MIMIC
It is a given that when you mess with nature you can expect trouble. That is what happens when a contagious illness is spread by a cockroach-like insect in NYC where in some neighborhoods cockroaches are not exactly unknown. To the rescue comes Dr. Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino), a top-notch scientist, and her husband, Dr. Peter Mann (Jeremy Northam). They successfully combine the DNA from other species thus creating a counter agent to the disease-carrying insect. This new creation is let loose in NYC and the plague ceases . . . until three years later when it emerges in a newer and more horrible form: giant cockroaches with wings and with one king roach fathering a mass of winged roaches.
Many science fiction film, as in MIMIC, keep the screen dark for its eeriness. Here, much of the movie takes place under the city, in abandoned subways and sewers . . . and always dark green or darker hues. That manipulative oppressiveness soon becomes trying; when almost the whole film is gloomy it is annoying. In fact the whole idea of using cockroaches strikes me as being tasteless.
Mira Sorvino's talent is utterly wasted. Dr. Gates, an entomologist to whom Susan turns to for advice is in nothing more than a cameo and another waste of a fine actor. Josh Brolin plays an investigator, Charles S Dutton is a cop, Chuy, the autistic child who plays "music" by clicking spoons, is played by Alexander Goodwin. I found that whole bit about the spoons annoying.
Mimic is based on a short story by Donald A Wolheim and should have remained just that.
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro in his first U.S. film.
Mimic is released by DIMENSION FILMS.
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Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
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