Featured Creature: The one with a giant bug vs a school teacher

 

Title: Mimic 2

What Year?: 2001

Classification: Weird Sequel

Rating: It’s Okay! (3/4)

 

When I first thought of this feature, my immediate inspiration was simply the extent to which discussion of the “monster movie” genre has overlooked the 1990s, especially compared to the 1980s. I have put a good deal of thought into how this came to be. Many genre movies of the decade were effectively continuations of 1980s properties and trends, including Jurassic Park. Others were unsuccessful or overlooked at the time, like Deep Rising and The Island of Dr. Moreau. But then there were movies that were good and reasonably profitable at the time but simply didn’t have the staying power of others before and since. With this review, I’m coming to a prime example, a franchise that started with a successful movie based on a classic short story and went on to two sequels, and of course, I’m starting with the sequel. I present Mimic 2, a taut little offering that bridged the 1990s and the new millennium and actually improved on the original in the bargain.

Our story begins with a standard opening of a disreputable character getting lunched. We learn that the victim is a trader in exotic insects, and his associations lead an inquisitive cop to a very freaky school teacher named Remy who’s more into bugs than the men in her life. As events unfold, more people turn up dead, including a couple guys Remy has been involved with. The teacher realizes that her late colleague found a source of eggs for the Judas breed, a giant-sized, human-imitating species of insect that we first encountered in the last movie. Now, Remy has attracted an adult bug that’s learned to change its disguise to imitate individual humans rather than generic guys in coats. When she makes a trip to the run-down school where she works, the big bug traps her and a couple students in its new nest. It’s up to Remy to outwit the bug, but when the authorities finally arrive, she may be collateral damage!

Mimic 2 was a direct-to-video sequel to the 1997 film Mimic, which was loosely based on a 1942 short story by Donald Wollheim. The film was directed by Jean De Segonzac from a script by Joel Soisson, without any involvement by Guillermo Del Toro. The sequel portrayed a single creature rather than a colony of hostile creatures, which was effectively closer to the short story. Alix Korozmay starred as Remy, the only actor and character returning from the first film, with Will Campos as Detective Klaski and Edward Albert in an overbilled role as a government agent. The sequel was made for $10 million, compared to a $30M budget for the original, which possibly lost money. It was released theatrically in Hong Kong, but was otherwise available only on home video, making its overall profit uncertain. Many reviews were critical, though at least one contemporary review compared it favorably to the first movie. It has remained readily available on disc and in digital formats including free streaming. It was included in a Blu Ray set along with the original film and the subsequent sequel Mimic 3: Sentinel.

For my experiences, my main frame of reference is that I saw the original movie around the time it came out, and read the story not long after. My main recollection is that it seemed at the time that everybody knew of and liked the movie, so I was startled to discover that its box office was officially less than its budget. In the leadup to this review, I considered both movies (I have so far declined to view or acknowledge the third entry) and took a look at the story. My conclusion was that the first movie was a very solid but ultimately conventional entry, “old school” even in its own time (and a little heavy on the “expectant mother in peril” angle). On further consideration, its greatest weakness was that it didn’t really try to capture the startling social satire of the original story. In Wollheim’s brief fable (almost within the realm of “urban fantasy”), it is very explicitly the “monster” that must fear mankind, even if the average human seems too cynical and indifferent to look for it. Compared to this dark vision of urban society, the movie’s scenario of insects gathering to overthrow humans is practically reassuring.

In this light alone, the sequel at least covers new ground. The dilapidated school and cramped apartment are very much in the spirit of the story, as seedy as they should be without the forced theatricality of the tunnels in the first movie. The characters generally match the setting, from the racially mixed students to the creepy and/or pathetic suitors (the most entertaining being a one-time student) to the cops who are ready to treat a mutilated body hung two stories off the ground as business as usual. The only character who arguably doesn’t quite fit is Remy. She feels like the mirror-universe version of a sitcom character, living below rather than above her means and evident talents. Fortunately, her foibles and flaws in evidence are quite sufficient to envision her fall or deliberate retreat from grace without having a chain of events spelled out. At any rate, she remains fun to watch throughout the movie, and a believably capable opponent for the bug. In further hindsight, she remains a refreshing variation from the increasingly overdone “strong” heroine, with a real balance between self-reliance and emotional vulnerability.

As for the creature, it is in some ways the weak link here. It’s interesting enough to see only one insect (there could be more, but the one accounts for as much as we see), and there are demonstrations of further strategy and cunning, like an unnerving wall of furniture. The obvious problem is the effects, which lean toward competent rather than interesting. There’s also inconsistency in concept of the disguise, which involves a sort of two-part mask; sometimes, we can clearly see the seam where they meet, but at others, notably when the otherwise superb and distinctly sticky final form appears, it’s not visible. The more fundamental flaw is that there are only a few points where the ability to look human come into play. It does blend in when it needs to, leading to an especially amusing moment when Remy walks right past it. Most of the time, however, it doesn’t really go to the trouble of hiding, or have any need to. It’s already clearly able to kill a human in a brute-force confrontation, and crawl or climb places nobody could easily pursue it, so it usually doesn’t matter whether it can pass for human, never mind a specific individual. (By further comparison, the creature in the short story apparently manages to hold down a job!) The one thing that’s really interesting is the apparent and largely unexplained refinement of the disguise, which finally becomes convincing when it’s really needed, but this feels more like a bid for a final scare than a payoff the story has been working toward.

Now it’s time for the “one scene”, and I’m going with one that stood out on two different viewings for this review. After a meeting with Remy, Detective Klaski returns to the station, where he discusses matters with a colleague who insists on referring to the teacher as both a suspect and a presumed lesbian. After a little back and forth, the detective matter-of-factly says, “Hand me that desk.” He repeats the request several times before the colleague says, “It must weigh 200 pounds.” Klaski then patiently points out that a victim found suspended over an alley was also 200 pounds, while Remy weighs 112. It’s a reasonably amusing moment that I could recount in more detail, but I consider it better seen than described. It’s a testament to the quality of the movie that this is not a purely isolated moment.

In closing, I must come back to the question not just of the rating but whether this movie is better than the original. I myself have had no qualms saying as much before, and I have had no trouble finding others who agree with me. After more careful review, I will admit that this is overstating things at least a little. Obviously, the original has higher production values, a better cast and far more polished storytelling. The real reason the sequel works as well as it does is that it doesn’t try to compete with its predecessor. The resulting movie may not be “better”, but to me, it has remained more memorable and in many ways more entertaining. As with Starship Troopers 3, it’s all the more impressive as a sequel that went the direct-to-video route. Even if you count it second (there’s certainly nobody standing up for the sequel), second place still isn’t bad.