentially comes off very much like 2010's sequel Predators, a film which captures the spirit of the original classic, but does little to elevate it from being a modern rethread.

A film like this can't help but be compared to the original as there are so many nods and winks to it throughout its 100 minute running time. Finding out how the Norwegian camp from the original came to end up like this was an interesting idea and at a basic level the style and set-design are excellent for the most part and consistent with the original. But much more important and an essential part of what made the original so tense was the characterization, the strong central cast who felt like more than filler for when the trouble began. In this aspect, this film fails, we are given Mary Elizabeth Winstead's Kate Lloyd, who is the sole character we get to know or appreciate in any way, with supports like Carter (underused Joel Edgerton as a Kurt Russell clone) and the two-faced Adam (Eric Christian Olsen) wasted. The rest are either cardboard cut-out characters, like the callous Dr. Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen), who are underdeveloped and given little room to be nothing but stereotypes. This would not matter if the film had a hidden ace up its sleeve, but it doesn't. Once the alien is loose, it becomes a stalk'n'slash horror with the body count rising steadily and some shoddy CGI (even compared to 1982's version, where prosthetics have held up considerably better) kill any tension that could have been sought from the creepy premise of not knowing who could possibly be the creature.

While entertaining as a throwaway action horror film, this prequel does not do enough to distinguish itself from the classic 1982 film. Much like other new rethreads of older classics, this film serves more as a homage to the original film rather than trying to invoke any unique and original scares/thrills of its own. Only for die hard 'The Thing' fans.

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