October 29, 2011

The Thing (2011)



  The local movie critic said it was "delightfully campy". In retrospect this is a bizarre way to describe this film. However it gave me confidence that I could take a friend without fear of reprisal*. Both the Howard Hawks, and the John Carpenter versions are classics and this not only had big shoes to fill, it is a prequel to boot so we know how it's gonna end...pretty much. 

The staff at a Norwegian research outpost in Antarctica discover someTHING buried in the ice.

The Carpenter version had a sequence set in the Norweigian base with the Americans finding really odd "clues" to the mayhem that transpired there. This film fastidiously explains every one of those shots. In that sense it almost feels like fan-fic, complete with a Mary Sue.

But it's good fan-fic. The film may not be on the same level as the other two but is a perfectly solid thriller. The suspense, paranoia and confusion are excacerbated by the language barriers in the international team, with people at one point literally having 2 different conversations with one another.

My only real complaint is the heavy use of CGI, to complement the excellent puppet work, but it is, all in all, quite well paced and creepy. I actually recommend this one.

A few random and spoilerish thoughts


*Red Planet and Hulk still have not been forgiven.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 04:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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