I just watched The Thing 2011 again and it isn't That bad overall. There is just 1 Critical Flaw of the Entire movie that makes it a low-scoring action-slayer: Illogical Nonsense. Everyone in this film is acting like someone should Not act in this situation: resisting tests, standing close to people that cannot be trusted, and killing each-other for no reason just because they just don't want to be tested and explain nothing. They are totally Oblivious to the threat, as if they are just walk-on roles rather than main b-characters in a serious event; and it is Nagging. They don't reveal critical information, they go off on their own often to be killed quickly, and the characters are as bland as saying 1-liners to a camera 10 times for the "best take." If this was as well-developed as the Original, or even written and choreographed with some Common Sense, the movie wouldn't have been such a dumpster-fire.
On top of this critical failure, it just isn't scary. The creature transforms too "clean," and is too "Ogaa Booga Booga!" It doesn't creep through vents, or jump you in the dark... it just stabs you and that's it. There are some good cameos to the original, but it just doesn't do justice to the overarching narrative of Survival Horror. There is no tension, no buildup, nor shocking reveals. If you think a guy is the thing, he probably is, and if he is Lars whom is awesome, then you Know they will never be the thing and they aren't coy about expressing these facts. This is just an action movie with gore-shock elements, but it is not scary and is not any more revealing about the Lore of the thing than a specific cool aspect, but that's it.
Why is it there? What is it trying to do? what is the purpose? anything? No. It is just a crazy alien that can fly ships and stab defenseless scientists. It doesn't want to escape as much as it wants to imitate things, so it appears to be just some angry child with god powers because there is no reason it does what it does other than "that's what I do, imitate and stab people." It is like Jason or Halloween movies that the serial killer is just a killer and there are no interesting aspects about it at all other than generic crazy. It is a Huge missed opportunity because there were so many possibilities on the scientific revelations of what they Learned about it. Paleontology, Genetics, Redeeming Qualities... Really there is no science at all, and when you think they are going to reveal something, they burn all the science down and make it a wild-guess series of caveman tests. Silly overall and disappointing that these "scientists" are just idiots.
This doesn't mean the movie is "bad" per say, but it is certainly not a shelf-duster and rather a 1-time rent from Redbox or a streaming-service binge-watcher because you were a fan of the Real OG The Thing 1982 which is clean and shiny sitting on your top shelf.