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Quick Hit Review: Mimic: 3 Film Set BD + Screen Caps

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This Mimic 3-Film Set features one good creature-feature, one lukewarm (at best) sequel and one god-awful flick I don’t care to ever revisit. Fortunately, the video and audio transfers are decent and Lionsgate has ported over all the features from the respective DVD releases. The only thing missing is a digital copy for the first film. I suppose if you’re a fan of the creature-features, then you might get something out of the two sequels otherwise I’d wait to pick this up at a cheap price.

 

 


Mimic 3 Film Set (1997-2003)


REVIEW NAVIGATION

The Movie
| Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

 

Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller, Horror
Lionsgate | Unrated/R – 270 min. – $29.99 | May 1, 2012

MOVIE INFO:
Directed by:
Mimic – Guillermo Del Toro; Mimic 2 – Jean de Segonzac; Mimic 3 – J.T. Petty
Writer(s):
Matthew Robbins & Guillermo Del Toro (screen story)(characters)
Cast:
Mimic – Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Josh Brolin, Giancarlo Giannini, F. Murray Abraham, Charles S. Dutton, Alix Koromzay; Mimic 2 – Alix Koromzay, Bruno Campos, Jon Polito, Edward Albert; Mimic 3 – Karl Geary, Amanda Plummer, Alexis Dziena, Rebecca Mader, Lance Henriksen

DISC INFO:
Features:
Commentaries, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, Trailers
Number of Discs:
2
Slip Cover?
No

Audio: Mimic – English (DTS-HD MA 7.1); Mimic 2 & 3 – English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Video:
1080p/Widescreen 1.78 (Mimic 2/Mimic 3) & 1.85 (Mimic)
Subtitles:
English SDH, English, Spanish
Disc Size:
NA
Codec:
MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s):
A


THE MOVIE – 2.25/5

Mimic (1997) — 3.5/5

Portions of this were taken from my original Blu-ray review.

Guilermo Del Toro’s Mimic is actually not a bad film as creature features go. Del Toro manages to provide some fantastic and dark atmosphere mainly to leave the creatures in the darkness, thus more mysterious (not unlike what Scott/Cameron did with the Alien movies) and of course scarier. In regards to this “Director’s Cut”, you can find what was added and removed on the Internet so I won’t run it down here, but from what I recall about the theatrical cut that I watched a few years ago, I would say both are probably equal in different ways, though I do give the edge to this cut.

Now the nuts and bolts of the film: the cast all provide solid performances, albeit nothing outstanding or noteworthy. Mira Sorvino – who won a Golden Globe and Oscar for Mighty Aphrodite only two years earlier – is good as the core human character playing both a smart and feisty character.

However, Sorvino is a football field away from those who have come before like Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis thanks in part to a script, co-written by Del Toro, that placed the hero onus on the male main character played by Jeremy Northam. I don’t have an issue with going the clichéd route here but it could’ve been better handled especially with an anti-climatic and kind of ho-hum ending.

Mimic 2 (2001) — 1.0/5

As you might imagine, I wasn’t a huge fan of the first film, but Mimic 2 is so bad and looks so damn cheap that it makes the first movie look like a masterpiece. The acting is, at best, tepid and the story itself, or lack thereof, is lame to the extreme and at times makes little to no sense. I will give the filmmakers some credit for doing what they could on a no doubt limited budget but even so, it can’t justify for all the other flaws.

The movie was written by Joel Soisson whose claim to fame thus far has been in numerous other direct-to-video flicks the The Prophecy 3: Ascent, Dracula 2000 (and its 2 sequels), Hellraiser: Hellworld, Hollow Man II and Pulse 2 & 3. It was directed by Jean de Segonzac, who helmed numerous “Law & Order” episodes.

Mimic 3: Sentinel (2003) — 2.0/5

Technically speaking, Mimic 3: Sentinel is better than the sequel but that’s not saying much. I kind of liked how the writers borrowed from Hitchcock’s Rear Window and even Vertigo (see the font in the title sequence). The performances in this film is a bit better but not by much. Karl Geary is decent in the lead role, Amanda Plummer is nice in her limited part as the mother and the lovely, and underrated, Alexis Dzeina (of Broken Flowers fame) appears as the sister. It’s still not a very good movie but certainly acceptable enough.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5

This Mimic 3 Film Set is housed in a standard Blu-ray case with the first disc for Mimic: The Director’s Cut (the same one released in September 2011) while the second disc has the two sequels on one disc. Luckily, for the sequels, all of the features have been ported over.


Mimic (1997) — 3.5/5

Video Prologue (1:05; HD) – Co-Writer/Director Guillermo Del Toro gives an intro on this director’s cut and what it offers the viewer.

Audio Commentary – Del Toro provides an enticing and fascinating commentary on The Director’s Cut and goes into the storytelling and all around filmmaking techniques including the main title design was inspired by Se7en. Anyone who has heard Del Toro on other commentaries will love this track as well as he doesn’t narrate what’s going on on-screen.

