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This movie is worth it 100%. I don't normally give a movie 5 stars right off the bat, but this one? Hell yeah. Worth every freaking cent of your burned out wallet.

1950's Original

If you've never heard of or seen the originals then here's some summed up tid bits about it before I jump into the review. "The Thing" goes back quite a few years. The original was made in 1951 under the original title "The Thing from Another World". The basic premise of the movie is quote for quote from IMDB...



This version I have never seen even though I've seen quite a few of the 1950's horror flicks. However, the movie "idea" was done again by John Carpenter in 1982 however as brilliantly summed up by wikipedia...

1982 Adaptation




This version of the film starts out differently. While working at the outpost, the group of scientists are disturbed by a commotion outside as they go to investigate to find a Norwegian helicopter with the name "LOKK" written across it, flying around with a Norwegian man trying to shoot down a stray dog running away from it. The go runs towards the outposts as the helicopter lands and the Norwegian gets a little crazy while yelling in his language, shooting at the dog while in the arms of one of the scientists. The shot misses and hits the scientist as the dog continues to run away, but since the scientists finds the guy to be a threat, they gun him down. The helicopter is taken out as well (don't remember how it was) and so it encourages the scientists to investigate what the commotion was about and why the dog was being shot at in the middle of nowhere. Two of the scientists volunteer to find the nearby Norwegian outpost that is in the same region only to find the outpost completely empty like a small war had broken out at the facility with dead bodies everywhere, blood, and morphed alien like human bodies that they can't explain the appearance of. Wanting further study on the strange alien like bodies they found that still appeared humanistic, they take the body back to their own post to have an autopsy done. Meanwhile with still, real no explanation of the strange bodies after confirming its biology etc etc, the stray dog is finally put in the back of the post in a caged area with the rest of the dogs, but the minute the dog is left alone it quickly morphs into an alien type creature.

The dogs go crazy as the alien begins to wrap tentacles around them as the scientists hear the commotion and go to the cage and manage to kill the alien like creature. Confirmed dead, they do an autopsy on the creature to find that the alien has the ability to mimic other beings with a shape shifting ability.

2011 Prequel

Before I saw this movie, like many others, I was under the impression that this new movie was a remake of the 1980's version, but I was instantly wrong the minute the film began. Although the plot of this movie is the exact duplicate of the plot from the 1980's film, it still gives a fantastic thrill in how it was executed with the story. This movie "begins" exactly where the 1980's film ends. This movie explains the story behind the Norwegian outpost that got attacked. So if you've seen the 1980's film, you'll quickly notice in this prequel all the little nuances and tids bits and how they are connected and explained between the two stories. Just to give an example of what I'm talking about without majorly spoiling anything: In the 2011 film, during one of the final attacks towards the end, one of the scientists uses an axe to plant against one of the small alien creatures crawling on a door. The axe was then left planted half way chopped inside the door. In the 1980's "sequel" when the two scientists go to investigate the Norwegian outpost, they discover that same axe left over on the door. This is just one of many nuances you will see in connection with the 80's film. Very cleverly explained and well done. The ending is pretty awesome too. I was expecting the ending to be cheesy but it wasn't.

I could talk more about the new film in detail, but there's certain information I can't say without majorly spoiling anything. But I must say, being a fan of the Dead Space video game series, the shape shifting creature in this newer film and the way they shift with the scientists, they remind me very much of the necromorphs from Dead Space. They're extremely creepy, quick paced, and gorgeous makeup/effects. The method they have the scientists use to figure out which of their teammates is a replicated alien or not is also brilliant in its own small way and makes it even more believable in how the story is executed.

All in all, this movie was extremely well done (in my opinion). If you're a fan of the 1980's film then I seriously doubt you'd be disappointed by this newer film.

On a letter rating from A-F I give this movie a A.

Well it would be silly of me to deny that the movie has a "rehash" feeling to it, but I honestly don't see why some people are giving it bad reviews. And I didn't want to really give this away, but I guess it doesn't really matter. The test they do to find out who's alien and who isn't, isn't done using a blood test. Originally they had a test that was being set up but it went to ruins, but the female paleontologist realized that the alien couldn't replicate inorganic material. So the people who had metal fillings in their teeth were good to go, however some of the members of the team had porcelin fillings so they weren't entirely sure on each other. However that tid bit about the inability to reproduce inoragnic material is a tid bit that needs to be remembered towards the very end of the movie. I won't say why or it'll just spoil a little bit of the fun. As for the CG graphics....well yeah. Of course they're going to use that. But its pretty damn convincing.

And chicks.....really? There's only two women out of the entire team, one is the main female lead as the paleontologist and the other is from the Norwegian team, but she doesn't stick around for long lol. I think Kate was the name of the paleontologist. And she's petty kickass and not just for show.

Oh okay. I see what you mean lol. I know this may sound a little goofy, but when watching the movie I didn't get the sense that they were trying to match or replace Carpenter's film. Could be wrong, but that's just my opinion. My most favored and remembered scene from Carpenter's was the scene with the dog revealing itself to be an alien in the dog cage. That was just down right creepy, well puppet, and just freaky. With scenes like that I don't think they really were able to "match" it in that regards, but I think they made every respect possible to Carpenter's film, even with the way the movie ended showing the beginning of the next film, it was beautifully re-crafted. One of the few times I think a prequel/rehash does it pretty good without trying to outmatch the original, but giving respect to it while having its own flare. Either way I hope you enjoy it without being bored or irritated by it XD.

When you do watch it I'd love to hear your opinion of the film even if its a complete bashing. I don't know anyone else that will chat it up with me so I'd love to hear your opinion on it biggrin

'Kay, so... finally saw it. Liked it. Thumbs up. biggrin

Only thing that bothered me was a few inconsistencies with the original, in terms of how they tie together. Other than that, though, you were right. Good times if you're a fan.

I ******** LOVE Swamp Thing. Pretty much the only DC character I ever gave a ******** about besides Batman (whom Swamp Thing punked out in one punch), and maybe Deathstroke.