TotalTelly.co.uk
Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV
Mimic 3 - Sentinel [2003]
![Mimic 3 - Sentinel [2003]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EGJ-70MqL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £14.99
Our Price: £3.99 (subject to change)
NOT BAD BUT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
Review date: 2007-10-26 Rating: 8 out of 10
Snooping around his apartment, amateur photographer Marvin, (Karl Geary) feels he has stumbled onto a mystery involving Carmen, (Rebecca Mader) one of his neighbors. Telling his sister Rosy, (Alexis Dziena) about, they think nothing of it until they both witness a crime on the streets below. When nothing happens due to his troubled past, they decide to work together as a team to prove to Detective Gary Dumars, (John Kapelos) a local cop, that he's right about his beliefs. When that doesn't prove anything, they try to solve the mystery about the neighbors. Finding out that the threat comes from giant praying mantises who have genetically altered in a special experiment. Using a little bit of ingenuity, they try to fight off the vicious creatures before they can escape.
The Good News: There wasn't all that much in here that was really all that good. The majority of what works in this is due to the final minutes of the film, as they contain most of what will make this watchable. The insects are finally let loose and allowed to become the threats they really are, and they're mimicking of humans is still genuinely creepy. They're involved in two big attacks in that span, both of which are simply fantastic. The apartment setting is simply unbelievable, as the blood flies with regular abandon and the attacks are vicious. As the claws are repeatedly slammed into various body parts, mostly the chest and abdomen, and the blood splatters around, there's some really nice gore resulting from it. Without a doubt, though, the best sequence is the refrigerator attack, which is simply creepy and downright original. While one is trapped inside a refrigerator, the insects repeatedly try to break inside and scratch and claw through the door to get in, several times nicking them inside. What makes it work is the moments in between the attacks, as it's completely told all throughout by the point-of-view of them inside, and when the door is closed, it's pitch-black inside only from the light to come crashing in when the door gets pulled open. It lends itself greatly to scares as it's original, inventive and actually suspenseful when the sudden crashes occur. These, though, comprise all the film's watch-ability.
The Bad News: There isn't that big of problems with this film. The biggest problem is that there's really nothing of real interest for the longest portion of the film. Just about all of the film's time is spent building up the relationship and giving reason for the adults to distrust them. That this is done in such a manner that you're watching the film from his point, and while it does work in that it gives us a great perspective on the film, unfortunately it means it holds back on everything you'll have come to watch this film for, the killer insects. The insects eventually decide to show up, but by they're coming in so late in the movie makes the beginning nearly impossible to sit through. How much you'll actually see of them varies from nothing to just a little. They look pretty cheap and are mainly confined to the shadows. In the other films, the insects represented a threat to humanity and you always felt that there were sufficient numbers of them and they were tough enough to pose a challenge. Here they don't. It's a real disturbing thought that the titular creatures can't even show up inside they're own film until the end. Otherwise, this is at least tolerable.
The Final Verdict: This does have a few good moments, it's just a shame that they're all at the back of the film and the beginning is mostly filled with useless talking. While it's certainly watchable, those wanting to seeing this for an all-out bug splatter-fest will find the beginning hard to sit through, while those that love slow build-ups might give this a real shot.
Similar Products
Reviews
Alien meets Rear Window
Review date: 2006-12-15 Rating: 8 out of 10
The 'Judas breed' returns for this third movie, an effective re-working of Donald A. Wollheim's 1942 short story, MIMIC. New writer-director J.T. Petty assembles a mainly young cast for this drama of urban horror as giant insects, capable of human disguise, stalk and kill the residents of a grungy housing estate. Housebound by his severe allergies, 24-year-old Marvin (Karl Geary) makes a hobby of voyeurism, watching and photographing his neighbours, so he's the first to suspect that a spate of mysterious disappearances are really horrific murders.
Local cop Dumars (John Kapelos) is far more interesting in romancing Marvin's widowed mother Simone (Amanda Plummer), than tackling street crime, so it's up to Marvin's errant sister Rosy (Alexis Dziena), and his potential girlfriend Carmen (Rebecca Mader), to help investigate the suspicious behaviour of local misfit nicknamed `Garbageman' (the great Lance Henriksen), and it turns out that he's the only one who knows what's really going on in their otherwise quiet neighbourhood...
Paranoia turns into terror when flying monsters emerge from the shadows to maim and slaughter, and the CGI presented here is generally excellent, adding high quality visuals to the suspenseful plot, and enhancing many of the intensely claustrophobic action sequences. A sense of dread pervades the second half of this film's brief yet incident-packed running time, and the climactic encounter with fierce soldier-caste big-bugs!
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Amanda Plummer
Lance Henriksen
John Kapelos
Creators:
Amanda Plummer (Primary Contributor)
John Kapelos (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
EAN: 8717418084288
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2006-03-20
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 73 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2003
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Italian (Dubbed)
Language: Spanish (Dubbed)