It's scary how all those viruses supposedly under the control of antibiotics are mutating and evolving into super-viruses that seem immune to attempts to eradicate them. The best horror films use topical issues to manipulate our fears while commenting on the human foibles that allow them to develop in the first place (Invasion of the Body Snatchers was an attack on McCarthyism, for example). It is clearly director del Torro's ambition to have Mimic seen as an elite horror film, but he is unable to elevate the film to these grand ambitions.
Mimic's premise could be taken right out of the headlines. A super-virus is killing off all the children in New York City. Scientist Mira Sorvino develops a "Judas Beetle" that attacks and destroys the virus. The beetle is supposed to be sterile and thus to disappear in six months. But if you've seen Jurassic Park you know what happens next: the beetle finds a way to avoid extinction by mimicking another rather important species. This could have been the launching pad for an analysis of nature's response to man's self-serving manipulations. There is also some promise in the ironies at the heart of Mimic: Sorvino is unable to get pregnant, yet is able to create a beetle that saves the children of New York, plus she must now find a way to kill her 'baby.' Instead of building on this, the film turns into a prolonged goo-fest, where slimy is substituted for scary and talking heads are mistaken for intelligence. Considering how many of us are frightened silly of bugs, Mimic is surprisingly inept in its inability to fill us with dread.
Del Torro is great at producing atmosphere, but is unable to create much tension. The characters are uninteresting and the situations so ploddingly developed that any creeping fear we have seeps down the drain.
