Mimic: Three-Film Set Blu-ray

Mimic: Three-Film Set

 (1997-2003)

Mimic: Three-Film Set Blu-ray offers solid video and great audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release
The set includes Mimic: The Director's Cut, along with Mimic 2 and Mimic: Sentinel.

For more about Mimic: Three-Film Set and the Mimic: Three-Film Set Blu-ray release, see the Mimic: Three-Film Set Blu-ray Review

Starring: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Josh Brolin, Giancarlo Giannini, Charles S. Dutton
Director: Guillermo del Toro


This Blu-ray release includes the following titles, see individual titles for specs and details:

Mimic Blu-ray    The Director's Cut / Blu-ray + Digital Copy Lionsgate Films | 1997 | 112 min | Rated R | Region A (locked) | Sep 27, 2011 Three years ago, two young scientists teamed up to save New York City from an roach-borne epidemic that was killing thousands of children. Their miracle of genetic engineering was the Judas Breed, an insect whose enzimes proved... Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi

Mimic 2 Blu-ray Lionsgate Films | 2001 | 82 min | Rated R | Region A (B, C untested) | No Release Date When a cockroach-spread plague threatened to decimate the child population of New York City in the original Mimic, biologist Susan Tyler and her research associates developed a species of "Judas" bugs and introduced them into the... Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller

Mimic: Sentinel Blu-ray Lionsgate Films | 2003 | 77 min | Rated R | Region A (B, C untested) | No Release Date Following the ravaging of New York by deadly cockroaches, a sickly young man named Marvin, forced to live in a plastic bubble encasement in his bedroom, barely manages to exist in an apartment shared with his fractured family.... Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller

Mimic: Three-Film Set Blu-ray Review

Don't unnecessary sequels bug you?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, April 27, 2012

The problem with cockroaches is they're unwanted in the first place, but once one is seen, chances are there are hordes of them hiding in various nooks and crannies. Much the same could be said of the Mimic films, a franchise of sorts that was spawned in the morass of development hell and then spewed forth three offerings, none of which is especially well remembered or beloved. In fact had Guillermo del Toro not gone on to such renown later in his career, the first Mimic would probably be largely consigned to midnight showings on some niche cable channel as well as some frankly minimal ancillary profits brought in by home video aficionados who love any movie that features man sized bugs creeping and crawling around the subterranean caverns of a major metropolis. Del Toro isn't very shy about discussing the shortcomings of Mimic, and doesn't even make many bones about the fact that even his Director's Cut of the movie can't address all of its flaws. And so why any sequels to begin with? Who knows? The first film didn't make much of a dent in the box office, but probably did start to rake in enough dough from broadcast licenses and home video releases to attract the attention of some bean counter somewhere, hence the largely lamentable Mimic 2 and Mimic 3: The Sentinel, both direct to video knockoffs that have little to recommend them other than some fitfully arresting special effects and a couple of squirm worth sequences that may—may— pump the adrenaline up for those who can ignore the outright cliché ridden proceedings that envelop them. Del Toro's Director's Cut of Mimic was released on Blu-ray by Lionsgate in September of 2011 and was reviewed here. Now Lionsgate has rereleased that standalone Blu-ray in a package containing a second Blu-ray disc which offers the two sequels. This may well be a case of three being less than one.



Since the first Mimic has already been reviewed here, this review will focus only on the sequels. The above scores are aggregates based on both films together.

Mimic 2

There are a lot of investigative types asking a lot of portentous questions throughout Mimic 2, but the most salient one never seems to be addressed at all: Why? Why make this film in the first place? Was the first Mimic the sort of cultural touchstone that demanded a sequel? Especially one this rote and actually silly in its execution? It's to Mimic 3: Sentinel director J.T. Petty's credit that in his commentary for that "film" he says he considers it a comedy, but there doesn't seem to be any such self-awareness with Mimic 2, a cheesy little knockoff that takes itself deadly seriously even as it provokes serious guffaws. The main "plot" point here is that a famous entomologist named Remy (Alix Koromzay) becomes the prime suspect in three gruesome murders when she's found to be the only apparent link between the three men. The chief detective on the case, a stalwart type named Klaski (Bruno Campos) really has no other options than to consider Remy the culprit, until he witnesses one of Mimic's Judas Breed morph more or less in front of his eyes.

Meanwhile, that ever popular trope of a "men in black" governmental ops unit is also on the trail, led by a man with none too subtle (but ridiculously derivative) nickname of Darksuit (Edward Albert—as in the son of Eddie Green Acres Albert). The plot lumbers along in ridiculous fashion, with a couple of effective creepy crawly moments until the denouement, which turns out to be kind of sweet, in a completely gag inducing way: the bugs are after Remy because they have, um, "romantic" feelings for her. Mimic 2 is at least short and fairly unlabored, and the final showdown scene packs a certain lo-fi wallop. Acting here is barely entry level, but then again the actors are given next to nothing to do that ask portentous questions and occasionally shriek in horror.

