Mimic 2 Movie Review

Warranted or not, I usually look at direct to video movies as if I’m not getting the best product for my money. In most video stores Boogie Nights and Citizen Kane are the same price as the latest chapter in the From Dusk Till Dawn saga, so why should I visit the cinematic slums if I don’t have to?

Mimic 2 isn’t an embarrassing rental. It’s about as good as any movie about a giant, mutant cockroach can be expected to be. There are a few entertaining moments, some neat scenery to enjoy, and Jon Polito and Edward Albert are both in it. If that last piece of information doesn’t make you want run to the video store with heart-pounding glee, then I don’t know what will.

I didn’t see the original Mimic -- the minor summer 1997 hit starring Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam -- even though I worked at a movie theater that summer and saw more movies than any sane person should. The newest installment focuses on one giant, malicious cockroach that sets its sights on an entomologist named Remy (Alix Koromzay), who teaches at a decrepit New York City public school. The cockroach starts killing off her dates and her co-workers, gnawing their faces off, when the gruesome killings grab the attention of a hunky detective (Bruno Campos), who starts having his suspicions and falling in love. With the girl, not the bug.

The body count leads to understandable problems at work for Remy, when her boss (Polito, who is always fun to watch) relates the news of the killings to parents. As she packs up her gear and takes a student (Gaven Eugene Lucas) home, the cockroach comes for them and a teenage misfit hiding out (Will Estes). Only a camera (roaches are light sensitive) and our heroine’s textbook knowledge of bugs can save them.

The movie tries to come off as a hybrid of Die Hard and the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as director Jean De Segonzac and screenwriter Joel Soisson fill scenes with lots of ironic, jokey dialogue. But the cast doesn’t pull off the lines with any humor and though the movie moves briskly, there’s really nothing distinguishable in it. It’s somewhat suspenseful and filmed with a certain amount of film noir flair (a shot of a cockroach climbing on the ceiling is particularly memorable). The acting is OK; I always enjoy seeing Polito, a feisty bulldog of an actor. But Koromzay displays practically no charisma in her role. The same goes for the kid actors who are inexplicably thrown in, probably to get teen appeal.

Still, I find it hard to completely condemn this movie. There's lots of goo (the insides of the cockroaches looks like a combination of Fluff and melted mozzarella cheese), gunfire, and running around for dear life. Hell, Edward Albert is in it. I didn’t think he still existed. Mimic 2 is not a great movie, but sometimes you need to see a giant cockroach movie. If that’s the case, then here you go. It’s like your first car, it sputters and rocks, but it does what it needs to.

If you find yourself desperate for even more Mimic 2 after the 81 minutes you spent watching it, you might look to the DVD, which features some behind the scenes footage and five deleted scenes. It's bug-tastic!