DJariya

I'm going to try to catch this later today. Looking forward to seeing Kiefer on the big screen again. It's already a rarity to see him on the big screen since he started doing 24.

Charlie Goose

"We're running out of mirrors!"

NoirFan

Never a good sign.

mdc3000

I actually usually agree with a lot of The O's reviews (indy, tropic thunder) but today I saw this and Clone wars and thought MIRRORS was the better of the two.

It's not perfect by any stretch but I had a lot of fun with this movie. The few scenes of gore we get are REALLY gory and gross, which was awesome. The movie thrives on the creepy atmosphere that Aja creates and everything has a nice visual flair, so I was really sucked into it. Keifer is fine and Paula Patton didn't annoy the shit out of me, so I count that as a plus. Yeah, much of the dialogue feels like it was written by someone without a firm grasp of the language, but it's performed pretty well and the F/X are decent. It takes a few predictable twists and turns but I had a great time with it. Lots of 'Boo' scares that I think are lazy but some work and like I said, it's all about atmosphere and the movie has that in spades.

The finale is decent enough although the last minute was pretty weak... definitely not a 'classic' or anything but made for a decent horror matinee - it's nothing more than Jack Bauer meets demonic horror but it was a hellova lot more satisfying than Clone Wars. 3/5.

Cornelius1047

K

Seantn

I thought the movie was "okay". Not great, not terrible. It had some nifty death scenes and I actually really like the plot, but the movie felt too long. I found myself a bit bored after a while. Plus, all the death scenes had been spoiled by 20th Century Fox's genius marketing people.

This has really not been Fox's summer! I don't think they've really had a "big" movie, have they?

The Happening
Meet Dave
Space Chimps
X-Files
Mirrors

By the way -- there was one line that actually made me and a few people in the audience laugh and/or slap their forehead. Kiefer tries to warn his family that the mirrors can hurt them, and of course, he sounds like a raving lunatic. Finally the wife witnesses the mirrors playing tricks on her, and she goes to Kiefer and says "I should have believed you!"

Um...NO! You should not have. Even though I knew that Kiefer was right, he came off as an absolute raving lunatic with quite a bit of paranoia. Any rational person would not have believed him, and there was no reason to.

Zen Peckinpah

It's karma's revenge on Tom Rothman.

mdc3000

^ AMEN to that!

chris_sc77

Fox did have WHat happens IN Vegas which was a pretty big hit and the happening did very well in overall worldwide box office but I'd still say that it was a very weak year for the studio especially compared to summers past. Fox just seems to be making more and more garbage every year. Kinda surprised they financed Australia since that actually looks good.

Brent L

I just got back from seeing it.

Wow.

This movie really sucked a big one.

It reminded me of an M. Night picture, in that it has a totally ridiculous plot, slap full of unintentional humor. I saw it with my 17 year old nephew, and he hated it also. As we were leaving we walked by the theater showing The Dark Knight and we could hear The Joker talking. He said that the highlight of this trip to the theater would be hearing The Joker for a split second.

I'm a fan of Alexandre Aja, so this really let me down.

To me, Mirrors has the core of a good, if not great, horror picture. The problem is that it's wrapped in layers and layers of pure idiocy.

DJariya

I saw it today as well and it wasn't as horrible for me as Brent L is saying it was.

I've only seen The Hills have Eyes, so I'm not that familiar with Aja's work. But, I thought this film was a little too long at almost 2 hours. Why does every former cop have to be separated with some kind of addiction whether alcohol or pills?

For Kiefer's 3rd big studio film since doing 24, I thought he did an adequate job. It was actually kind of funny seeing him curse a shit storm since we only hear him say Damnit on TV. I thought he was believable as Carson, but in certain instances I thought he was putting a little too much Jack Bauer into this character.

One of the things that I found ridiculous was when Carson made several calls to his detective buddy Larry to look up files from a cold case from 50 years ago. I know Cops do favors for one another, but I thought it was odd that he would go through all that trouble for him and not even ask for an explanation why he was doing it.

There was another issue when Carson's co-worker Lorenzo inquired about him resigning from the force after the shooting and he acknowledged it. Then later in the film it was mentioned that he was suspended and hoping to get re-instated. Resigning and suspended are two entirely different things. I don't know if Aja knew that writing the script.

Some of the death scenes were quite violent and I actually cringed at one of them in the middle of the film because it was so graphic.

Although I do think Paula Patton is quite hot, I don't think she and Kiefer really had any chemistry. They did do a good job casting the kids though.

I've been to New York City before and I have never seen a building/mall that looked like that and was sitting in the middle of Manhattan. I know the film is fictional, but I think it's absurd that a burned down mall from 50 years ago would still be standing in the middle of busy Manhattan. They would have torn down that sucker decades ago.

You could also tell that building was in Romania where part of this film was shot.

Overall, not one of the better films that I have seen this summer, but not the worst either. Kiefer needs to choose better scripts or better yet make 24: The Movie sooner than later.

I would give this a C+

Brent L

I like how they explained why he had to take this job at night, instead of a normal day job.

Mikael79

I saw this tonight and thought it was much better than a lot of the reviews floating around right now. Some people have way too high of expectations for horror films.

old-boo-radley

If anyone wants another opinion:

http://www.********************/page.php?id=347

Sadly, I'm looking less forward to it than I was before after all the views I've heard. Still seems to be worth a watch, though. Story of a horror film's life.

LiquidSky

As a horror fan and a fan of Aja, I do have high expectations for certain horror movies. Now, if I'm renting some direct-to-DVD titles, my expectations are not that high as long as the movie is entertaining.

Matthew Chmiel

I just saw the movie.

Aja should not be allowed to write another screenplay for the rest of his life.

