If any of you read my “For Your Renting Pleasure” post from last week then you would have seen that I just watched the original The Thing (1982), and though I didn’t get the appeal of that film, I was not going to let it stomp out my excitement for this prequel.

(From now on to avoid confusion, or possibly add to it, the original The Thing from 1982 will be called Thing 1, whereas the new The Thing will be referred to as Thing 2)

If this film should get praised for anything, it should be how important it was to the filmmakers to connect what is shown in this film with what is seen in the original.  Perhaps it was just because I just watched Thing 1, but as we moved around the set for Thing 2 I recognized props, set pieces, etc, that were a part of the original film.

As a brief backstory for those who may not have seen Thing 1, the basic premise is that an alien begins to infect the people of an arctic base, causing paranoia and flamethrower madness.  But before things got all out of control, a small group of men traveled over to another base in order to figure out what the heck was going on seeing as they might know more about the origin of the species.  Thing 2 is just that, showing the events that unfolded at this other base.

As a prequel to the film, it shows the alien’s initial discovery in the ice, its excavation, and then its time spent playing in the bodies of the scientists, pilots, etc on the base.  I know I just got through explaining that the films dedication to continuity between Thing 1 and Thing 2 was much appreciated and done with such detail that it adds a lot to the experience, but it is also taken just a little too far.  If the lack of originality of the title isn’t hint enough, the lines between prequel and remake are blurred as Thing 2 basically repeats the story of the first film.  Paying respect to the original is one thing, but this felt a little lazy.

My biggest complaint about the original is that I didn’t feel as if the psychological, who-done-it / who-is-it potential to the premise was carried out to the extent that it should have been, becoming more of a dated creature feature than a film of suspense.  However, as Zac tells me time and time again, I should not judge a film based on what it didn’t do, but instead look at what it did.  Personally I feel like I could argue that these two things are connected, and thus one cannot be done without the other, but I will do my best to make him proud anyway.

So let’s start at the basics, the alien.  The original was probably cutting edge puppetry or whatever it was at the time, but this time around Thing 2 goes full-blown CGI.  At first the alien sticks to the shadows, keeping the full form of the alien’s natural state hidden, but before long it is walking in the sunlight in all its “look at me!” glory.  And I’ve got to say, they might have overdone it a little bit.  Just to give you a basic idea of what to expect, look up images of the creatures from the video game Dead Space and its sequel, and you will get a basic idea.  At times creepy, always disgusting, more often than not the alien becomes pretty ridiculous looking in a comical way, to the point that it might have been better to stick to the shadows seeing as some of the CGI didn’t look as great as it could be.

With that said, Thing 2 does a much better job than Thing 1 of helping the audience understand just how the alien works as it tries to hide in the group, whether it is through dialog or much appreciated visuals.  With this basic understanding laid out, it is also easier to grasp the alien’s motivations.  The obvious mission is for the alien just to infect and spread throughout the native species of the planet, but its basic motives of fight or flight within the film, as well as tactics for trying to carry out its mission, all become much clearer this time around.  Which is thanks in large part to the feel of the film, which had more of a chase to the alien as it goes into survival mode that adds much excitement and suspense to the plot as the characters do their best to seek it out.  Including one scene that gave me flashbacks to Jurassic Park when the kids work their way through the kitchen cabinets as the raptors try to hunt them down.  [Shivers]  Though I think they eventually took the chase just a little too far, it should be noted that the body of the film was done well in this aspect.

Though I am still able to appreciate what The Thing (2011) tried to do / succeeded doing in how it pays respect to the original, as well as clarifies a lot of questions I was left with after watching the 1982 film a week ago, I am still rather disappointed that it didn’t try to do more than just bring the old film to a new generation, creating more of a remake than a prequel.

Final Grade:  C+

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