Mimic 3: Sentinel

This second sequel is perhaps a putative step up from Mimic 2, which may be damning the film with faint praise. As writer – director J.T. Petty describes his little "masterpiece", Mimic 3: Sentinel is nothing less than "Rear Window with giant cockroaches". The sheer audacity of that concept actually informs Mimic 3: Sentinel with a peculiar joie de vivre (or is that joie de mort?), and the film is so weird with such peculiar characters (and characterizations) that it's hard not to think that the whole screwy thing was done intentionally, which Petty's commentary seems to support. A kind of "bubble boy" named Marvin Montrose (Karl Geary) spends his days sequestered in his shabby apartment living life vicariously through his camera since he can't be outside for any length of time. As with the Jimmy Stewart character in Rear Window, he's become entranced by a cast of inhabitants who reside in an apartment house across a shared courtyard.

Marvin's decidedly odd family includes his perky sister Rosy (Alexis Dziena) and his every so slightly harridan mother (Amanda Plummer), but the one really on Marvin's radar is the comely lass directly across from his window, Carmen (Rebecca Mader), who in Petty's words is the "Grace Kelly" of this feature. Bad things start happening right off the bat in Mimic 3: Sentinel, in fact even before Marvin and the main characters are introduced, but suffice it to say that Marvin and his "team" (for want of a better word) find themselves at Ground Zero for yet another infestation of the deadly Judas Breed, though of course no one seems to believe them.

To Petty's credit, the film is literally awash in bizarre characters (including Lance Henriksen as a shadowy figure known as the Garbageman), which gives Mimic 3: Sentinel a decidedly outré feel that is unsettling and, yes, funny at times. There are also a couple of very well staged, extremely claustrophobic set pieces toward the end of the film, one with Rosy entombed in a car trunk and another with Marvin seeking refuge in a refrigerator, that are appropriately creepy and may provoke bad dreams, if not outright nightmares, for the more impressionable viewer.

Mimic: Three-Film Set Blu-ray, Video Quality

 

Mimic 2 and Mimic 3: Sentinel are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.78:1. There are times in both of these films when the high definition presentation pops quite impressively, but unfortunately those moments are few and far between. Overall, these are both rather soft, murky presentations that deliver next to no shadow detail (in some cases, no doubt intentionally in order to up the fear quotient), inconsistent contrast and less than appealing fine detail. Both offerings have the look of made for television films, which after is essentially what these are. Mimic 2 is quite a bit softer than Mimic 3: Sentinel, though very occasionally in a couple of good close-ups (see screencap 1 for an example), things do finally pop quite nicely. Mimic 3: Sentinel boasts comparatively better image quality, but it's a matter of degree. One thing that helps the third entry is that so much of it takes place in the relatively normal lighting of Marvin's apartment, something that at least gives a minimal opportunity for some semblance of fine detail to shine through. Colors in both films are rather pallid and desaturated, adding to the overall soft appearance and general lack of really pleasing fine detail.

For a review of Mimic's video quality, click here.

Note: Screencaps 1 - 9 are from Mimic 2, and 10 - 19 are from Mimic 3: Sentinel.

Mimic: Three-Film Set Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 

For the record, Mimic contains a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix, and my review of that film's audio can be found here.

Mimic 2 and Mimic 3: Sentinel both sport DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes which are really rather effective given the straight to video ambience of these features. Both films are especially adept at placing the insects' "chatter" discretely, subtly enveloping the listener in feelings of dread and foreboding. Both films also have typical jump cuts with attendant LFE, always adding to the startle factor. Dialogue in both films is presented cleanly and clearly, and while surround activity can't be described as overwhelming, it's surprisingly consistent in both of these features, adding some sonic oomph where otherwise both films largely fall flat. Fidelity is excellent in both of these features and dynamic range is also very wide in both.

Mimic: Three-Film Set Blu-ray, Special Features and Extras

 

Mimic 2 Supplements

• 5 Days of Mimic 2 (SD; 17:30) is a sort of Reader's Digest shooting diary, with crew members including Luis "Ranger" Rangel, Production Assistant and David Waine, who engineered Mechanical Effects, showing how the film was made.


• Behind the Sound of Mimic 2 (SD; 5:37) shows some of the work that was done at Lucas Valley Ranch in Skywalker Sound's facilities.


• Deleted Scenes (SD; 5:03)

Mimic 3: Sentinel

• Audio Commentary with Director J.T. Petty. Petty is a dryly humorous commentator, one who gives top acting props to the pigeon that appears in the first scene. How can you not love that? He goes into quite a bit of detail on the shoot (the film was lensed in Bucharest), as well as talking about the Hitchcock references he tried to stuff into this piece.


• Behind the Scenes Featurette (SD; 14:54) tries to tart things up with some silly "time slice"-esque techniques, but which boils down to a pretty predictable piece featuring interviews and scenes from the film.


• Cast Auditions (SD; 15:54) is pretty lo-fi looking video (replete with tracking problems) featuring Alexis Dziena, Karl Geary, Rebecca Mader, Keith Robinson, and John Kapelos.

Mimic: Three-Film Set Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation

 

For those who haven't previously picked up the standalone release of Mimic: The Director's Cut, this new three-fer may be worth exploring, though it must be admitted that Mimic, while undoubtedly the best of these three offerings, really isn't that good to begin with, something that even Guillermo del Toro not so grudgingly admits. That said, Mimic rises to the level of near masterpiece when compared to the schlockfest that is Mimic 2. Mimic 3: Sentinel at least has a slyly self-winking aspect to it that makes it slightly more tolerable. But this is one trilogy, and particularly two sequels, that could use a visit from Terminix.

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