In 1982 Sci-Fi/Horror maestro John Carpenter made his remake of The Thing from Another World (1951) called The Thing (1982). In my opinion, an that of many others, he made one of the best sci-fi/horror films in history. Now, in the 2000's we have a habit of remaking everything that stood out above the rest. Luckily the producers of this film decided that Carpenter's film was already perfect and so they decided to make a prequel, also called The Thing (2011).
Paleontologist Kate Lloyd is invited by Dr. Sandor Halvorson to join his
team who have found something extraordinary. Deep below the Arctic ice,
they have found an alien spacecraft that has been there for perhaps
100,000 years. Not far from where the craft landed, they find the
remains of the occupant. It's cut out of the ice and taken back to their
camp but as the ice melts, the creature reanimates and not only begins
to attack them but manages to infect them, with team members devolving
into the alien creature.
The Thing (2011) turned out to be a hugely disappointing film that doesn't come near the quality of John Carpenter's The Thing. The great atmosphere that made The Thing (1982) such a good film is largely gone. Even the feeling of complete isolation from the rest of the world doesn't come over. The ''infamous'' scene where the crew develop a little experiment to test who is an alien and who is not is recreated in this film. This time they check if they have fillings in their teeth to see if he's an alien or not. A pretty stupid replacement if you ask me. And again the tension is nowhere to be found. The special-effects featured in this film are not worth looking at. There is an excessive use of, crappy, CGI and it quickly makes you want to re-watch Carpenter's The Thing with its amazing old school effects.
The cast is pretty decent, although you can hardly replace a guy like Kurt Russell. It is also nice to see what happened at the Norwegian camp. The findings that Russell and his crew did in The Thing (1982) (two-headed alien, bloody axe, burned bodies etc) al return in this film and we get to see how it happened which is a cool element for the ones who saw Carpenter's film as well.
Overall The Thing is a pretty big disappointment. It doesn't come near the quality of Carpenter's film and misses a big piece of its moody atmosphere, pure tension and feeling of isolation. As a stand-alone film it's ''watchable''
Once upon a time, as a very small child, I used to watch an action serie called ''Renegade''. Now in 2013 I could only recall that it was about a bounty hunter riding a Harley Davidson and that I was crazy about it. So it was time for me to relive those childhood memories and start watching some Renegade.
After crooked cop Lieutenant "Dutch" Dixon kills his girlfriend and
frames him for murder, Reno Raines escapes from jail and goes on the
run. Teaming up with Bobby Sixkiller and Cheyenne Phillips, Reno works
as a bounty hunter while searching for the only man who can clear his
name.
Reno Raines is played by Lorenzo Lamas, a B-grade actor who made more shitty movies than Eric Roberts and with the five season running Renegade has his ''acting-prime''. Lamas might have starred in some shitty movies and also might not be the best actor alive on this planet but he suits the role of Reno Raines pretty well. He has the body and the skills for the many fighting sequences and more than once, if the script isn't poorly written, delivers his one liners quite well. As soon as it gets to emotional or dramatic though Lamas is clearly out of his element and so I cheer every time they skip the dramatic shit and hand him a shotgun instead.
The supporting cast is certainly worth mentioning. Reno's partner is ''Bobby SixKiller'' played by the always enthusiastic Branscombe Richmond. Richmond clearly has more flair and charisma than Lamas has and is a nice character to have around. They form a good team of what you can call ''The muscle and the brains''. Another one of Reno Raines' sidekicks is Cheyenne Phillips played by Kathleen Kinmont. Kinmont's character wasn't necessarily necessary for me but the fans of the TV show seem to like her and quite frankly I don't really care if she does or doesn't feature in the show. Other notable actors that feature in episodes of season 1 are Charles Napier (First Blood: Part 2), Jackie Earle Haley (Shutter Island), Miguel Sandoval (Jurassic Park), Martin Kove (First Blood: Part 2) and more.
About 80% of the 22 episodes of season 1 are about Reno Raines riding through the desert and randombly stumbling upon some redneck gang members. Usually these are the most entertaining and action packed though. The few episodes that do actually develop the main plot line never really have much impact as this serie just isn't made for much plot. It's about a bad-ass biker fighting for the weak and destroying the evil. That's what we want to see and luckily that's what we get to see most of the time as well.
The first season of Renegade is a successful one in my opinion. Most of the episodes are decent at the very least, 1 or 2 are absolutely great. Overall the serie manages to keep a very steady line in terms of quality and it seems like the less serious and dramatic the script, the better the episode gets. It's a bummer though that the two-part season finale is quite a disappointment. The storyline is cool but for a season finale I would have suspected a bit more action towards the end.
Complete list of episodes and my grades for them:
Ep1. Renegade - 7,0
Ep2. Hunting Accident - 7,0
Ep3. Final Judgement - 8,0
Ep4. La Mala Sombra - 7,0
Ep5. Mother Courage - 6,0
Ep6. Second Chance - 5,0
Ep7. Eye of the Storm - 7,0
Ep8. Payback - 7,0
Ep9. The Talisman - 5,0
Ep10. Partners - 6,0
Ep11. Lyon's Roar - 8,0
Ep12. Val's Song - 5,0
Ep13. Give and Take - 7,0
Ep14. Samurai - 4,0
Ep15. The Two Renos - 8,0
Ep16. Billy - 4,0
Ep17. Headcase - 7,0
Ep18. The Hot Tip - 9,0
Ep19. Moody River - 7,0
Ep20. Vanished - 6,0
Ep21. Fighting Cage: Part 1 - 6,0
Ep22. Fighting Cage: Part 2 - 7,0
