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John Carpenter’s remake of a revered 1950s B-Movie became even more revered than the film it honoured. It was a masterpiece in paranoia, tension, and deftly showed our shortcomings as a species, and how far we yet have to go. Considering the explosion of sequels in the 80s and remakes this century, it’s amazing it has taken this long for someone to do another one.
The premise sounded far more palatable than most cash-ins: a prequel that would directly tie into Carpenter’s original. It wasn’t a remake that would rehash what doesn’t need to be revisited (as most hits don’t); it wasn’t a sequel that would simply plonk new characters into the same situation; it would be a dovetailed story that answered some of the questions John Carpenter left behind. Promising? Intriguing? It was in premise.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays a palaeontologist who is whisked away by a secretive Norwegian scientist to the Arctic to help them research the discovery of a vessel buried in the ice, and subsequently a sample believed to be an alien life-form. When the scientist abandons any common sense or scientific protocols to drill a sample of the creature out of the ice, very bad shit starts to happen.
Sound familiar? While one must give the makers of this picture understanding for their unfailing reverential efforts to Carpenter’s movie, what they add to the mythology adds up to exactly nothing. The story is the same, with no deviation at all, only this time the characters are nowhere near as well conceived or likeable; in fact some of them are damn well moronic and unbelievable; especially in a modern context, with the average Joe knowing more about scientific exploration than these morons do. Yes, it is set in the past, but c’mon, relating to the characters is the lynchpin of the story.
The film is too bogged down in honouring Carpenter and the feel of the original to bother making itself its own animal. Great care has been given to answer some of the questions left for us in 82, like why the axe was in the wall, the empty block of ice, the running dog etc., and they’re nice touches, but this seems to be all the makers have to offer. The rest of it is a rehash of what came before.
The effects are also a modernized homage to what came before, and look disgustingly great, but the CGI/practical effect combination takes something visceral away from it, and they show far too much at times.
Performances are all solid, weak characterization aside, and all the actors give it their all. Winstead is more than capable as a lead but was not given a character that honours her skills. Aussie Joel Edgerton’s role is rather thankless, and their attempts at making him the Kurt Russell of the piece come too little too late.
All in all, folks this movie is a colossal waste of resources and money. They have spent so much time trying to rope this film to Carpenter’s they have sacrificed any sense of self or attempt to make something their own. It looks great, it has good effects, and almost tracing a master in his work, they affect some great sequences, but we’ve seen them all before. This may not be a remake, this may not be a sequel, but it may as well have been. Perhaps the title should have been our clue? They have nothing new to offer.
MPAA Rating: R for strong creature violence and gore, disturbing images, and language.
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