1 Time Film Excess Nominee:
Best Digital Effects (lost to Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol)
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| One icy poster for Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s The Thing |
QUICK REVIEW:
In this Thing prequel, we are to learn about the time prior to the events in John Carpenter's masterpiece The Thing (1982), that is, the catastrophe in the Norwegian company in the Antarctic, who were the first to meet the thing! There's of course a storm, and the paranoia is revisited, (this time only with teeth examinations instead of blood samples.) Most of it is seen through the eyes of the only woman up there, an uninspired and forgettable Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Kill the Messenger (2014)), who takes command over the Norwegians.
Among the Norwegians, even great Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen (Banshee (2013-16)), who varies between speaking Danish and Norwegian (...) bores. The characters are vaguely sketched and uninteresting; the suspense curve is unsophisticated and the update as a whole is unoriginal. Script by Eric Heisserer (Final Destination 5 (2011)).
Furthermore, Michel Abramowicz' (Taken (2008)) cinematography shakes in otherwise dead still dialogs, - very annoyingly.
But in the film's second half, The Thing experience brightens up some due to inventive CGI and one genuine shock. Of course a major part of what makes the '82 film so thrilling is its incredible practical effects, which this new film doesn't even try to achieve, and there's no doubt that the new Thing doesn't gain anything from simply overtaking its title from its much superior predecessor.
It is directed by Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (Zien (2004), video).
Related post:
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Watch the red band trailer for the film here
Cost: 38 mil. $
Box office: 27.4 mil. $
= Huge flop
[The Thing was something of a disaster commercially; opening #3 in North America to 8.4 mil. $, it fell our of the top 10 in its second week, grossed 16.9 mil. $ (62 % of the total gross) and was even less successful abroad. The film, which was lambasted by many, effectively ended Heijningen's career: He hasn't made anything film-related at all since.]
What do you think of The Thing?
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