Mimic
In the 70s and early 80s, the teen slasher genre went out of style after too many cliched and boring films. Even Jamie Lee Curtis couldn't keep those alive. However, over the past year, that genre has made a terrific comeback (following the success of Scream). Lately I fear that another genre will soon go out of style because of too many cliched copies. That genre is the monster/horror flick. We have had quite a few come out in the past couple of years (Anaconda, The Relic, Lost World), and slowly these films are becoming cliched and dumb. But if Mimic, the new film from the director of Cronos, has anything to say about it, this genre will stick around for a long time to come.
Slick and visually impressive, Mimic does what most monster films would only like to do: scare us with a horrifying story. While it isn't as scary as the recent Event Horizon, Mimic has a rich atmosphere which creates a certain fear just from dark corridors and shadowed figures. Director Guillermo Del Toro has proven that he can mix exciting and creative visuals into a horror film with his Mexican vampire film, Cronos. In that film, vampires were created by way of a small metal bug. Mimic is probably a better film than that one, especially during the first thirty minutes which are a setup for the later plot development. The first thirty minutes are creepy, scary, and inventive all in one. Unfortunately, the film's final half hour is the recycled cat-and-mouse sequence, albeit an exciting one.
Mimic begins with a plague, spread by cockroaches, infecting the children of New York. Unfortunately, because there are so many cockroaches in New York, there is no way to control the spreading virus. Scientist Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) is brought in to figure out a way to destroy this devastating plague. She and her colleagues create a new species of bugs, called the "Judas Breed." This new species has the unique ability to "mimic" its prey, thus infiltrating the cockroaches' nest. The Judas Breed is a half-mantis, half-termite, which is bred to die off after 180 days. The plague is destroyed and everyone is happy. That is, until three years later, when one of the mimics is discovered in a subway system.
Up to this point in the film, Del Toro has used his inventive storytelling to impress and scare us. His sense of what scares people and how to manipulate it is hard to find in films such as this. He knows most people are frightened by unknown insects, shadowed figures, and dark, creepy places. The next hour of the film uses all of these terrifying moments, and many of those false scares followed by real ones. Susan Tyler and her new husband, Peter Mann (Jeremy Northam), want to find out how these insects were able to evolve. So they enlist the help of two bug-loving kids who found the specimen of the Judas Breed. These two kids know their way around the underground passages and tunnels. The atmospheric look of the subway plays very well with the subject, and creates quite a bit of suspense by itself. And thankfully Del Toro has realized that the audience likes to see what happens on screen (something The Relic couldn't comprehend), and uses overhead lights and sewage drains to allow sunlight to filter in.
With everything in this film stolen from other movies (even the title is appropriate, and somewhat ironic), Mimic is able to twist everything we know about monster films and make them seem new again. For instance, take the mysterious shadowed figure standing ominously at a distance (think Candyman), and then make that figure inhuman. One of the most outstanding scenes in this film occurs when Susan Tyler discovers the secret of the Judas Breed. As she waits for her husband to come back from the underground tunnels, Tyler sits with pictures of a Mimic's corpse. She looks at two of the pictures and then realizes what they are mimicking: their prey, humans. It's an amazing scene, and though it is recycled and cliched, Del Toro has an amazing use of visuals to make the scene exciting and fun.
There is one thing Mimic doesn't copy from other films of this genre: the characters. Susan Tyler, as portrayed by Sorvino, is the same kind of heroine as in The Relic, except that Tyler is more emotional and realistic. Sorvino does a terrific job with the character, and I couldn't see anyone else in the role. She provides some beauty amongst the dark surroundings, and being such a good actress, Sorvino steals the film from everyone else. Peter Mann is the loyal husband, and Jeremy Northam does a good job of portraying him. Northam never overplays the situation, and always remains calm. His best scene involves the close encounter with one of the Mimics. The scene is well done and very suspenseful. Chuy is the one character that I felt was underdeveloped, but actor Alexander Goodwin brings some added depth to the scientist. There is one character which needed some work, mainly because the actor didn't quite do a good of portraying him. Josh (Josh Brolin) is a great character, but Brolin is stiff and can't handle the complex character. However, Josh provides one of the most vital and suspenseful scenes in the film involving his unique aspect of being able to click spoons together to mimic the Mimic's sounds. Leonard (Charles S. Dutton) is the comic relief of the film, and thankfully Dutton is funny enough to release some of the tension.
Mimic is rated R for gruesome violence and terror, as well as language and... did I mention gory violence? Okay, so it isn't as bad as some horror films, but don't plan on eating popcorn or anything while watching this movie. Mimic has a great visual style to keep most people entertained, but I fear that many people will dislike the style provided by Del Toro. I appreciated the uniqueness, and especially the exciting finale. The explosion at the end of the movie is extremely awesome, and yet it doesn't even end there. The final stand off between human and Mimic is amazingly well played out. With all the mimicky concepts of Mimic, everything comes across as original, new, and sometimes very scary.