director's cut 'Mimic' (B+) / #158

"Piece of shit, on the ceiling....figure that one out" - Josh Brolin, Mimic

This movie and I have a bit of history.  History that existed even before me seeing it.  I listened to a podcast (again....the Mondo Movie guys, who I love and now sometimes tweet with) where they discussed how epic the movie was, but most specifically the director's cut - if you were to watch any version of Mimic this was the version per them.  So I saw that Netflix (c) had Mimic available and I started to watch it.  Without knowing if it was the director's cut, I ended up pushing stop and didn't view the entire movie.  I did however watch the beginning and enjoyed it.  I then fast-forwarded to the end to see if I could tell if it was the director's cut.  I blogged that mini-viewing, albeit only about 20 minutes worth of viewing pleasure to go on....perhaps someday I'll post that mess (unedited, it's a real mess, but it's funny to read back).  So that takes us to present day....heard a podcast, peaked my interest, watched about 20 minutes including the ending....and then I set out on my quest to find the director's cut.  This was no small feat.  I tried a few used DVD-type stores and struck out.  Then I opted to just order it once I realized that it was eating away at me and I needed to see it.  So finally it came in the mail.  And below, is what ensued (I also forgot to add the part about me talking up the director's cut to a handful of friends before seeing it....so there's that too).

Ahhh Mimic, finally.....the director's cut is in my hand!  I like that for the majority of the movie there were three things going on at once.  Basically the plot was affecting more than one person and they showed all of the people involved, doing their thing in different scenes concurrently, as the plot unfolded beneath the town.  A very endearing quality, and done subtly in the background if you will.  Meaning, people probably don't notice how good the flow of the movie was, which created a constant dark mini-action feel created nicely by del Toro.  This is a hats-off statement to a good director in my mind, when a movie can make you feel this way without even trying (to the viewer, I'm sure del Toro tried).  Hands together again for del Toro who does a really good job at creating this atmosphere.

I have nothing against children, much less handicapped children - but damn I wish that Chuy kid would have died.  Sorry if I'm ruining any plot here by saying he lives.  But you likely will wish him to die too.  I guess I really shouldn't say this, and thinking back on the movie I suppose parts of his character weren't the worst and added to the plot, but honestly the "Mr. Funny Shoes" thing was annoying to me.  But for now I'll take it back sarcastically and change my tune to the following - I actually loved this Chuy (pronounced Chewy) character and was happy that he didn't get hit by a train at the end, and I was also happy that the Mimic creatures didn't devour him once he walked into their lair about mid-way through the flick, and lastly I was super happy that he lived when the male Mimic creature didn't pierce his skull with his sharp arm talon thinger.  Which by the way, am I the only one that noted that these talons made sword noises?  I'll say that again.  Did you notice that the Mimic creatures had sharp piercing appendages??.....And those appendages made freaking sword noises?!?  What the hell was up with that?

Lastly a note about Mira Sorvino: I think this was the first movie I've seen with her in it??  I could be wrong.  But she was sexy and she liked bugs, a lot.  What else do you need?  Not much.  She should have done more action films in her prime.  Since this was made in 1997, she is probably not making many more films, much less action films.

Sorry if I could bitch just one more time....when I went to Netflix (c) to watch the non-director's cut ending....I found that I needed to download Silverlight (c) AGAIN!  I think this is the 30th time officially within the last year.  I guess it's good they get it right and fix the bugs, but holy bloody hell.

After watching the non-director's cut ending, I was confused because I saw the exact same thing in each version.  So I did some reading on-line.  Apparently del Toro only added about 7 total minutes of "fixes" and these are barely noticeable in the director's cut, but they must add what is needed to make the movie hold it's own to this day.  He says roughly in the below clip from MTV.com (c), that when you watch a movie when you are 9 (and love it) and then again when you are 25 (and wonder what the hell was I thinking for loving it?), that the added 7 minutes to the film make the movie remain a "love" for fans that still watch it today.  I guess the director's cut didn't come out for many years after the release of the original.

www.mtv.com del Toro explains "change" in you and Mimic

Sorry this is getting long, but I also read prior to watching this that del Toro initially wanted the movie struck from his resume.  This is half because he didn't get his vision in the ending.  Apparently his way would have been much darker and I suppose that means that the good guys wouldn't have walked away.  That would have been awesome except I would miss Mira.  But also apparently he had a hell of a time with this movie and fought with the producers and had issues with the studio, or something like that.  So for me where do I stand when it comes to Guillermo del Toro?  I didn't love Don't Be Afraid of the Dark at all, and I didn't love Devil's Backbone (although I'm thinking I need to see it again???)....but I did really like Cronos, Pan's Labyrinth, and Mimic in that order.  I tried to start watching Hellboy and got immediately annoyed.....that leaves Blade II and the Hellboy series and I've seen them all so far.