You know, it’s fine and good when we have an axe-wielding psychopath after us. I mean, we can have weapons too. And Kung fu. We’re not all helpless screaming teenage victims, after all. But what do you do about the things you can’t protect yourself from, such as mirrors? I mean, mirrors are everywhere, right? What can you really do to an evil possessed mirror, smash it? I guess that would actually solve the problem on second thought. But what if it had super mirror powers and could fix itself? Ha! You didn’t think of that, did you? Well, this movie, aptly titled Mirrors dives deep into this conundrum.

So the film pretty much starts with…Jack Bauer from the t.v show 24 moping about being fired. Huh. Not a really surprising development, but I didn’t expect him to end up in this movie. Anyway, while waiting to be reinstated pending a review of his latest terrorist tactic-I mean, accidently shooting a fellow cop, Jack must hold down a stable job in a burned down department store with lots of mannequins and mirrors. Things take a dark turn after Jack discovers the mirrors can show him horrible images of people burning, or force his friends and family to hurt themselves every time they look into a mirror. How they are able to do this is not really explained, but it’s a scary thought nevertheless.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the level of character development in this film. Maybe it’s because I’m still reeling from the awful characters from the Unborn, but the characters in Mirrors seem a tad more realistic than most. Yeah, it’s basically Jack Baeur running around with a flashlight and a gun, but some of the actions he takes are pretty reasonable. His soon-to-be-divorced wife Amy is a woman who loves Jack deeply, yet when he breaks into her house to throw green paint on all her mirrors (after she discovers his drug addiction, no less) her response is pretty realistic too.

By the way, I know that Jack's character has a different name in this movie, but screw it. He’s shoving a gun in the faces of innocent nuns and screaming his head off every chance he gets. It’s Jack Baeur. Anyway, another part of this film I like is that the motivation of the evil mirrors are a mystery for most of the film. When Jack asks what they want, the mirrors spell out only one word-ESSEKER.

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Okay, how many people just tried to spell that backwards? Seriously people, give the movie a little more credit than that. Anyway, Jack needs to find out the answer to this mystery fast, before his wife and kids are targeted by the mirrors.




I’ve talked about the good parts of this movie, but let’s talk about the bad parts. Say, did you know that the mirrors in this movie are evil? Well in case you forgot, this movie will remind you. Ninety-eight times (yeah, I counted, and that was a very generous count on my part). So what starts off as a suspenseful movie will soon turn into a drinking game all your friends can enjoy. The rules are simple. Take a shot every time you see a mirror or a reflective surface. You’ll be drunk before the second half.

Unfortunately while the second half is not 100% predictable, it does borrow from some tired cliché elements. As a result Mirrors does feel like it’s run out of momentum long before the actual ending. And fair warning-while the gore scenes are few and far between, they will scar you for life.

Happy viewing!