Synopsis
When paleontologist Kate Lloyd travels to an isolated outpost in Antarctica for the expedition of a lifetime, she joins an international team that unearths a remarkable discovery. Their elation quickly turns to fear as they realize that their experiment has freed a mysterious being from its frozen prison. Paranoia spreads like an epidemic as a creature that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish in this spine-tingling thriller.
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Cast
- Mary Elizabeth WinsteadKate Lloyd
- Joel EdgertonSam Carter
- Ulrich ThomsenDr. Sander Halvorson
- Eric Christian OlsenAdam Finch
- Adewale Akinnuoye-AgbajeDerek Jameson
- Paul BraunsteinGriggs
- Trond Espen SeimEdvard Wolner
- Kim BubbsJuliette
- Jørgen LanghelleLars
- Jan Gunnar RøiseOlav
Recommendations
- 63
Chicago Sun-Times
This version of The Thing, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., provides such graphic and detailed views of the creature that we are essentially reduced to looking at special effects, and being aware that we are. Think how little you ever really saw in the first "Alien" movie, and how frightening it was. - 50
Arizona Republic
While this version, listed as a "prequel," has a few gross-out moments, it lacks any sense of warmth. Which might be an odd criticism of a horror movie set in Antarctica, but there you have it. - 50
Austin Chronicle
Heijningen's The Thing is tightly paced, has enough imaginative horror to satisfy even the most jaded gorehound, and never strays too far from its source, so why do you come away from it feeling like it was the runner-up in a daylight nightmare festival? - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
Heijningen doesn't display the instinct of the best Hollywood action directors to give the audience what it craves at the big moments, except for a few gory in-your-face shots. - 50
Variety
Far less chilling than versions from 1951 and 1982, Universal's latest take on The Thing at least has a strong lead thesp in Mary Elizabeth Winstead, recruited for the studio's bid to turn a tale of ice-cold macho paranoia into a beauty-vs.-beast shocker a la "Alien." - 50
Slant Magazine
You can tell a lot about the film from its rough handling of the materials supplied by its predecessor, using these commonalities both to identify the bond between the two and signal how much further it's willing to push things. - 42
The A.V. Club
For a film that takes place in such a cold locale, it all feels awfully warmed-over. - 40
Boxoffice Magazine
Offers audiences a similar-but-not-the-same mix of effects, existentialism and creepy body horror while forgetting the things like character, humor and tension that made Carpenter's take on the same material so memorable past the initial fearsome fluid flesh sequences.
