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9:06 p.m. - 2018-05-08
MIMIC 3:"Your Mom . . . She's a special lady . . ."
"Mimic:Sentinel" honors a horror movie trope in which only the teenagers are aware of the threat posed by the monster while the adults continue blissfully ignorant and overly confident of their control of the situation. The plot device is perhaps most familiar to fans of "The Blob," but it also occurs in movies such as "Nightmare on Elm Street," "Invaders from Mars," "Killer Klowns from Outer Space," and "Invasion of the Saucer Men." The adults in "Mimic 3" are outstandingly clueless and self-centered.

Of course the worst person morally speaking is The Garbageman, played by the ubiquitous but always interesting Lance Henriksen. A published entomologist who, unlike the other adults in the film, is fully cognizant of the danger, The Garbageman is only out for himself. And in order to achieve his goals he is willing to sacrifice a number of innocent bystanders, even Marvin's sister Rosy.

Mrs Montrose, though not an outright evil person, is so self-involved and unengaged that she neglects her responsibilities to her daughter while smothering her invalid son with unwanted attention. When Marvin raises the question of Rosy dating a drug dealer, her answer is, "Rosy's a big girl." Actually, Rosy gives the impression of being a youngish high school student, hardly ready to make major life decisions without guidance. But the mother quickly changes the subject to Marvin not finishing his dinner, redirecting the blame to the child rather than the negligent parent, with the accusative "I don't want to be made to worry about you." Usually when we see Mrs Montrose she is on the living room couch watching TV, suggesting that the network fare is far more interesting than the activities of her teenage daughter.

Gary Dumars, the police detective who answers the complaint about a possible homicide, might be one of the most incompetent police officers in the history of cinema. Told about Desmond being covered in blood and then disappearing, he seems focused on the fact that Desmond might have been a drug dealer, and that Marvin's photography hobby smacks of voyeurism. Dumars wants nothing to do with a murder investigation, preferring to focus his romantic attention on Mrs Montrose, who, for her part, is none too concerned with the possibility of a murder having taken place in full view of both of her children. Pressed by Marvin and Rosy to do something, anything, Dumars promises to talk to the Garbageman, but later it is obvious that he has done nothing of the kind. In hopes of impressing Mrs Montrose, he offers to have some men put on patrol in the neighborhood, but he later admits to Marvin that he doesn't have the authority to do so. Wanting to win over Marvin in order to make his relationship with the mother move ahead, Dumars takes a clumsy and unnecessary risk with a suspicious figure that proves to be the mimic killer.

Mrs Montrose and Detective Dumars, rather than being the responsible and concerned adults that Marvin and Rosy so badly need to help them, behave like goofy, lovesick teens themselves, and if anything make it possible for the predatory insects to take even more lives.

 

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