Review - Mirrors

An ex-police officer take a job as a nightwatchman at a historical building and gets alot more then he is getting paid for. On his nightly walk-through's of the historical shopping mall, he notices something peculiar in the mirrors. The mirrors appear to be a gatewy into forces of evil that will stop at nothing to find the answers of Esseker. The spirits behind the mirrors soon lash out at anyone that comes in contact with the ex-cop, forcing him to discover the mysteries that are behind the coded message of Esseker.


Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes 2006) directs this mash-up of a ghost mystery and shock horror that overall is a waste of time. Aja who did a great job with The Hills Have Eyes, feels lost with where to go with his screenplay and instead just borrowed from other genre films. Mirrors is nothing that you haven't seen before. Take The Ring, The Grudge, or Dead Silence and mix in a little Saw series and you have seen Mirrors. The pacing and tension of the film are on par, but the dialogue and plot feel so much like a mix of other genre films that the viewer feels robbed of a fresh story leaving you utterly disappointed you wasted 110 minutes.

Kiefer Sutherland stars as Ben Carson the recovering alcoholic who is trying to win back his family and runs into a major dilemma at work. Ben who is warned by a co-worker about the mirrors immediately begins to stare and fascinate with the mirrors which leads to his and his families possible decimation. Sutherland's dialogue throughout Mirrors is terrible and feels better aquainted with the likes of 24 episode or any SCI FI network television series. Sutherland also brings nothing new to the character, again think of Jack Bauer in a X-Files episode. I wouldn't say Sutherland isn't equipped to handle the film, more rather that the film doesn't challenge the actor in any way.

The one positive to the film was Amy Smart's murder. It was extremely gnarly and had the viewer glued to the screen while wanting to turn away. Outside of that, I had alot of problems with Mirrors, too many to even ramble on about endlessly. Mainly the ghost story itself felt way too closely related to The Ring and becomes straining the more Ben Carson figures out. By the end of the film, the viewer has lost all interest and has no connection with the characters, but more rather a desire to see them die. The final thirty minutes of Mirrors is so un-original that I was bitterly dissapointed and had thoughts of not finishing the film. Then came the final twist in Mirrors and it is so lame and so predictable the viewer can do nothing but laugh.

Overall Mirrors was a big waste of time. I felt robbed of my time and wished I had seen something else. Kiefer Sutherland, who I use to hold in high regard has slipped alot in status and drastically needs a sure hit and not another season of 24 or more crappy horror films. Alexandre Aja, who impressed me with The Hills Have Eyes, failed miserably here with Mirrors and let's hope Piranha doesn't suffer the same fate. Mirrors might be mworth catching on cable, but I think I would even skip it on dvd. Again Mirrors did nothing but disappoint and upset the viewer.