6.23.2012

Mimic: The Directors Cut Blu-ray


1997
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Category: Sci-fi / Horror

You know, I'm a huge fan of writer/director Guillermo del Toro. Ever since Blade II (where I was first introduced to this wonderkid), the guy has seriously impressed me with his writing and directing style. It's safe to say that he's definitely one of the few visionary filmmakers out there. He's one of those filmmakers who has a very specific look to almost all of his films, much like Peter Jackson. But this is one of those films that I somehow never got around to for various reasons. I think the lame U.S. DVD cover art never appealed to me to begin with. I mean, it's a film about mutant bugs and the cover is a close up of star Mira Sorvino? Actually, the more I think about it, the DVD cover art must be the reason. But when I heard they were releasing a "Director's Cut" with some nice special features and an intro by del Toro himself? Well I thought this would be the perfect time to finally check this sucker out. Plus, look at that new cover art! Brilliant, bloody fucking brilliant and if they put this much attention into it's initial release, I think it would have been a much more successful film than it initially was. 

When roaches seem to be the cause of a disease striking children in great numbers in New York City, entomologist Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) seems to have created a miracle cure, a mutated bug created in the lab that will kill off the cockroaches, effectively putting an end to the fast spreading disease, and then die also within a week. The approach seems to work and there appears to be no sign of this child killing disease for a few years. But when a rash of murders and disappearances along with the discovery of one of her genetically mutated bugs that were supposed to have died off years ago come to light, she soon realizes they have something much more dangerous on there hands. A super bug that has grown and adapted to mimic human beings, which make them much more dangerous than anybody could have ever imagined. 

This was a really good movie. Director Guillermo del Toro has such a keen eye for fantasy, that even in the realms of a horror film, it looks and feels like a fantasy film also. Atmosphere. Atmosphere is what this film is all about and del Toro pulls it off splendidly. It's a purely cinematic experience that only someone of del Toro's gifts can generate. I've never seen the theatrical cut though, so I can't compare that version to this one. Though in the supplemental material found on this release he states that there were problems right from the beginning and he states matter of factly that it was a miserable experience and he was not able to make the film he set out to make. Even with this "Director's Cut", though he says he's happy with it seeing the light of day, he's still not completely happy and if this is the closest we get to his original vision, then it's better than nothing. 

Mimic: The Director's Cut tells us immediately what's going on right from the get go, which I really liked. They lay it all out for you with the disease that's killing children and with Susan Tyler single handedly putting a stop to it........seemingly. This is all done in the first 15 minutes. Fast forward a few years and she's married to another scientist and they are trying to have a baby, while both also being married to there work. One day a couple of kids bring her a huge bug that they found in the subway which they intend to sell to her for a few bucks. While observing the bug it attacks her, which she in turn kills out of frustration and when it starts secreting a white liquid, the same secretion she designed and created years ago to kill off the cockroaches in the first place, she realizes that these new bugs somehow survived and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Soon she realizes they've also evolved, grown and adapted tremendously within just 3 years and can now mimic human beings in the dark of the subway tunnels. 

The slow burn pace in the first half didn't really put me off because I really liked what I was seeing. Visually, it's impressive. And for me, most of the time, it's enough to keep me interested enough to finish it through to the end. But thankfully, the second half of the film really delivers with all the suspense, chills and even action you'd come to expect from Guillermo del Toro. Not in the same way as in Blade II or the Hellboy films, but in the parameters of a horror film, it was exciting and well done. I'd been wanting to pick up this Blu-ray ever since it was released, but was unsure if it was any good so I didn't want to shell out the cash for it, you know.....just in case it sucked. But, as luck would have it, it was on sale at Best Buy for very cheap and wanting to buy myself a little father's day gift, I just couldn't resist and what a gift it was. I'm glad I purchased it though because this is something I can see myself revisiting from time to time for the visual stimulation. Plus, it has a healthy dose of special features. Short, but with a lot of info on the problems that plagued the production and also on the creation of the creatures and whatnot. The most fascinating though would be del Toro's candid interview in his curse laden explanation as to why he doesn't think it's a very good film in general (though he's happy this release reflects more closely to his vision than the studio's theatrical cut) and what his original intent had been for the film right from the beginning. All in all, Mimic is not great a great film, but it's a very satisfying horror/fantasy film with a killer ending. 

8 comments:

  1. Yeah, this isn't a great film but I've still watched it quite a few times. Haven't seen this extended cut yet but I remember the original version always seemed quite... chopped up. Like someone had cut out huge portions.

    The problem I always have with it is that even though the effects and cinematography are great it never feels very scary.

    Love it when DVD features are really honest. Kudos to Del Toro for still participating with this version. My favourite special features has to be the Alien 3 Making of where they actually show David Fincher with his head in his hands!

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  2. No, it's not very scary, but it had some nice tension here and there and then it gets kind of exciting towards the end, which was fine for me because it all looked really nice. I've never seen the theatrical cut though, so I can't compare the two. But this was a fun watch.

    I have Alien Anthology on blu-ray and I don't remember Fincher participating at all in the special features, only in the footage they shot of him when he was filming Alien 3. Is that what you mean?

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  3. Yeah, sorry that's what I meant. It was footage of Fincher on the set of Alien 3 with his head in his hands. I'm surprised how honest Fox were about his mistreatment.

    I'm sure I also read in "Down and Dirty Pictures" that the Harvey Weinstein tried to remove Del Toro from this project halfway through but Tarantino stepped in and told him to back off. That's a great book if you haven't read it.

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    1. I know! It's amazing that Fincher didn't give up on making movies altogether after that experience. I probably would have. lol.

      Thanks for the heads up on that book, I love stuff like that. Never heard of it, but I'll definitely try to get my hands on it soon.

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  4. I can't even imagine what the movie would have been like if del Toro was able to do everything he wanted. I love the film as it is already. I've only seen the theatrical cut, and I also hated the region 1 DVD cover, which is why I bought the region 2 version. I really, really, really want this blu-ray.

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    1. Sir Phobos, amazingly it was only $6.99 at Best Buy last week. I couldn't believe it!

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    2. Dammit. I'm pretty sure I missed that boat. Oh, yea. Amazon.

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    3. It's funny, I scoured eBay and Amazon for months and never wanting to pay the average $10 just in case I didn't like it. So I lucked out. But after I've seen it, it's definitely worth $10, no doubt. Amazon is also streaming The Director's Cut for $1.99.

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