Cock-up Roaches (Mimic (DVD))

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Product:	Mimic (DVD)
Date:	15/01/02 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The bugs, the photography

Disadvantages: The formulaic plot , the missed opportunities

The title sequence is superb, the haunting choral soundtrack bringing to mind the wonder of God's creations as the camera pans over the fragile bodies of butterfly specimens. The credits jitter bug-like around the screen, and the tones of decay pervading the photography enhance the Memento Mori mood. It is reminiscent of the opening sequence of Werner Herzog's "Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht" which provided the same spectacle with mummified corpses - but this is more delicate in touch, and suggests that Guillermo del Toro has given us a film of the standard of his debut, 'Cronos', one of the most original and poetic vampire movies ever made. But first impressions of this film, like those of the death's head moth, prove to be a little deceptive.

Its not that the poetry isn't here. It is, especially in the first half of the film where the plot unfolds. After a cockroach-spread disease wipes out a generation of children in the city, scientists breed genetically modified killer cockroaches to destroy the disease-ridden ones. It all seems to have worked splendidly until 3 years later the scientist responsible is given what appears to be a 40th generation specimen one of her bugs - rather disconcerting considering they were genetically programmed to die after just 1 generation. And it soon transpires that down in the evolutionary soup of the city's subway those bugs have been doing a bit of mutating...

It is beautifully filmed, the palette restricted to the colours of grime - black, browns, and dirty wet greys - and shadows linger where you'd expect there to be light. The Mexican director's Catholicism is also evident - we are continually reminded of the religious implications of the scientists' experiments by the crucifixes scattered throughout, gleaming golden in the darkness. There are some engaging characters, and the decision to make many of them children is pleasing, and intriguing in its irony (
their lives now threatened by the insect that saved their lives from disease). Particularly good is autistic boy Chuy (Alexander Goodwin) who provides most of the film's finest moments after he witnesses the horror of the bugs for the first time - constructing little insect sculptures which he lines up on the window sill, and mimicking the sound of the bugs' "funny shoes" with a handful of cutlery.

The problem is that all this poetry has been pushed into the straitjacket of a formulaic sci-fi horror plot, which begins like an episode of the X-Files and gradually mutates into a re-run of the already tired plot of the 'Alien' series. The familiarity of it all is compounded by the casting of Charles Dutton, who played the priest in 'Alien 3', here reprising his stubborn character (albeit this time in a police officer's uniform). All too soon it becomes clear how the film is going to play out - which characters are going to stay the distance, and which of them are just cockroach fodder. The plot developments are predictable, and the convenient sequence of events that bring the film to a tidy end are a let down.

That said, there's enough here to entertain. The bugs themselves are impressive - the scene where one unfolds itself in the stark light of subway station is a wonder to behold. And though the most interesting characters are sidelined (or eaten), the rather dull main characters (the scientist and her husband, played by Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam) are nevertheless refreshingly down-to-earth, reacting to events with convincing reluctance and trepidation. The mood is sustained well with the photography, and del Torro has a sensitivity toward his subject matter (insects being a favourite theme of his), capturing the squalor of the insects' habitat with revolting images of insect excrement and various secretions. From underground there is a superb shot of a drain cover way above, the people on the str
eet walking over it as small as insects - contrasted to the sound of insects as big as people scuttling nearby. Best of all is a very neat twist half way through the film, when the insects reveal one of their mutations, making us realise we'd misinterpreted some key images earlier in the film and changing our understanding of the story so far.

The downside of this twist, however, is that the mutation behind it is the best idea in the film, and one that could have been explored much further - if only the narrative could have been allowed to scuttle down those twists and turns more freely, this film could have been something really special. Instead you feel you're watching a potentially great film that's been dragged against its will down an overly trodden path to an all too familiar destination. Admittedly, as a genre flick you could do far worse - and seen in that light this is rather an attractive specimen, and one well worth catching - but ultimately 'Mimic' is a missed opportunity.

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