Film Actionized Prequel
It was sort of like the Aliens to Carpenter's Alien. It's an action monster movie. While Carpenter's relied on suspense, this went for a more "BURN IT" approach.
And it was surprisingly good. It certainly didn't need to be more "rip-offy" and "remaky" than it already was, so going for a more act actionized bent was a good choice. It's not like lightning could have struck twice. The direction was the weakest part off the bat, but even that isn't saying much. The acting was good as well, they may not have felt like the fleshed out characters of Carpenter's, but they all felt like people. Especially Peder, Lars, and Colin. The leads were good too. They got the job done.
The story was great. It was fun to go in and see how it all went to hell. Though there are minor continuity issues that I'm sure not a lot of people are happy with. The set design was incredible, it's like they went back in time and shot there. The effects, cgi this time around, were good as well. Except for two minor and horrifyingly bad instances, but they were brief.
And as a prequel it works pretty well. I found it entertaining. Was it the best prequel we could have received? No. Was it still a darn good one? YMMV.
7/10 is my vote.
Film A poorly-made prequel to a cult-classic
I'm going to be honest with you all; I went into this expecting the worst. I was around for the initial trailers and they filled me with dread. They seemed to betray everything that made the original film great by effectively marketing itself as a generic "Guy dragged down dark hall screaming" schlock horror flick, but I went to see it anyways. Mainly just as a form of closure. When I arrived at the cinema to find I was the only viewer in a empty theatre room, in the middle of summer, I knew I was in for trouble.
Now, I want to get some positives out before I rag on all the negatives, and one is that the makers of the film had obviously done their research on the original film. If you're a fan of the 1982 flick you'll find plenty of visual nods and explanations as to the state of the Norwedgian camp (I.E. the axe-head in the wall). This at the very least gave the film some feeling of familiarity, a kind of assurance that the makers were genuinely trying as opposed to just trying to ride on the original's glory.
Unfortunately, although the makers seemed to be fans, they don't seem to have understood what made the original such a suspenseful film. The original film acted both as a sci-fi horror and a kind of murder mystery, in which both the protagonist and the viewer tried to get to the bottom of finding out who the thing was. This added a level of paranoia and tension to the film, as everyone started to turn on one another as The Thing sabotaged their attempts to find it and pin the blame on others. In here, however, The Thing is reduced to a jump-scare monster. Revealing itself the moment an inkling of suspiscion is cast upon it. The transformation scenes themselves, one of the most famous and terrifying parts of the original, are done here in CGI of varying quality. Sometimes it looks good, other times it just looks awful.
The best I can say about the cast is that the acting is competant. None of the characters have any personality beyond blunt stereotyping (try to sum up half the cast beyond just "Bearded Norwedgian", I dare you), and Mary Elizabeth Winstead is simply wasted in her role as the main character. Who spends most of the film either in a state of semi-boredom or contained shock.
Overall, it's your standerd summer horror flick. Not very good in it's own right, and downright terrible as part of The Thing franchise.