Thursday, January 22, 2009

Mirrors (2008, Alexandre Aja)

I suppose it'd be easy to watch Mirrors without spending a dime. All you'd have to do is tune in to an episode of "24", and when Jack Bauer bodyslams, shoots, elbow-drops, or otherwise mauls a terrorist, mentally replace said terrorist with any sort of reflective surface.

Really, though, for what it is, Mirrors isn't bad, or at least not as bad as it could've been. Kiefer Sutherland plays a burnt-out ex-cop with a tortured past-- that's original, right?-- his new job as a security guard for the abandoned husk of a burnt-up department store leads him to a host of angry, vengeful, super-pissed mirrors, and his estranged wife and kids are the dastardly reflectors' would-be victims. Right, so let's get the cons out of the way first: Mirrors lacks an original bone in its mangled body ("I killed a man. You don't just bounce back from that" is one line of dialogue, as is the single most standard line in every supernatural horror flick: "You think I'm crazy."), requires a level of belief suspension that many discerning moviegoers don't have the tolerance for, and features the exact same mood and "boo!"-style scares that have plagued the endless sea of post-Ring PG-13 horrors. I'll grant you all that.

But there's at least something about Mirrors that puts it above its peers. Granted, saying Mirrors is better than Boogeyman or The Eye or Shutter is the faintest of praise, but it's got moments. That department store set, for one, is a thing of wonder, one of the creepiest setpieces in recent mainstream horror; also, the movie shows a little bit of flair for splatter, gunning for the hard R instead of the sterilized stock images of tween-safe terrors (somewhere in the first act there's the most gruesome act I've seen in a horror movie of this ilk, and I've seen 'em all ladies and gentlemen). Of course, the whole thing would be moot if it wasn't for Keifer Sutherland, entertaining the masses as he brings Jack Bauer to the supernatural world. Really, though, it's nice to see a character in this type of role instead of a cypher-- the teen-friendly horror flicks these days seem content to let all the creepy stuff happen to the best-looking guy in school, regardless of how empty-headed and soulless he may be as a protagonist-- and his (borderline-shtick, but still) intensity makes for a few wonderful freakouts. Point is, you couldn't have this movie without Kiefer, at least not in theaters; anyone else would send this directly to the dvd racks. He brings some much-needed acting firepower to the film, acting as he does against Amy Smart (okay, but very scarcely used) and Paula Patton (gorgeous, but with the acting craft of, I dunno, a Hilton).

Director Alexandre Aja is a strange ranger-- he's got a flair for going over-the-top, sometimes with glorious results (The Hills Have Eyes) and sometimes with ugly ones (High Tension). Mirrors seems tame compared to those two-- one can probably assume it's his bid for more mainstream work-- and contains little of the subtext he seems to like to inject his films with. I suppose with Aja at the helm I would've expected some sort of between-the-lines ruminations on the poison of vanity, and if he wants to be a true great he shouldn't squander that sort of opportunity. I mean, Romero used his horror template to attack consumerism in Dawn of the Dead, and we can all see how that turned out.

Right, but Mirrors DOES have one of the most deliciously mean endings I've seen in quite some time (right up there with the great The Descent and the horrid Hide and Seek). And Keifer's quite good, and if you really want a reason to see it, he kidnaps a nun.

Rating: **1/2 (out of five)

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