Review of Mimic (1997) by Benjamin P — 06 Apr 2012

I always seem to give Guillermo del Toro the benefit of the doubt, and I really should stop doing that. There comes a point when I have to realize, no matter how noble his intentions, he's just not that great of a filmmaker. I appreciate his attempts at elevating the creature B-Movie ("Cronos" and "Pan's Labyrinth" are good examples of this). I also appreciate his appreciation of character. That is something that squarely fits him in the auteur category; visual style plus sturdy characterization.

Still, there is no way around the fact that he has extremely overrated. His "Hellboy" films are embarrassingly messy and "Blade II" is the loudest, most overstuffed and incoherent sequel around. "Mimic" falls sort of in the middle of all this. There is clearly and interesting film at play here. I liked the ideas and the characters. Unfortunately it's just so squarely pedestrian it can never rise above mediocrity. The director's cut does help the film but in the end, it's just a generic creature film. If creatures is all del Toro has to contribute to the world of cinema, he should quit while he's ahead. Del Toro needs to give us something new, and looking at his upcoming projects, he's not trying to.