In New York City in 1994, Strickler's Disease is an epidemic that is wiping out the city's population of young children. The carrier of Strickler's Disease has been identified as the common cockroach. Entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) has a plan to release the "Judas Breed," a genetically engineered insect resembling a gruesomely unholy combination of a roach, a praying mantis and a termite, into the sewers to kill the disease-spreading cockroaches. Within months, the city's cockroach population has been virtually wiped out, thus bringing a very swift end to Strickler's Disease, with the Judas Breed insects genetically designed to die out after a single generation.
Tyler and her colleague, CDC physician Dr. Peter Mann (Jeremy Northam), enjoy their 15 minutes of fame while also finding the time somewhere in their quest to begin an affair and get married.
Three years later, in 1997, a string of gruesome murders and disappearances has the local cops puzzled and fearing that a serial killer may be on the loose. However, startling evidence begins to arise to suggest that the Judas Breed not only never died out (like they were genetically modified to do so after a single generation), but have evolved into a perfect hunter that is now, in evolutionary terms, a deadly rival to human beings as the dominant species of the planet, and have been living and breeding by themselves in the abandoned subway tunnels of New York City for the past three years. The creatures have also evolved the ability to begin to mimic their greatest adversary: human beings.
"Mimic" is the 1997 big-studio English-language debut of Mexico's famed Guillermo del Toro ("Cronos"), who not only directed the feature, but also shares writing credits with co-screenwriter Matthew Robbins. The story itself is adapted from the short story of the same name by the late science fiction author Donald A. Wollheim (which I have not yet read).
"Mimic" contains many of the same directorial trademarks that del Toro has since become famous for, including a strong humanistic touch with identifiably human characters, insects, religious symbolism and allegory/imagery, and some occasionally grotesque violence/gore. (And of course the movie also has a dire warning about science, unchecked, going places that it shouldn't - in this case, upsetting the balance of nature through genetic engineering.) While "Mimic" can be accused of containing many slasher movie elements that are also dually characteristic of much of today's horror (don't get me wrong, del Toro is skilled in the direction department and gets a few good scares and occasionally shocking and gruesome imagery), it is balanced out with an interesting premise that reveals that there is a lot more going on here than just a monster on the loose killing people.
As I noted before, del Toro has a keen eye for religious symbolism and imagery, and he takes this with the Judas Breed - an obvious reference to the biblical Judas Iscariot, who of course, betrayed Jesus Christ to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver. Here, genetically modified insects resembling the carriers of the deadly disease are introduced into the malefactor's population, only to "betray" them and wipe them out in the end. But in a horrifying irony, the same creatures that were designed to be our saviors, may just replace us as this planet's dominant species. It's pretty frightening stuff when you get down to it.
For this type of picture, I find how incredible it was that del Toro was able to get Mira Sorvino for the lead in this movie, coming just two years after her Oscar-winning performance in "Mighty Aphrodite" (1995). She is seen as someone who believes in serving the greater good by trying to eradicate a horrific disease, only to learn later of the error of her mistakes in trying to play God and must now put her own life at risk to clean up those mistakes and save the world.
Other performances are worthy of honorable mention, including Jeremy Northam as her husband, and Charles S. Dutton as the hard-nosed metro-transit cop Leonard. Alexander Goodwin is also quite charming as Chuy, the autistic son of shoe-shiner Manny (Giancarlo Giannini), who also possess an uncanny ability to communicate with the deadly creatures.
"Mimic" is a great early effort from the one of this generation's most visionary filmmakers. Guillermo del Toro would gain later degrees of fame with the superhero films "Blade II" (2002) and the "Hellboy" series, before becoming international and Hollywood royalty with his best feature to date, "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006). He would also become blockbuster gold earlier this year with "Pacific Rim" (2013).
7/10
Tyler and her colleague, CDC physician Dr. Peter Mann (Jeremy Northam), enjoy their 15 minutes of fame while also finding the time somewhere in their quest to begin an affair and get married.
Three years later, in 1997, a string of gruesome murders and disappearances has the local cops puzzled and fearing that a serial killer may be on the loose. However, startling evidence begins to arise to suggest that the Judas Breed not only never died out (like they were genetically modified to do so after a single generation), but have evolved into a perfect hunter that is now, in evolutionary terms, a deadly rival to human beings as the dominant species of the planet, and have been living and breeding by themselves in the abandoned subway tunnels of New York City for the past three years. The creatures have also evolved the ability to begin to mimic their greatest adversary: human beings.
"Mimic" is the 1997 big-studio English-language debut of Mexico's famed Guillermo del Toro ("Cronos"), who not only directed the feature, but also shares writing credits with co-screenwriter Matthew Robbins. The story itself is adapted from the short story of the same name by the late science fiction author Donald A. Wollheim (which I have not yet read).
"Mimic" contains many of the same directorial trademarks that del Toro has since become famous for, including a strong humanistic touch with identifiably human characters, insects, religious symbolism and allegory/imagery, and some occasionally grotesque violence/gore. (And of course the movie also has a dire warning about science, unchecked, going places that it shouldn't - in this case, upsetting the balance of nature through genetic engineering.) While "Mimic" can be accused of containing many slasher movie elements that are also dually characteristic of much of today's horror (don't get me wrong, del Toro is skilled in the direction department and gets a few good scares and occasionally shocking and gruesome imagery), it is balanced out with an interesting premise that reveals that there is a lot more going on here than just a monster on the loose killing people.
As I noted before, del Toro has a keen eye for religious symbolism and imagery, and he takes this with the Judas Breed - an obvious reference to the biblical Judas Iscariot, who of course, betrayed Jesus Christ to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver. Here, genetically modified insects resembling the carriers of the deadly disease are introduced into the malefactor's population, only to "betray" them and wipe them out in the end. But in a horrifying irony, the same creatures that were designed to be our saviors, may just replace us as this planet's dominant species. It's pretty frightening stuff when you get down to it.
For this type of picture, I find how incredible it was that del Toro was able to get Mira Sorvino for the lead in this movie, coming just two years after her Oscar-winning performance in "Mighty Aphrodite" (1995). She is seen as someone who believes in serving the greater good by trying to eradicate a horrific disease, only to learn later of the error of her mistakes in trying to play God and must now put her own life at risk to clean up those mistakes and save the world.
Other performances are worthy of honorable mention, including Jeremy Northam as her husband, and Charles S. Dutton as the hard-nosed metro-transit cop Leonard. Alexander Goodwin is also quite charming as Chuy, the autistic son of shoe-shiner Manny (Giancarlo Giannini), who also possess an uncanny ability to communicate with the deadly creatures.
"Mimic" is a great early effort from the one of this generation's most visionary filmmakers. Guillermo del Toro would gain later degrees of fame with the superhero films "Blade II" (2002) and the "Hellboy" series, before becoming international and Hollywood royalty with his best feature to date, "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006). He would also become blockbuster gold earlier this year with "Pacific Rim" (2013).
7/10