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Film: Mimic: Sentinel
Year: 2003
Director: J.T. Petty
Writer: J.T. Petty
Starring: Lance Henriksen, Karl Geary and Alexis Dziena
Review:
This film begins giving us background information about the sickness that effected children from the original Mimic film. We follow that there was a child that was near death, but through the creation of the Judas Breed of cockroaches found a cure to save him.
We then see a child find a pair of glasses on the ground. He goes to pick them up and a shadow behind him moves. The child disappears.
The film then shifts to introduce us to one of these children from the articles, who is now an adult and played by Karl Geary. He is hyper allergic to most everything and has a spend most of his time in his room where he has plastic blocking the door to help his breathing. He has a camera set up and he documents the lives of the people in an apartment building across the alley from his room. He has people like Desmond, played by Keith Robinson, Birdman and Ma Bell among them.
Geary has a sister, who is played by Alexis Dziena. She is a free spirit and tells Geary that she thinks she found a dead body when she was with Robinson. Geary goes down and takes pictures of a rain drain and he thinks he sees it as well. Dziena is the one that goes to get Geary’s pictures developed.
There is a man that Geary is really interested in and he calls him Garbageman, as he always has black garbage bags. He also has a crush on a woman across the way. Dziena comes home one day to tell him that she met her and that the woman’s name is Carmen. She is played by Rebecca Mader. Dziena tells him she will have her come over some day so he can meet her.
When Geary went out he found a flier for the missing boy and learns that his father is quite upset. The man is played by Mircea Constantinescu and he has another boy played by Mircea Anca Jr.
Geary and Dziena’s mother is played by Amanda Plummer and there seems to be something not quite right about her. Geary calls the police when he sees something attack Robinson and a detective comes by, he is played by John Kapelos. He immediately is interested in Plummer and the two of them start to see each other. Dziena doesn’t get along with Kapelos, as he thinks she is a junky and because she was seeing Robinson.
Dziena also brings over Mader. She immediately seems interested in Geary, even after seeing that he is documenting her life as well as those in her apartment building. She leaves though when Geary’s breathing becomes labored because she smoked before coming into the room.
Dziena and Mader become good friends and she comes by to see Geary as well. She has to leave a second time due to her perfume she is wearing. The two women think that Garbageman is up to something that they sneak into his apartment. Before they do, we see that there is a room that is a blood bath. Something has come in and killed the owner before going into the wall.
The two women go into Garbageman’s room when Geary thinks he sees him in Birdman’s apartment. It turns out there are two men that look like Garbageman, but neither of them are. Geary thought both were police men that Kapelos asked to watch the area, but he reveals he doesn’t have that authority. The real Garbageman is in his apartment and he comes to Plummer’s apartment with Dziena. He is played by Lance Henriksen. He tells them that he won’t press charges, but to stay out of his apartment. There is then a fight between her and Kapelos and she flees to stay with Mader.
It turns out that these odd men are actually soldier Judas Breed cockroaches. Henriksen is doing something that is illegal and these giant bugs attack them when he does. In the process, Dziena is hurt and Mader is taken. What will happen? Will Geary be able to overcome his health problems to help the woman he has a crush on? What is the truth of who Henriksen is and what does he know about these monstrous bugs?
I want to lead off stating that I really like the original Mimic film. This film does have some things I liked as well. The first being that I liked this one is tied in through the idea of the sickness that was killing children and that explains who Geary is. This film is also reminiscent of Rear Window, having Geary being sickly so he doesn’t leave his room but he is watching those across from him to pass his time. The giant bugs look good and they did well at bringing them back to life like they did in the other films in this series. I really like Dziena, because I think she has that blend of cute, but mischievous which worked in this film.
This film did come with its issues for me. The first issue being that the film is a little bit boring. We have the child disappearing, then we have Robinson getting killed, then there is a long lull until the climax and into the ending. I’ll be the first to tell you that you don’t need constant action and building story can be good. I just don’t believe that there wouldn’t be a little bit more of getting to the bottom of what is happening. I felt this one needed something more to build tension. I also do not know if I believe how Mader reacted to meeting Geary and falling for him as she did. He is a peeping tom, but she doesn’t seem to care and without little interaction, most of it awkward beyond belief, seems to fall for him.
Now with that said, this is the worst film in the series. Henriksen was underutilized until almost the end of the film when he is a horror film icon. I did feel the acting from Geary, Dziena and Mader was pretty good. I didn’t care for Mader and Geary’s romantic angle as I don’t feel like it is established enough. The creatures look good and the story is as well, tying in the original. The film is boring and needed something more for me. I would only view this one if you want to finish off the series, but it is not necessary. The original is the best by far and the sequel is better than this one.
My Rating: 4 out of 10