That's all I can say to show my displeasure for the film.

nemein

Has anyone who's seen the original seen this and how does it compare? I actually kind of like the original one.

BravesMG

Caught this today at a matinee where I was the only person in the theater. I freaking love when that happens.

Anyway, I thought this was ok, but just couldn't get over the inherent ridiculousness of the mirrors and the utter lack of rules. If someone could have given Aja a story to go along with the creepy motif and mood he set, this could have been pretty good. As it stands, one thing really sticks out as unexplained:

islandclaws

Hope no one minds. I just copied and pasted this from my myspace blog where I write reviews. I didn't think it was as bad as people are making it out to be, but there are still a lot of issues with the final product.

Alexandre Aja is a director I've been following for a number of years. I remember watching his highly-anticipated Haute Tension (on a Thai bootleg, in French without subtitles) back in 2003 and being completely blown-away, terrible ending not withstanding. His follow-up was the remake of Wes Craven's 1977 mutant hillbilly flick, The Hills Have Eyes, which in many ways surpassed the original in tone and quality. He had announced his next project in development would be a 3-D remake of the cult camp classic Pirahna; so it came as a bit of a surprise to me when I started to see promotional material for Mirrors pop up in the early summer months. I didn't even know he had another film planned, let alone one finished and in the can. Early word on the film had been bad, but I like to support R-rated horror as much as possible, so I felt an obligation to check this one out.

Keifer Sutherland stars as Ben Carson, a former NYPD officer with a shady past looking for a job to keep him on his feet. He takes a position as the night watchman at a fire-gutted department store, hoping to one day be reinstated back on to the force. Night after night, while patrolling the store grounds, he sees weird visions within the store's numerous massive mirrors. Once he beings to realize that events that occur in their reflections carry over into the real world, often with deadly consequences, he goes on a quest to track down anyone that can aid him in learning the mystery of these mirrors and why they are killing anyone connected to them.

I came to realize last night while watching Mirrors that there is a fundamental flaw inherent in many of my reviews. I tend to trust directors so implicitly, especially those that I like, that I often will overlook egregious gaps in logic or glaring plot holes because I hope (and assume) that the strength of the film as a whole can overcome them. There is a moment about 15 minutes into Mirrors where the film should have ended but, of course, if it did there wouldn't be anything to see. I have to wonder why Carson would keep working at a job where he sees himself burning ablaze in a mirror, feeling the intense, searing heat and then reports back to work the next night! Anyone that wasn't reduced to picking leftovers out of a garbage can would have hightailed it out of there and gotten another job the next day.

That questionable decision aside, there are a number of instances throughout the film that left me scratching my head. Had the script been given a polish by a better writer this could have been an effectively creepy ghost story with an original premise (even though it is technically a remake of the Asian horror film Into the Mirror). Unfortunately, the film is as schizophrenic as one of it's main characters, not knowing what it truly wants to be. Aja was building up the tension with a slowly unfolding story, but partway through he seemed to have jettisoned that idea and, in the process, tried throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. At least he did deliver on an ending that is appropriately downbeat and hopeless, but it doesn't excuse the drastic shift in tone the film takes.

It's a shame because Mirrors is a gorgeous looking film. The art direction is impeccable, from the gothic interiors of the burned out department store to the austere trappings of the flooded basement. Aja has developed a signature look to his films that is sickeningly beautiful. Even though he has earned a spot in the media-dubbed "Splat Pack" of up-and-coming horror directors, he also manages to make his films look phenomenal, helping to set him apart from some of the other directors often associated with him. Speaking of which, the gore in this film should satisfy any self-respecting horror fan looking for a smattering of grue. The now-infamous jaw-ripping scene is absolutely as disgusting as you might imagine. I'll give Aja credit for this: the film features some great kill scenes. Even though the entire film isn't a bloodbath, when the crimson does start to flow it's aplenty.

Kiefer Sutherland is essentially a one-man show here. Aside from the supporting characters of his sister, wife (from which he is separated) and his kids, there isn't anyone else leading the film. The only problem is that he gives us an uneven performance that isn't consistent with how his character behaves in the first half of the film. In the second half Kiefer goes into full-on Jack Bauer mode, kicking ass and yelling loud things to intimidate people, most notably a nun he kidnaps at gunpoint to assist him (?!?). I suppose these inconsistencies can be attributed to the fact his character is an ex-alcoholic with a hair-trigger temper, but after watching his subtle actions for over an hour these aspects do seem out of place.

So, is Mirrors worth watching? Yes. Problems aside, it's one of the better horror films I've seen this year (which says almost nothing since they've all pretty much sucked). I applaud Aja for making a film that is stylish and slick while managing to maintain a grisly and haunting atmosphere. The film is worth watching for the incredible set decoration alone. It won't be remembered as a classic of the haunting sub-genre but I can say it's miles ahead of the majority of the crap that passes for horror these days. While I was hoping for something closer to the likes of The Legend of Hell House or Robert Wise's The Haunting, what we do get is still a creepy film with enough early-on ambiguity to keep people on the edge of their seats guessing. That's enough to get a minor seal of approval from me.

Original Desmond

Pretty enjoyable horror with good performance by sutherland

hotsexyboi

I do not like this movie at all. It's a complete ripoff of Poltergeist III, but thats not the reason why I don't like it. I find it stupid and boring. It gave me a headache. I was expecting something horror but then it turned into some supernatural b.s. but I guess I exptected too much but either way I will NOT be buying this on DVD!

Catch 21

I laughed my ass off. Jack Baur shows up in the second half, along with the 24isms. It's basically an episode of 24, with Jack cussing more.

starseed1981

I thought the same thing. Everytime he said, "Dammit!" it totally sucked me out of the film. The plot holes were what really killed this thing for me though.