Monday 13 May 2013

Day 133: The Thing



A spaceship has been discovered under the ice in Antarctica, and a body of whatever was on board has also been found. The team are excited at being the first people to discover aliens but it all goes to hell when the alien they thought was dead breaks free and attacks them.

The alien can imitate its victims, so it copies their cells and hides inside. That is pretty excellent, I’m sure we can all agree. This should have led to such a high level of suspicion and paranoia but they don’t really make use of it well. There is the one scene when they’re all scared about who could be a copy but that’s it, it’s just the one scene and then it’s back to fighting. I think what might’ve made the film more interesting would be if they made it less about the action and more about the actual terror that would’ve been felt in that situation.  And I have to agree with one of the commenters on the IMDb page, there were far too many shots of the alien. It might have been better if we heard more noises and saw shadows rather than actually see the alien itself because it takes away from the fear, I think.

I’ve not seen the original film so I’m not sure if this stands up well as a prequel, but I did enjoy it in itself. Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) was amazing and I think using her as the main character was definitely a good choice. According to the IMDb trivia page, she is supposed to have traits in common with Ripley from ‘Alien’ and I can see that. She’s strong and smart and just an all round badass, really.

6/10

2 comments:

  1. "How amazing would it be to live in the Antarctic?
    Oh, ok, so not if you'd be falling through the ice.
    Aaaah too loud.
    Yeah, I didn't get any of those names.
    SPACESHIP.
    Dude, you can't die right away, you're the only non-white person in the whole film.
    It's a buggery alien, what are you planning to do when you find it? Hit it with a torch?
    Holy shit, wow. Quite a death.
    Aw wow, Henrik is being absorbed in the alien.
    Imitating him? What, so the alien absorbs the person and then becomes them?
    Hm, I'd say that woman is a copy.
    YEP. Holy shit shit shit.
    RUN KATE RUUN.
    She's so smart, such a babe. Go Kate.
    I understand why you're destroying the vehicles but what about after the alien situation?
    Oh look, someone damaged all of the science equipment and now you can't test to see who's a copy.
    Except Kate has thought of another way. Babe.
    NO, NOT LARS. Aw, I loved Lars.
    I kinda hope you get killed, arsey smart guy. Excellent!
    She's a badass with the flamethrower.
    KATE KILL IT WITH FIRE COME ON.
    NO KATE DON'T BE DEAD. Oh thank god.
    Aw man, you are such a babe. Jesus.
    Bet Carter is an alien. Don't trust him, Kate. SHIT WHERE IS HIS EARRING? Oh thank god, you noticed. Wow, doesn't even hesitate to kill him.
    BABE."

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  2. It's not a patch on the early 80s version. Then again the early 50s version is also very good, albeit in different ways.

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