Mimic: Sentinel (2003) (V)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

J.T. Petty

Writers:

Donald A. Wollheim (short story "Mimic")
J.T. Petty (written by)

Release Date:

14 October 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Terror has been reinvented!

Plot:

A man enclosed in a plastic bubble, his sister, and their best friend must defend an apartment complex from the mutant Judas Breed insects.

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Insect | Camera | Death | Fire

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Lance Henriksen	...	Garbageman
Karl Geary	...	Marvin Montrose
Alexis Dziena	...	Rosy Montrose
Keith Robinson	...	Desmond
Tudorel Filimon	...	Birdman (as Filimon Tudorel)
Rebecca Mader	...	Carmen
Maria Oprescu	...	Ma Bell
Mircea Constantinescu	...	Mr. Pasture
Mircea Anca Jr.	...	Adam Pasture
Amanda Plummer	...	Simone Montrose
John Kapelos	...	Det. Gary Dumars
Ion Haiduc	...	Moustache
Nicolae Constantin Tanase	...	Thug #1 (as Nicolae Constantin)
Luana Stoica	...	Female Victim #1
Marius Silviu Florentin	...	Thug #2

Also Known As:

Mimic 3 (USA) (alternative title)
Mimic 3 (Germany) [de]
Mimic 3 (Greece) (TV title) [el]
Mimic 3: Sentinel (Greece) [el]
Mimic 3: Sentinel (Italy) [it]
Mutação 3 - O Sentinela (Brazil) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

Brazil:77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:15 | Greece:K-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Romania

Company:

Dimension Films

Trivia:

Martial-arts actor Gary Daniels was up for the role of Detective Gary Dumars which was ultimately played by John Kapelos.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rosy: Marvin, you've gotta come see this shit.
Marvin: Did you get my pictures?
Rosy: Yeah. Um, but you've got to come outside. Me and Des found something.
Marvin: What is it?
Rosy: You'll see.

Movie Connections:

References Rear Window (1954)

Soundtrack:

You Can't Tell the Difference After Dark

Cool idea; okay realization = `eh' film

`Rear Window with giant roaches.' That concept alone puts it above Mimic 2. It's different . . . it has potential . . . overall I'd say I liked the buildup (when convenient dilemmas were not advancing the plot), but damn, did Petty ever blow the payoff. I appreciate the slow paced plot versus fast/hard hitting shock fests, unfortunately, JT didn't really capitalize on it so in effect . . . the film can get boring, stale, and it (like the characters) don't have much of a personality. This would have been great if in the writing we had some Quentin Tarantino or Kevin Smith-esque dialogue. What do these characters do? Who are they? What does Marvin think/feel in his freetime (which he has lots and lots of?) All we ever see him doing is staring through the camera, which okay, we know what he does but that doesn't mean we know him nor should we care. We learn as much about the people Marvin spies on as we do Marvin, himself.

Folks, that's a problem.

Everyone in this film lives and dies for the sole purpose of serving the plot in typical horror fashion. I'm being overly harsh on this film than I would for most other horror sequels solely because it wants to be Rear Window. Rear Window may have been about a man with nothing better to do at the moment than become a voyeur; however, there was far more to him than looking through a camera. If you're going to deliberately mimic Hitchcock (no pun), they need to do it on more than just a surface level.

Compare Mimic Sentinel to its predecessors and it's not too bad, compare Mimic 3 to its Hitchcockian inspiration and it's pretty pathetic (and Rear Window is a far cry from my favorite of Hitch's work.)

After seeing Mimic 3's payoff, I'm not so disappointed in Rear Window's anymore. Rear Window intended the finale to be simple and somewhat underwhelming, but at the same time Hitchcock maintains his steady buildup even thought the film is technically paying off. Mimic Sentinel opts for all the bells and whistles, explosions and blood – after all, this is a half century later right? The action comes at the expense of an unwelcomed plot `twist' which was not necessary and comes across as gratuitous (even if Lance Henriksen is involved.) I prefer simple and underwhelming . . . screw the extras.

Once again, despite harsh comments above, in light of typical horror sequels this is about as average in execution as you get. I tend to bump it above average for the sole fact that it at least had a clever idea at the conception stage, which is more than most sequels/remakes have going for them.