The Thing (2011)

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton,

Directed by: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

Rating: I Liked It

I sat down to watch this movie on Blu-Ray a couple days ago with very low expectations.  A few friends had told me that I should avoid it altogether.  Apparently, it was just that bad.  Knowing that I'm not as critical about movies as they are, I decided to give it a shot.

I had only recently seen the original film, John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), a few months ago.  I recommend it also, going as far to say it's the better of the two movies here.  It was strange that I enjoyed it due to aging - which it has actually done pretty well - and the fact that it stars Kurt Russell.  The only Russell movies I've ever really liked were Escape from New York and Escape from L.A.  The only reason I like those films is due to my obsession with survival/post-apocalyptic movies.

With all that said, here's the beef on the most recent film.

The Good:

• I was fairly impressed with the SFX here.  The alien in all its different forms looked pretty good.  
• The acting was decent, especially from so many people I'd never heard of before and no major A-lister leading the charge.  
• I was really pleased to see Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje in something again.  For those of you who don't recognize the name - and most won't, even fans of the show, that's Mr. Echo from "LOST".  
• If you know about the way the two movies line up together, it won't be a problem, but if you're going in completely unaware , there is a **POSSIBLE SPOILER** ahead.  My absolute favorite thing here is that this film, a prequel to the original movie, leads right up to the point that the next story picks up.  Scene for scene almost, it's the same.  We literally get what happens only minutes, if not seconds, before the beginning of the 1982 movie.  You rarely see that.  

The Bad: 

• I liked the story of this movie almost as much as I liked it the first time I saw it.  This story is so close to being a remake of the original that the line between prequel and remake blurs pretty heavy.  There was very little here that separated the prequel from the original.  
• The original film had one particularly memorable scene that involved one of the main character's head, and it seemed like they were just trying to outdo that scene the entire time the alien creature spent on screen this time around.  The didn't really succeed.  With all the crazy horror/sci-fi stuff we've seen in movie over the last few years, it's hard to make audiences go "OMG".  

The Ugly: 

• I wouldn't necessarily say that it was ugly, but it was worse than bad.  The big surprise at the end of the movie wasn't really a surprise at all.  I guess that was the worst part all around: predictability. 

If I had to recommend watching or avoiding this one, I would recommend it, but if it's on at a friends house while you're hanging out there with people, I wouldn't storm out either.