Just saw The Thing (2011) for $1.25 at my local dollar saver theater. I'd give it an 7/10. I would've preferred that they used more puppets and physical effects over CG, but at least the monster design was decent and the gore plentiful. I also liked how certain events lead up to the original John Carpenter movie. However, there are still a few things that were left open ended.
Such as the fate of the lead protagonist, who was last seen sitting in a car after she fried the last trace of the monster (save for the dog, anyway) shortly after disabling the space ship. Sure, she was told the location of a Russian base not too far from her location, but that could've been a lie from the disguised monster looking to mislead her. There's even the possibility that she never made it there due to unseen circumstances.
Also, there seemed to be more burnt up remains of both the monster and it's victims produced in this movie than there were that were discovered by the Americans in the original movie. It seemed odd to me that they redesigned the alien ship so heavily. Sure, now it looks larger and more impressive, but now it doesn't match up at all with what was found in the original movie.
I also felt that most of the rather abundant cast of characters were largely forgetable. If fact, I can hardly even recall a single character's name in the movie. Only exception may have been Lars, but that was only because I flagged him as the only potential survivor of the group simply because he doesn't speak English, which means he was most likely to be one of the two men that went to the American base in the original movie and then got shot. I merely identified the others by certain basic characteristics, such as the obvious heroine, norwegian chick, guy with glasses, and the black dude. With that said, if I were to name any real fault with this movie, it would be that it can get rather easy to predict.
Hell, at one point late in the movie, the camera had a damn good view of the hero's earring, which I never once noticed up until that point in time. This may not sound like much to you, but earlier in the film a crucial plot point in the movie involved tests to prove whether or not a character could have been infected. One way to prove you were human was to point out any inorganic material in your body. That includes dental fillings and piercings. So, by pointing out that man's earring so blantantly near the end of the film right before the two heroes go to fight the monster on an alien ship, it felt like the movie itself spoiled what could've turned out to be a nice twist.