by J A Wright

Created on: September 11, 2009

I liked the look of Mirrors as soon as I saw the advertisement on tv. The strange reflections looked suitably eerie to have the makings of a decent horror. I generally like Kiefer Sutherland's work and find him a reasonable actor.

So, the premise is that a US cop has made a mess of his life. He's suspended from the police force so he's looking for work, somewhere he can use his skills and maintain an income fortunately a security job crops up to guard an old department store, predominantly at night. It's whatever it takes, he has two kids and his wife has asked him to leave, he's got to sort himself out. It's the events that take place during his shift which become the horror and the intrigue of the film.

At the very beginning of the film there's a series of shots which show the events leading up to the key characters employment, a short and uncomfortable introduction into the story and I felt, although it was generally watchable, in the grand scheme of the film it was mostly unnecessary. It could even have been fun to explore those events throughout the duration of Mirrors to highlight the contrasts and eventual outcome.

I'd been distracted by a friend during some of the earlier talking scenes so I didn't catch a few details immediately, one of the points I missed was about the nature of the beautiful building. I assumed it was a museum at first, each area seemingly laid out as a display area and the architecture of the building lending itself to display. However, one of the rooms is more suitably bedecked as a department store changing room and the intention becomes clear.
Talking about the film later I learned that the building the scene was shot in was actually a museum which was never actually put to use.

The director Alexandre Aja is known for his previous gore movies like The Hills Have Eyes and this film is no exception, there's a really vile scene which I had to mostly avoid looking at, I don't appreciate views of innards and mangled bodies. If you feel the same, be careful during the bathroom scene.

I found I was judgemental about the film. It's a remake of an Asian horror, something which is common now, but having not seen the original I was able to watch with an open mind. However, I still found holes to pick in the logic of the actions of the characters and it irritated me somewhat that they were meant to make such stupid decisions.

I enjoyed the resolution to the story and the intelligence behind the cops communication, it wasn't over explained and we, the viewer were not patronised. That's quite refreshing. There are some lovely theatrical scenes in the last parts of the film, which I really appreciated, a mirrored chamber which features a great deal of action. A real visual feast.

I also enjoyed the motif of a hand print, from the beginning of the movie and it's clever explanation later on. A really nice 'touch'!

Learn more about this author, J A Wright.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.