Watching THE THING on the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack was a fun watch but nothing too special. The movie serves as a sort of prequel to John Carpenter's classic.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays a paleontologist who travels to Antarctica and joins a team on an expedition that makes the discovery of this frozen life form. The frozen creature quickly escapes from it's icy prison and immediately goes after the team, one by one. It learns and adapts quickly and begins it's evolution or survival process by imitating it's victims appearances and behavior by it's cells and DNA overtpowering all of the victim's cell structure but there are flaws and Winstead's character is on to them. The Thing takes it's victims relentlessly, brutally and without compassion or remorse until there are just a few left survivors who end up in the ship or hive of the creature deep below the surface. Does anyone live? I'm not going to tell you but the ending is very familiar to the beginning of Carpenter's classic movie.
The movie is shot beautifully by director Matthijs van Heljningen in the icy setting and all of the actors were great even though i'd like for them to be introduced a little better. The story is good but nothing special taking much of what we've already seen and simply added a few new elements to it. The special F/X are great but mostly CGI and is totally lacking some practical use, like Carpenter's classic. The F/X are great and shows lots of gore and imagination with the creature and it's violent kills which I enjoyed. I can say some of the creature's designs were a bit creepy.
The Thing is by no means a classic but is a good horror movie that is closely related to the 1982 film. It's lacking in areas and is overdone in others, almost like they tried too hard on some parts and not enough on the others. The big question, could I watch it again? Oh yeah, you bet I could and will! One reason is the awesome special features available on this Combo Pack which help this movie and it's score out a lot!
Bottom line is The Thing stays close to Carpenter's vision without taking anything away from it. The story is mediocre but Winstead's strong performance and taking the viewer deeper into the back story of the creature makes it a good watch but still is no classic. The Thing is available now. 3/5
Studio: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Run Time: 1 Hour 43 Minutes
Rated: R
Special Features: Awesome and Plenty!
- Blu-ray Exclusives - You Control (Picture-In-Picture, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and more)
- pocket BLU app
- BD LIVE
- Deleted/Extended Scenes
- The Thing Evolves
- Fire & Ice
- Feature Commentary with Director Matthijs van Heljningen and Producer Eric Newman
- D-Box Motion Enabled
1 comment:
I was a little suspicious of watching The Thing 2011, but after a co-worker at DISH told me that if you go into this movie expecting a prequel or a remake either way it’s worth watching. Rather than fork out the dough for the Blu-ray I decided to get it through my DISH subscription in HD because it’s much cheaper. I definitely liked it and I like how they check each other for signs of being an alien as opposed to the hot wire-blood test from Carpenter’s version. I do think it’s a little funny that the thing doesn’t have a problem with mimicking clothes, buttons and shoes…
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