The Thing
DIRECTED BY MATTHIJS VAN HEIJNINGEN JR.
Cue the inevitable “reasonable facsimile” and “passable imitation” quips: Universal’s canny pre-make of John Carpenter’s The Thing—about a malevolent extraterrestrial with the capacity to mimic other lifeforms—is a decent enough redux. Technically a prequel, The new Thing allows the studio to duck accusations of bastardizing Carpenter’s cult favourite, but still recycles the latter’s plot nearly beat for beat. As such, it’s little surprise that Matthijs van Heijningen’s film is adequately entertaining, even if his ensemble lacks the character of Carpenter’s 1982 cast.
Certainly, neither Mary Elizabeth Winstead nor Joel Edgerton boast the charisma of Kurt Russell’s maverick ’82 protagonist, though Winstead does at least emerge as a plausibly empowered female lead. She plays Dr. Kate Lloyd, an American paleontologist summoned to Antarctica to assess a dramatic Norwegian find. It’s the remnants of a spacecraft, complete with a perfectly preserved, icebound specimen. Edgerton, like Russell, is a chopper pilot, and transports Lloyd to the remote research station, but essentially remains a supporting player.
Lloyd urges caution in thawing “the thing,” but the chief Norwegian scientist (Ulrich Thomsen) insists on extracting a sample. Of course, the monstrous mass of noodly appendages duly frees itself of the ice, and sets about ingesting and impersonating its discoverers one by one. As in Carpenter’s film, the inability to discern friend from freaky-insatiable-shapeshifting-foe gives rise to a palpable collective paranoia, and several suspenseful standoffs between jittery, flamethrower-wielding factions. Visually, van Heijningen also hews closely to Carpenter’s original aesthetic, down to employing the same font for captions and credits. The creature effects, meanwhile, pay tribute to the old Thing‘s groundbreaking practical work via an effecitve blend of mucous, malformed animatronic limbs, and suitably grotesque CGI.
If there’s a key factor, though, that renders this Thing a mere pretender, it’s the muted sense of camaraderie-turned-mistrust among the members of the expedition. It’s difficult to invest in the film’s anonymous, readily expendable Norwegians, particularly compared to the stable of notable character actors that comprised Carpenter’s better-established team at Outpost 31. That the film still achieves a fair amount of tension thus speaks mainly to the strength of its source material. (Carpenter’s film is a remake of 1951’s The Thing From Another World, which, in turn, is an adaptation of John Campbell’s novella Who Goes There?) Still, Van Heijingen’s effort avoids any sacrilegious missteps, and as far as superfluous franchise entries go, is genuinely competent.
CORRECTION: October 13, 2011, 1:39 PM This article originally referred to “The Thing From Another World” as “The Thing From Outer Space.” Torontoist regrets the error, so you can all stop angrily brandishing your Leonard Maltin movie guides.