Mimic: Sentinel (2003)

Waste of time

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

I was a fan of the original Mimic movie, but this one was poorly made, with horrible acting by the three main young actors, a stupid plot, lame dialog and bad special effects. Other than that, it was Ok.

This is another direct to video sequel to the Mimic.Pulling another variant with the Mimic character was bit of a stretch. The movie starts to look the same after the first two. But the movie is well formulated. The acting and the quality remains at similar levels to the first two. While there's nothing wrong with the movie, It's no longer intriguing to see the killing by the bug or figure out how the story goes, because you already know.It's not a bad horror flick, but if you've seen the first two, there won't be any new surprises.They should have picked a completely new settings for the backdrop of the story like in a jungle or something. Then the story would have had a whole new life to it.

A 24-year-old man was one of the children afflicted with Strickler's syndrome ten years ago. He's still weakened, and he spends his days in his room, peeping on the other people in his slum area. He lives there with his sister and their mother, and he starts meeting a young woman he's been infatuated with from afar. Together, the three(not the parent) begin suspecting that something is going on. And for those who haven't watched the original, these three are about insects the size of men being the (unexpected) result of genetic manipulation. This one doesn't go into detail about that. The pitch for this was Rear Window with giant cockroaches... and, yeah, that's about what we get. A gradual pace, little "action"(until the last five or ten minutes of the 70 minute running time... the climax is incredible, if it lacks proper setup, and this doesn't end so much as merely... stop), and hints are favored over directly seeing anything(we'll usually only see the aftermath of attacks, or brief bits of them, we use our imagination instead of seeing something graphic). Is the RW approach anything other than a gimmick? Sadly, no. We don't get the clever commenting on voyeurism and "good neighboring" that Hitchcock gave us half a century ago. In portions, this is like an inferior remake of it, "with a twist". Being trapped in a room with a still camera feels distracting and at times annoys, when it should make us feel powerless(another thing the master of suspense did impeccably well). We're back to a mystery... the first sequel was a straight-forward creature feature. You're likely to love or hate this, partially depending on how you feel about the style of this. There are not very many characters, and the ones that should be tend to get developed. I found Rosy to be cute, with her energy and enthusiasm, and sympathized with Marvin for his forced isolation. Others will disagree(I've seen others call them "impossible to like"). I cared greatly when there was peril in this. To me, this was gripping, and I followed the occurrences attentively. The acting is reasonable enough. This has effective tension. The sound design, and in general the editing and direction(I will keep an eye out for future projects by J.T.) of this has fantastic timing and are skillfully done. These bugs(with a chilling determination to them, a "purpose" to their behavior) in this are truly terrifying, if we do eventually see a tad too much of them, and the CGI does not hold up. There is cheese in this, it doesn't take itself *entirely* seriously. The practical FX are well-done, with a few exceptions. This hides its low budget pretty well. There is a lot of disturbing content, a bit of strong language and a little bloody, gory violence in this. The DVD comes with an interesting, informational and funny commentary track by Petty, a fine 15 minute behind-the-scenes featurette and 18 minutes of cast auditions. I recommend this to anyone this appeals to. 6/10

Marvin(Karl Geary)is one of the last remaining persons to have contacted an illness called Strickler's which derived from "diseased" roaches. He is pretty much confined to his room where he keeps a camera pointed constantly across the street at his neighbors' open windows gazing into their lives since his has been put on hold. His condition is so bad, if a woman, such as his later love-interest, a dentist's assistant, Carmen(Rebecca Mader)comes near him with perfume he requires oxygen or he'll go into an asthmatic fit. Even if he smells the afterlife of smoke, like from Carmen who had just finished a cigarette prior to entering his room, the shock kicks in with him darting for his oxygen tank. Occasionally, he journeys out of his room, but not without his tank and only for minutes not wishing to risk his health. His sister, Rosy(Alexis Dziena)is an addict who notices her brother's interest in Carmen. Rosy likes to poke fun at Marvin's hobby and often struggles with the need to get high..she is always on edge and squirrelly. His mother Simone(Amanda Plummer)has a new love in her life, a beat cop Gary Dumars(John Kapelos)who pretends, at first, of being a detective. He's called in when Marvin and Rosy believe they saw a drug dealer, Des(Keith Robinson)killed by the "garbageman", a dark, conspicuous character with bags on his feet whose face they have a hard time seeing. Also, Marvin keeps tabs on a father and son, whose relationship descends as the other son of the family(seen at the beginning killed by the cockroach killer)remains missing. Soon, the person they believed was the garbageman(Lance Henriksen) committing the murder of Des, shows his face when he finds Rosy and Carmen in his apartment(they decide to see what's up with him while also searching for possible evidence regarding Des' death). This man has something padlocked in his freezer..and it could be something relative to the cockroach creatures which show up to kill various victims on the streets at the wrong time, including Dumars out searching for anyone suspicious.As many have already mentioned, the film uses the idea from Hitchcock's "Rear Window" that a helpless peeper has to watch helplessly as others he loves walk into possible peril. He often struggles for air when simply moving some in his room, so his assisting those in need of help when facing giant bugs with claws that stab the torso repeatedly and have wings which flap incessantly is rather limited. The film plays with what Marvin sees and, especially, what he doesn't. JT Petty adopts a little trick with the camera to let we, the viewers(who are essentially peepers ourselves if you think about it)see other poor apartment dwellers being killed by the giant winged cockroaches through the lens while Marvin is away from it. We see the things responsible for the slayings, but such as Marvin, the viewers can not help anyone either...so, we, in a sense, are helpless on-lookers to peril. I like this idea and think it's the most positive aspect to the flick. But, in all honesty, there's not much story here, other than the poor soul with Strickler's trying to find a way to help his loved ones who seem unable to escape the horror that awaits them. Sadly, I found Henriksen's character a little murky..his motives were open to a point, but I wanted more about him. The killer bugs themselves are only revealed at the end when they attack certain individuals..these attacks deliver the goods in how they speedily thrust the victims before they even have a chance to scream. In the film, Henriksen tells us that the things which lie in his freezer are breeding underground, so I'm guessing there are more sequels to explore a possible outbreak. This flick surrounds a few characters near an apartment complex staying away from what's been occurring to civilization as a whole.