Randy here… and apparently my destiny is somehow intertwined with The Thing.
Back in 1982, I was excited to see John Carpenter’s The Thing. I remember reading about it in Starlog, reading the original John W. Campbell Jr.’s story “Who Goes There?” and seeing the trailer before Conan The Barbarian. I still think it’s one of the best trailers out there (judge the trailer for yourself). Living in Massachusetts at that time, the world of Hollywood and the movies felt oh-so-far-away, existing only in magazines, entertainment shows and “Standby-Lights! Camera! Action!” So, I was thrilled to see in the paper that there was a sneak preview being done nearby at the (late) Dedham Showcase Theater on the Sunday before release. So I and my friend Michael got dropped off by his dad at the theater and we went in, excited to buy our tickets- and were promptly denied.
Why? Because we were 13-yr olds trying to get into a R-rated movie.
YES, there was a time that theaters actually followed ratings.
Dejected and panicked, we tried to figure another way and actually managed to get someone to buy us tickets. Probably the first and only time I ever did that. Because Michael and I WOULD NOT BE DENIED!
It was the first of MANY times that I would watch John Carpenter’s The Thing.
Now, just shy of 25 years later, I am given the opportunity to see The Thing 2011… at the World Premiere of the movie no less! Thanks to Facebook and Universal/THE THING… and my hastily put together sentence that won me the tickets.
Oooooo! Free Popcorn and drink-I'm living the high life!
I have the strangest life sometimes…
The Thing official story synopsis:
“Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.”
That’s right, folks! This isn’t a sequel or remake.
It’s a prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing. I’m kinda surprised at how many people I’ve talked to didn’t know that ahead of time.
If at all possible, AVOID the trailers and TV ads! Really-all they can do is spoil stuff or make you wonder when it’s going to happen. Trust me on this.
As a die-hard fan of the John Carpenter’s movie, this is a tough movie to review simply because of how much I love it. The scale of rating how good a movie it is gets skewed. I’m bringing a lot of my baggage to the movie and I realize it. In my mind, the worst it can do is mess with all the good things of the original; the best the film can do is being almost as good as Carpenter’s.
It isn’t fair but that’s how it is. So I’m going to review this a little differently than other films in the past.
What’s Good:
-The movie plays with the original beats from the original, messing with your expectations as a fan. It would have been easy for director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. to just remake the movie with the same situations for returning and/or new characters (Hell! John Carpenter’s Escape from LA anyone?). But the film smartly messes with those fans, bringing in concepts from the original and then taking them in a different direction. I mean, how can you do the blood scene again? That kind of thinking worked for me… mostly (See “What’s Bad” below)
-No big stars mean no one is guaranteed to safely get out by the end. I do so love it when your expectations about character survival are up-for-grabs in a horror movie. You have to believe that the characters might not survive to get it a feeling of true danger.
-Visual effects were a mix of physical and CGI. One of the things that the original movie has a grounded sense of reality, even if you seeing things that are fantastical. The creature is physically there, interacting with the environment and the actors. It’s one of the elements that the original movie is known for and that many directors forget when using so much CGI. The mix works well here, for the most part. I love that some of the digital effects are actually done in the distance and slightly out-of-focus, helping to ground them.
-No “cheesecake”! I’ve heard John Carpenter talk about the “failure” of his movie and the fact that Universal Studios would have preferred there was a woman or two. This time, Universal won and had two females in the group. This worried me tremendously simply because I didn’t want it to be forced into the story for no reason. Luckily, there’s no gratuitous nudity or love scenes put in just for the sake of titillation. They are scientists and part of the plot.
-Lots of Norwegian spoken! OK, this may not be as important to regular moviegoers. One of the things that worried fans of the original is that this is supposed to be a Norwegian camp-so why is everyone speaking English?! Well, they don’t! Several characters switch between and some don’t speak ANY English. It maybe a little thing, but it goes far in helping to keep the continuity between films alive.
What’s Not So Good:
-The characters development/motivation. I know that the original isn’t a bastion of character details, but you got a feel for everyone. Seeing how each person reacted differently is part of the strength of the original. Not having this makes the character motivations murky, especially true of characters of Dr. Sander Halvorson, the scientist in charge and Carter, the American pilot. It’s a very big deal for the character of Kate Lloyd, who steps up to take charge with little indication of why should would and why others who don’t know this newcomer would follow her. She also comes off as the only smart person in the group (a “Mary Sue” as my companion Lady Ella commented). Maybe there’s more that was left on the cutting room floor…
-Waiting for the connections. As I’ve said, I’m a big fan of the original. And I kept waiting to see the “linkage” to the original to keep coming. And that took me out of the film. It something that the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy had going on but there were three films to keep it spaced out. Here, you’ve got 90+ minutes to not only tell the film story but fit it into the original. But if you can let it go, it will make viewing more enjoyable.
All in all, I think it worked hard to feel like it was in the same universe as Carpenter’s film and it succeeded, for better or for worse.. It has some creepy imagery/events along the way but never quite manages to keep the tension level high enough. It doesn’t hurt the original movie but it certainly makes you want to see the original again!
The Thing 2011-I am fine with it.
For those that care, here are some shots of the World Premiere event along with the cast and assorted celebrities.
Security surrounds the red carpet for the World Premiere of THE THING.
Randy and Lady Ella get a photo-op just behind the red carpet. What? Don't they know who I am?!
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays Jameson in THE THING
Eric Christian Olsen as Adam Goodman (the guy in the suit-my photo skills in crowd fail)
Kim Bubbs as Juliette along with Lady Ella. Kim is QUITE the striking & statuesque woman in person!
Sorry, no pics of Selena Gomez and her micro shorts, but you can see them here along with some of the other stars who were there.
And this is me signing out from Tinseltown-a land where an unemployed online writer goes to a world premiere of a movie!
RANDY
One Comment on "RANDY FACES “THE THING”!"
Great review, Randy! Like you, I’m a big fan of all things “The Thing!” I even remember watching (and loving) the b&w original on the Million Dollar Movie as a kid, with James Arness as the Thing. I’m very excited for this movie.