Mirror mirror on the wall...

...is this movie any fun at all?





In a nutshell, not really.


Recently I checked out Kiefer Sutherland (Mr.24) in the UNsurprisingly dull 'Mirrors'.

One of the most cliched films to come out last year, Mirrors tells the story of ex-cop Ben, who suffers from one of those typical cop hangups - I got somebody killed, fell into a deep alcoholic depression, and messed up my family life.

So he quits the force and ends up taking a job as a night-shift security guard for an old abandoned department store that is wrapped up in litigation due to a fire that destroyed almost the entire interior. He takes the place of the previous guard who, before we ever see Kiefer, slices his own throat (slowly for good effect) in a bloody expression of "I hate my job" syndrome.


So Kiefer has to roam the rooms and many floors of this old relic, which was burned out but still has all the old mannequins and mirrors everywhere, just to make sure there are no squatters or drug dealers, etc. After one night at this joint, I would have so been out of there. But no! Ben feels compelled to search the place after he hears strange noises, and seeks answers when he can't explain things.


Needless to say, he gets pretty wrapped up in the mystery of the place.
It is a very macabre and eerie pile of rubble. He starts seeing things in the mirrors (hence the brilliant title) and here's where the film does lend itself to some frightening images. Burned people seem to lurk around every corner, inside the mirrors. Some of the most disturbing scenes involve random people (even outside the store - people in Ben's life...) looking into the mirror and when they look away, their image in the mirror does not. Or it does something utterly horrifying, like rip its jaw apart. Cool stuff.


Some good gore is hidden behind alot of yawning, and there are several incidental and rather unimportant characters. There some kind of crap understory involving Ben's son, and multiple dramatic yet useless episodes between Ben & his estranged wife. But you have to sit through what could easily be part of a Lifetime movie of the week family drama to get to the grue.
And the ending, in which the mystery is resolved, leaves alot to be desired.
I can only assume once again, that the original Korean (Into the Mirror) film was better.


I didn't hate it, but I found myself drifting off near the end. I may check it out again at some point, to see if it was really less boring than I think it is.




Really the best scene in the whole movie...