Review: Mimic (1997)

In this, the 9th year of me trying to watch a horror movie every day of October (I have been successful in 7 of the last 8 years), I finally got around to watching this late 90s tale of Genetic Engineering Gone Wrong - a popular theme after the massive success of 1994's Jurassic Park, I am sure.  There is much to appreciate about this - directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam, with Josh Brolin, F. Murray Abraham, and Charles S Dutton also appearing, the movie has pedigree.  The creature design is also fairly good, even if the graphics are quite dated almost 30 years later.  But it left me cold.

I remembering reading once in a review of Pacific Rim - another del Toro production - that the difference between del Toro and most other directors was that even when doing an obvious paycheck movie, del Toro was never going to do anything other than his best to make the film good.  And you can see the effort put into making Mimic into the best possible version of itself.  I'm just not sure it was worth the effort.

I feel the need to mention a caveat at this point: I watched the original theatrical release of Mimic, rather than the later-released director's cut that, while not precisely what del Toro wanted, was closer to what he was going for than this one.  The added footage - and possibly different edits? - amounts to 6 extra minutes of film length, which is fairly significant.  This compromised version is still effective, but I might have been better served to seek out that other cut.  Such is life...

The edits forced onto the movie by the Weinsteins might contribute to some at-times draggy sequences and stifled action.  That said, at 106 minutes, I'm not sure much more of this particular story needed to be told.

That's really the crux of the problem:  The movie is mostly good, but I'm not really sure I could pinpoint what or how exactly to improve it.  Nothing I would suggest - aside from removing the child character from the movie - would have more than a minimal impact.  That one big change is also one that likely would have never been made.  Remember, this is post Jurassic Park, so putting a child in danger in anything mimicking that film -ah, I see what they did there, those sons of bi-- was all but guaranteed.

I suppose I can understand why this movie pops up occasionally amongst the horror community as one worth checking out.  I'm not sure I would recommend it, but I wouldn't actively tell anyone to avoid it either.

7 out of 10