Mimic movie review

Here's what you need to know; a deadly virus is running loose in New York, with the body count piling up, scientist Susan Tyler creates the Judas breed, a genetically engineered insect designed to kill the carriers of the virus. But years later, with the virus long gone, it seems that the Judas breed managed to survive, and has evolved into something monstrous.

Here we go, Mimic. Something you'd expect I like about this film is the Judas breed, and actually, yes I do, I must admit that it's not as creative as the Cronos device, or as pretty, I mean these bugs are vile, they're slimy and they click and scuttle and they're just grim things, and what really makes them creepy is something I won't spoil, but they have a little trick that is brilliant and completely terrifying. The bugs themselves when pulling this trick look creepy as shit, especially when they're outside at night in the rain. Characters in this film are an oddity for me, Susan is the only character I remember the name of, apart from Jeremy, who's in the movie for about 30 seconds and I only remember because it's Norman Reedus. None of the characters are particularly interesting or memorable, and there's a kid in the movie that's just weird, not creepy, not funny, just weird, in that Lizzie from Walking Dead kind of way. Really here's what I remember about the characters, Susan and her husband are trying for a baby, the cop sings when he's scared, and the shoe guy is religious, I didn't particularly dislike any of the characters, it's just that I didn't really care. This film's story however is something I like, again, I think the Judas are cool, and this is a world I wanted to know more about with this virus and the cockroaches, and reason would have you believe that a 6 foot winged insect would be easy to spot, but that's the beauty of it, again, no spoilers. The film's plot is interesting enough to keep you watching, but what really drives it is the bugs, and the characters unravelling the mystery and trying to stop them, and unlike Cronos, this film does end with a bang, and there are a few good character moments near the end, by that I'm on about the cop.

Ok, let's just say it, this film has some beautiful imagery. Seeing a mysterious silhouette in a window, or on a rooftop, or plastered on the side of a subway tunnel, my personal favourite, is spine chilling, the empty snow covered streets at the beginning or the dark, rain soaked streets and dark, decaying subway tunnels of the rest of the film are all environments that just look unsettling, the snow at the beginning in particular, in the context of the film's prologue, the film also has some really creepy lighting, mainly down in the tunnels, the way the lights from above cast down with a dim blue glow, or the ominous orange light of the glow sticks, or even just the glisten of the slime gives the film a very dark, sickening look. On the subject of slime, let's talk about the special effects, I'll start with the easy target, the CG, this film came out in 1997, so is saying the CG looks a bit rough really a fair point, but yeah, the CG hasn't held up quite brilliantly, it's not the worst most dated effects I've ever seen, not by a long way, but it does show it's age. On the plus side, this film pulls a Jurassic Park and uses both CG and practical effects, and it's del Toro, so you know the practical effects will hold up, and yes they do, very well, in fact it kind of makes me wonder why so much of this film's effects was CG when the practical effects look so good, for example the little baby Judas bugs would look much better as a practical effect, and it does take away from the dated looking CG, not hugely, but it does. And to be even more fair, the CG only looks noticeably dated when the Judas bugs are in well lit areas or in large numbers, when one of them is in a tunnel where there is little light, it actually looks really good, and I think that's where they belong, in the dark, tight environments of the underground.

Mimic is a fun little movie, it's not even close to brilliance, but there's nothing in this movie I particularly hate, the characters are serviceable but forgettable, the film tells an interesting story with a really cool enemy, it has some gorgeously creepy imagery and creepy and very cool looking practical effects, while it does have some noticeably dated CG at times. Mimic is a film that I enjoyed watching, but it's not a film that I want to watch again the second it ends, it's worth a watch to see what you think, I personally like it, but I wouldn't say I love it.