I have not seen Mimic since the day I saw it in the theatre. Since I couldn’t remember why I never rewatched it, I figured it was time. If you have problems with insects, this is probably not the movie for you. It’s going to get buggy in here.
- Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
- Written by: Donald A. Wollheim. Matthew Robbins. Guillermo del Toro
- Starring: Mira Sorvino. Jeremy Northam. Alexander Goodwin
The Plot
Mimic is about the consequences of messing with nature, even when you have the best of intentions. In a nutshell, insects genetically engineered to eliminate roaches responsible for spreading a plague turn into human-sized superbugs. It is very Guillermo del Toro, even if the mainstream American audience didn’t fully realize what that meant in 1997.
Advertised as a monster movie, what we actually got is a visually compelling, socially relevant thriller that’s battling to come out from behind a formulaic studio picture. By studio, I mean Miramax. For those not up on their film history, this era of Miramax was ruled over by Harvey Weinstein. I’m not going to get into that particular topic now.
Especially when there are so many more fun things to talk about in regard to Mimic. From the beginning, del Toro has no problem putting kids in danger, opening with a plague focused on killing children and moving quickly to a monster that has no problem eating them.
Kids and The Theme
It’s not for shock value though. Kids, family, and reproduction are all part of the large themes del Toro explores. Mira Sorvino’s entomologist is struggling to start a family with her CDC husband Peter. Meanwhile their other creation, genetically enhanced bugs, are close to overpopulating the city. To save one generation’s future, they must eradicate the other. The bugs were only created to save the children in the first place, leaving the ethics of their existence up for much debate.
Sadly, Mimic trades its introspection for thrills in the latter half of the movie. The closer the main characters get to danger, the less interested in exploring any of the truly interesting moral consequences the movie becomes. That’s not to say Mimic ignores them, just that it has trouble balancing all the elements it introduces in the first half.
The end result is still a fascinating and kind of gross creature feature. The bugs look fantastic, although the mobile, human-sized versions hold up about as well as you would expect from a movie from 1997.
What Works
The characters aren’t heroes. While they are intelligent doctors and scientists, they are also beat cops and a shoe-shiner. There is also a boy with autism who learns to communicate with the insects. None of these people are particularly brave, they’re just trying to do the right thing. It’s a trait that shows up in a few of del Toro’s works. He has a talent for everyman characters that really works here.
What Doesn’t
Leonard. You probably knew I was going to bring this up if you’ve seen the movie, but if he had to be the human sacrifice, he could have gone out bigger. Also, at some point the bugs start behaving. By this, I mean they start exhibiting distinct behavioral traits. They pursue people angrily and do other very un-bug like things. del Toro tries to pull this back in the final showdown, but since it took angry bug behavior to get there in the first place, I’m only giving partial credit.
Studio Interference
Mimic is famous for being a difficult project for del Toro; so much so that’s he’s publicly disowned it. There is a director’s cut; I sadly did not watch that one. From what I can find online, it restores important character moments that speak to the theme of science’s disregard for nature. Eventually I’ll track that down since the characters are my favorite part of Mimic.
I still don’t know why I never rewatched Mimic until now. I had fun with it and genuinely enjoyed Mira Sorvino as the lead.
Final Thoughts
I hope with enough time since the experience of making Mimic, del Toro can view the finished product more favorably. There is so much cool stuff in there, from the awesome shots of the hospital in the intro to the practical bug effects. If you are a die-hard del Toro fan, there are probably other movies of his that rank higher on your list. Mimic remains a fun and atmospheric watch, even if it’s showing its age.
Mimic is available on streaming.
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