Rating: 3.7/5

Review: "The Thing 2011 movie review"

This is a rare remake/prequel/sequel where I have watched the original. I was interested in John Carpenter's version when I heard about the story of the prequel. The story intrigued me and therefore I decided to watch John's version before watching the 2011 version. One of the other reasons the prequel attracted me is Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars in this.

The story: I shall not compare this with John's version as this is meant to be a prequel. The movie starts with a retro Universial Studio logo and then moves on to the plain but stunning ice land. A group of men is finding for something and soon finds the spaceship (that's what they want to find). The title appears. Mary's character is asked to help unravel the mystery of the spaceship and the alien vistor. The story is plain simple but the movie is loaded with thrills and suspense. One notable suspense scene is where Mary's character checks every surviving characters' mouth to see if they are infected by the alien. The pace and the thrills are almost like in John's version though I think this emulates better suspense. I don't know why the critics reviews are negative (33% on rotton tomatoes). The music by Macro Beltrimi is surprisingly good. I can hear him paying homage to the original theme music in John's version. Effects wise is okay and there are plenty of CGI shots. Some monsters look fake with the over-the-top CGI. So John's version is slightly better than in terms of special effects.

Overall: It is a pretty good movie to catch in cinema. It serves a good prequel to John's version. But it seems that general movie-goers are not too amused or excited to catch this in cinema. In USA, it only opens with US$8 million. There are comments that there should be a sequel but I think the two versions are enough as it and John's version already bring a closure to The Thing.