Reclaiming Mimic (14:31; HD) is another new featurette covering what this new cut brings and how it was restored to as close to Del Toro’s vision as possible. He also goes into his inspiration for the story and his philosophy on suspense. It’s a good featurette and an honest one as he blasts the Hollywood process and, specifically, the “rules” of a movie.

A Leap in Evolution (9:35; SD) is an older featurette covering the creature designs for Mimic going from sketches to full design and costumes keeping it as real as possible.

Back into the Tunnels: The Making of Mimic (5:22; SD) is a simple, and from the looks, even older featurette with behind-the-scenes footage and on-set interviews with the cast and crew.

Deleted Scenes (5:11; SD) – Here we get three scenes removed for whatever reason including an alternate ending. There’s nothing special about any of them and the alternate ending felt a bit clunky, though it’s not a whole lot different except for a tease that the creatures are still around and amongst the humans.

This release also contains six Storyboard Animatics (6:04; SD) and a Gag Reel (2:20; SD).

Mimic 2 (2001) — 2.0/5

5 Days of Mimic 2 (17:30; SD) – This featurette takes viewers through 5-days of filming of the sequel providing insights into how certain scenes were set up and shot. This is more or less a fly-on-the-wall kind of thing with little interaction from the cast or crew.

Behind the Sound of Mimic 2 (5:37; SD) examines the sound design, from Skywalker Ranch, behind some of the scenes in the movie.

Deleted Scenes (5:03; SD) – Five scenes that didn’t make it into the final cut are provided here and although they’re nice to see, they really don’t amount to much.

Mimic 3: Sentinel (2003) — 2.25/5

Audio Commentary – Writer/Director J.T. Petty provides an informative and, for a solo track, fairly lively commentary as he talks about the story and filming different shots.

Behind the Scenes Featurette (14:54; SD) provides interviews with the director and actors (Karl Geary, Rebecca Mader), and on the lot footage, as they talk about making this second sequel. You do get some info on how the story came about and some of the fun antics the crew had.

Cast Auditions (15:54; SD) – We get audition footage for Alexis Dziena, Karl Geary, Rebecca Mader, Keith Robinson and John Kapelos.

 

Previews – Mimic: The Director’s Cut, Pulp Fiction, The Crow, The Presence


VIDEO – 3.5/5

Mimic (1997) — 4.0/5

Mimic flutters and kills its way onto Blu-ray presented in its original 1.85 widescreen presentation. As you can imagine, the movie is fairly dark throughout since a good chunk takes place underground with dark corners able to hide the creatures and aside from an abundant amount of noise, I thought this was a half-decent 1080p HD transfer. Colors are muted but that was no doubt the director’s intentions, so while it might not make for a stunning transfer, it’s still probably better than DVD.

Mimic 2 (2001) — 3.25/5

Mimic 2 is presented with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio (despite the back cover saying it’s 1.85) and although it’s a fine upgrade over the DVD version, it’s kind of a blotchy/dirty looking transfer. Now, I’m not saying its bad, just not very clear or finely detailed compared with other movies that were released during the same period. On the plus side, although there are the occasional dust marks, it’s not pervasive and it doesn’t seem like an abundant amount of DNR was used.

Mimic 3: Sentinel (2003) — 3.5/5

Mimic 3 more or less looks about on par with the second movie. Again, it is presented with a 1.78 aspect ratio (the back cover says it’s 1.85) and has the sporadic dust marks. The detail levels on this looks good and colors, while muted, seem evenly distributed without seeming pumped up for this release. Black levels also come across nicely without revealing pixilation which sometimes gets littered with cheaper productions.

AUDIO – 3.5/5

Mimic (1997) — 4.5/5

Lionsgate has given this catalogue title a robust and even-keeled 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. You get a good array of sampling from clear dialogue levels to the various action scenes and creature sounds along with human blood-curdling screams. It’s an impressive and immersive lossless track that might not be the best I’ve heard but still is strong especially for a 14 year old movie.

 

Mimic 2 (2001) — 3.25/5

The sequel receives an effective 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track which shows off some clear dialogue levels mixed in with the various action sequences which, while hardly dynamic, is good enough for a direct-to-video release like this.

 

Mimic 3: Sentinel (2003) — 3.25/5

The second sequel also got a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track and is pretty much the same, although the dialogue levels seem to be a little bit better. Since the movie is pretty quiet, with a few action pieces, you’re not going to get a vibrant lossless track, just efficient.



OVERALL – 2.75/5

Overall, this Mimic 3-Film Set features one good creature-feature, one lukewarm (at best) sequel and one god-awful flick I don’t care to ever revisit. Fortunately, the video and audio transfers are decent and Lionsgate has ported over all the features from the respective DVD releases. The only thing missing is a digital copy for the first film. I suppose if you’re a fan of the creature-features, then you might get something out of the two sequels otherwise I’d wait to pick this up at a cheap price and given Lionsgate’s history, it won’t be long.

 

Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published:
04/23/2012

 

Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.


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