Mimic

Mimic has a title that describes what it does. Mimic imitates and copies other movies. But, like the predators portrayed in Mimic, Mimic is a bad copy of other movies.

Mimic stars Mira Sorvino as an entomologist who creates a cure for a deadly disease that infects children. Because the disease is spread via cockroaches, Sorvino’s character Susan creates, via genetic engineering, an insect, Judas Breed, that kills the roaches. These genetically engineered insects have a six-month life span and are sterile. This interesting story is just the back-story of Mimic. It has so much potential. But, Mimic picks up only after the explanation of the back-story. Like the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, nature takes its way with the insects of Mimic and they breed into a whole colony. And it is here where the movie picks up, the human battle for survival against these insects.

So, you may ask, where does the movie get its title? The insects have mutated to resemble their predators, and they mimic us, the humans. The insects are quite interesting actually, the movie producers chose not to use the easy way to have the insects mimic us. This easy way would be by giving the insects the ability to morph into humans. Instead the producers chose to have the insects “wrap” themselves tight with their wings to form a humanlike shape.

Mimic does not really work as a horror film because it is hardly scary. But, there are times where the director, Guillermo Del Toro, builds some heavy tension. But, this tension is lost because the payoff for the tension just does not get where it should. Del Toro does have the eye for mood though, he does a good job at setting a dark mood for the film, and continuing it throughout the film.

Academy Award winner Sorvino shows some limitations as an actress in Mimic, her two real feelings shown in the film are scared and angry. The other Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham has a small role in Mimic and does not get too much screen time. The real star of Mimic is the highly likeable, and entertaining Charles Dutton as the cop Leonard.

The one thing that comes early on in Mimic that makes it almost apparent that it is trying to imitate and copy from other films is the credits. The opening credits are presented in the flashy, carved fashion that are reminiscent of the credits of Se7en.

Mimic is a B-grade movie with A-list actors. It is a horror film, and although it does better than this summers other horror film, Event Horizon, it does not reach any new heights. Like Event Horizon, there was so much potential for Mimic, but it was all lost.