Josh Brolin: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. Josh - Mimic (1997)

Br21 Everyone's seen a film like Mimic: it's the kind of paint-by-numbers cheesy horror that packs zero scares, but fatally isn't quite bad enough to encourage you to laugh and embrace it as a cult gem. It's bland, formulaic and incredibly easy to forget, which is especially disappointing considering it was directed by the current go-to director for innovative spooky horror Guillermo del Toro. Dodgy special effects and a contrived premise combine to ensure that it was never going to be anywhere near the best film ever made. The story centers on genetically engineered insects, which were initially bred to kill disease carrying cockroaches - so in that regard, it's sort of based on the Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly song. Nothing could possibly go wrong there, right? Wrong, the titular creature evolves too much, and somehow adapts the ability to change into human form, which it uses to hunt and kill humans, perhaps as grissly vengeance for all the bugs that get stomped every day. Brolin's performance is pretty much limited to him looking perpetually puzzled and mildly constipated, as the bug devil goes about its murderous duty, including eating him, which is clearly his only purpose in the film. He has literally nothing to work with here and his role as a CDC officer exists purely for expositional purposes. It's a shame to see talent wasted like this, but some of the blame has to go with Brolin, who clearly decided the small part was not worth much effort on his part.
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A pop culture mad writer from the North East who loves films, television and debating them with whoever will listen. Follow me on Twitter @Johno_Patterson