Review of Mimic (1997) by Thequietgamer — 12 Sep 2015

A slice of B-rated sci-fi-horror that ultimately isn't tense, interesting, or gross enough to really be worth watching. A shame given del Toro directed it and the interesting monster design. There's a cheesy core here that isn't tapped into and the plot ends up just being boring.

It clearly borrows from Aliens. Stand off scenes, various scenarios, and the lead heroine herself (Mira Sorvino all call back to that classic movie. Only instead of Xenomorphs we get giant bugs that really aren't scary. When things finally get going it all takes place in an abandoned part of the subway. It lacks the atmosphere of James Cameron's masterpiece.

"Mimic" experiments with a lot of things. It tries to gross and creep us out, but ultimately never succeeds due to bad direction. A splash more of gore here, some slime there, and darker lighting all around could have helped things out. The writing is so bland that the story falls short of being anything more than dull.

It's a movie that experiments with a handful of great ideas and fails to capitalize on any of them. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is that fails to deliver on what it's title and premise imply. There isn't any mimicry actually going on here. There's a bit thrown in which is so miniscule it actually feels like an afterthought. Like those behind the film realized at the last minute " Oh hey, we forgot these things are supposed to mimic humans. Let's throw this in last minute and hope nobody notices.".

Perhaps hardcore sc-fi enthusiasts will find something here. There is a mildly entertaining nature to it. However the horror element is almost non-existent and even the most devoted enthusiasts will likely be disappointed with how it ultimately fails to deliver on just about every one of it's promises. A shocking dud from del Toro and solid choice for skipping over.