The Thing (2011)

The hate this movie gets is ridiculous in my opinion. I've been a fan of the Carpenter's The Thing since I was a little kid. It is one of the best sci-fi/horror movies of all time, in my opinion. The story, characters, setting, effects, sound, music, acting...all great. It stands next to Alien as the best of the sci-fi horror genre. I think this movie did it justice and gave me something I always wanted ever since seeing the original: a movie of the Norwegian camp's story. This movie did exactly that. The CGI did bother me, but it seems that they did some tweaks for the Blu-Ray release and it looks much better. The CGI scenes looked too shiny before, very obvious. I just watched the Blu-Ray for the first time and it looks worlds better. The film grain, extra detail, color, and lack of DNR helped a lot. There were only a couple scenes that stood out, whereas before most of the CGI slapped you in the face and stood out like a sore thumb. It is sad how the studio messed with this movie. If they hadn't stepped in and shined over the practical effects with so much CGI, and if they hadn't added the "boss fight" at the end, this movie would be even better. Especially the end.... The original ending sounded awesome and would have actually explained some of the origins of the creature such as "why was it on that ship" "why did it leave the ship" "was it flying the ship?" etc. Mary Elizabeth Winstead did a great job in this movie and all the acting was good. The original is a 10/10 for me. One of the most perfect movies in my book. This movie gets an 8 for the Blu-Ray. Before seeing the Blu-Ray, the special effects bothered me so much I would have rated it as a 7.

I wouldn't recommend this film either as a stand-alone or prequel. Apart from some scenery at the beginning it is so poor. I watched the 1982 version a couple of days before and read Who Goes There (in one sitting it was so good) on the very day I viewed this so called prequel. I was so disappointed with this film; the makers could have done so much better. It was unbelievably clichéd. The final "terror" scenes and destruction of The Thing were so lame and predictable they were immensely annoying. There wasn't anything new, simply a rehash of moments seen before in a number of much greater films from this genre. The film wasn't even tense at the times when it was supposed to be. I was also going to say how awfully wooden Mary Elizabeth Winstead was in the lead role until I discovered she played the part of Nikki Swango in Fargo (S3), which I thought she played brilliantly. I suggest the next time anyone makes a prequel to The Thing they read the book first and hopefully will be inspired to make it more about people or "people" than silly monsters. Honestly this is a bad B movie.

For those who are not aware, check out The Thing from Another World from 1951. This is the first movie adaptation that I am aware of. Both of the later movies in my opinion are good movies. Who Goes There? is a science fiction novella by John W. Campbell, Jr., written under the pen name Don A. Stuart. It was first published in the August 1938. The novella has been adapted four times as a motion picture: the first in 1951 as The Thing from Another World; the second in 1972 as Horror Express; the third in 1982 as The Thing directed by John Carpenter;[1] and most recently as a prequel to the Carpenter version, also titled The Thing, released in 2011.

The movie is acceptable and can be rated with a 6-7 until you watch 1982 version!! That version is a very good/excellent movie with better leading characters, more suspense, Ennio Moricone ...etc. and done almost 30 years before. Once you watch the original you find that this movie didn't add anything.I give it a 5 because my first impression was good. But I can easily understand why people who watched the original first might be even giving less punctuation to this movie. If you have already watched 1982 version don't lose your time on this version as you will not enjoy it.