Hooptober Neun (2022) - Film #30
8 decades (1960s); 2 insect centered films

Mimic is focused around a simple premise. What is the worst that can happen when we play God? We’ve seen that idea done before, but here, the answer is pretty offbeat and perfectly in keeping with Guillermo del Toro’s predilection for weird creatures.

The film is visually quite dark, a lot happens in the shadows and there’s a fair amount left to the imagination. This is a wise choice, as the computer based character effects are a little unconvincing when fully exposed. The physical effects, however, are far better than the computerised elements, and there’s some good entomological gross out stuff.

This visual darkness has been a feature of all of the Guillermo del Toro films I’ve seen so far, especially Blade II, which also makes extensive use of a subway setting. Speaking of similarities, there are elements here that reminded me of several other films; the creature physiology of Alien, the group dynamics of Romero’s zombie flicks and the tunnel-based fear of the lesser known Split Second, featuring Rutger Hauer.

In terms of acting, there are no real bad performances here, but there’s not much that is particularly impressive either, outside of perhaps Charles S. Dutton’s disgruntled cop. Whilst the dialogue is solid, I didn’t feel that there was a whole lot of character built into the two lead roles. I understood their jobs, but I didn’t really get to know what type of people they were.

Beyond this, the film is simply too long. I’m aware of del Toro’s difficulties with Miramax in the production of Mimic, and that he did not have final cut privilege initially, but his director’s cut is even longer still. I think that’s the main issue here, and while this film has a multitude of strengths, it simply didn’t hold my attention as much as I hoped that it would. Earlier in this review, I likened Mimic to Split Second. I have to say that I found the latter to be the more enjoyable ‘creature rampaging through the subway’ movie. It’s not that Mimic is bad; it isn’t, and I enjoyed it. It’s simply that with this concept, and a director of del Toro’s quality, I had hoped for a little more.