Mimic (1997)

Mimic (1997), directed by Guillermo del Toro (3.5 stars)

“We don’t even know what the impact is of what we did.” — Dr. Susan Tyler

"Mimic “was director del Toro's second film and his first foray into Hollywood.  According the commentary that accompanies the Blu-Ray release of the "director's cut," the lessons he learned during the making of "Mimic" would prove extremely valuable to him as a filmmaker--in hindsight if not at the time.  Constant clashes between del Toro and the producers resulted in significantly dumbing down the film by the time it was released, so the 2012 director's cut is his best effort to eke the most out of the footage that was shot.  And say what you will about the Hollywoodization of the plot, the visuals and themes that permeate the film are pure del Toro.  It is appropriately dark and stormy, and the subtle interplay of shadow and fluid camerawork does a good job keeping viewers on the edge of their seats for much of the film.

The plot is sure to be of interest to entomologists everywhere. For two years, Strickler’s Disease, a bug-borne virus that ravages the young, has infested New York City. Peter Mann (Jeremy Northram) of the CDC solicits the assistance of Professor Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino), who comes up with a cockroach cocktail that contains the spread.  Unbeknownst to all concerned, however, the cure has severe side effects.  Termed the “Judas Breed,” Dr. Tyler’s molecular mix of manta, termite, and cockroach DNA disrupts the metabolism of all three insect species, causing the fortunate few that have survived to regenerate, mutate, and grow at a staggering rate. Three years later, members of the brood begin to emerge from abandoned subway tunnels beneath the city streets and, the first casualty—pure del Toro—is a priest.  The man falls to his death while fleeing a shadowy pursuer, and he is then dragged into a nearby sewer.  It requires several tugs from within to pull the priest through the narrow hole.  As his bones crack, the cross he wears around his neck gleams in the rain-reflected street lights.

Those familiar with del Toro’s work will not be surprised by the overarching presence of Christian iconography, of which this is only one early example.  Other of the director’s signature themes are also on display, including oversized, fierce and filthy insects, young people trying to make sense of a world gone mad, and painful cuts that are difficult to watch—and here I am referring to bloody slashes and gashes, not to the editing of the film.  Familiar thematic motifs also recur, particularly, that of redemption.  The major characters, especially the two scientists and Leonard (Charles Dutton), a policeman and fellow traveler on a descent into progressively deeper and darker circles of Hell, face seemingly insurmountable odds in their individual sacrificial quests to save the lives of others.

Although a more visually and narratively consistent film in its reedited form, “Mimic” still suffers from a “too many cooks in the kitchen” syndrome fostered, it seems, by too much attentive care and feeding by studio executives.  Nevertheless, it’s a cut or two above other semi-apocalyptic thrillers, and it preserves in celluloid (like insects in amber) the evolutionary imprint of a young filmmaker on the rise.