Mirrors

Mirrors is a remake of a Korean film called Into the Mirror. This version was directed by Frenchman Alexandre Aja and written by Aja and Grégory Levasseur who have been working together from the beginning. It's the story of a disgraced NYPD detective named Ben Carson who takes a job as a security guard for a burned out department store after the previous night watchman disappeared. When strange things are witnessed via the mirrors, Ben goes on a frantic search for a way to stop the things within the mirrors before they reach and destroy his estranged family.

 

I make it sound better than it actually was. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was laughable, poorly written, and poorly directed / performed. I was very disappointed because I have a thing about mirrors (thanks Poltergeist III) and I liked Aja's previous work: Haute Tension and the The Hills Have Eyes remake. I didn't want to take their script for P2 to heart, but maybe I should have. Both scripts were disjointed and flat and problems with motivation were laced throughout each movie.

 

Kiefer Sutherland's usually a pretty good actor, but he was very close to stepping into the cheese zone established by the Elder Sutherland, Donald, in his later career. Everyone else was...a bit much.

 

The score was good, but a little overwrought for this particular flick. The special effects were mostly good, but I think that they could have accomplished a lot more practically than they chose to. Digital effects are still digital effects and have that sheen of unreality. Sometimes you can't avoid it, but the fewer digital effects there are, the more effectively they can be used and the more time can be spent on them which is key.

 

Overall: very disappointing.