Can Kiefer Sutherland deal with his own reflection in the disappointing horror film Mirrors?

Director: Alexandre Aja
Screenwriters: Alexandre Aja
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Amy Smart, Paula Patton
Running time: 111 mins
Certificate: 15

If thereâ€™s something strange in your neighbourhood, who you gonna call? Jack Bauer from 24 of course! Sadly, heâ€™s too busy seeking vengeance on striking writers, so instead itâ€™s up to Kiefer Sutherlandâ€™s emotionally disturbed former cop to solve a sinister mystery behind the mirrors and save his family. The greatest mystery though, is how a very decent horror film has somehow been buried beneath an overlong, unfocused movie that veers between exciting tension and mind-numbing boredom.

In a plot that painfully rips off much of Poltergeist III, Mirrors follows the mental disintegration of recovering alcoholic Ben Carson (Sutherland) as he takes a job as a security guard patrolling a burnt out, disused department store called the Mayflower. The mirrors in the building hold a murderous entity that has driven many people to an early, blood-drenched grave. Benâ€™s family, with whom he desperately wants to reunite, face being torn apart unless he can find a person that the mirrors want him to.

Director Alexander Aja does a competent job with the material, combining impressive camerawork and editing to conjure up several sudden jolts throughout the film. This is reinforced by a superb score, which really heightens the shock impact of certain gruesome imagery.

Yet thereâ€™s an overriding feeling that weâ€™ve seen it all before, particularly the very repetitive scenes of mirror images acting independently of the character standing in front of them. Itâ€™s also unsurprising to discover that the possessed Mayflower building was built above an old psychiatric hospital. It must have won a coin toss against a Red Indian burial ground.

Often tired content can be salvaged by its form, but Mirrors severely needs trimming by a good half an hour. As a result of this extra flab, tension and suspense are never maintained for too long as the film drifts awkwardly between a character study of Ben Carson and a bog standard shockfest. At least the climactic battle between good and evil, plus a nice late twist, rounds the movie off in style.

Sutherland turns in an admirable central performance, bearing Benâ€™s severely aggravated soul well, and carries the film to an extent. There are too many similarities with his 24 character Jack Bauer though, particularly Sutherlandâ€™s tendency to flit between hushed, whispery tones and SUDDEN SHOUTING. Itâ€™s as if he has two speed settings on his voice.

Benâ€™s barking of the phrase â€œdamn it!â€ on several occasions is also too Bauer-esque, and momentarily takes us out of the fictional framework of Mirrors to ponder whether heâ€™ll scream â€œWhereâ€™s the goddamn bomb!?â€ at any point during the film.

Thereâ€™s much to commend about Mirrors, including some emotionally authentic domestic scenes and well engineered shocks, but it never comes together as a consistent and engaging whole. The excellent Kiefer Sutherland tries an admirable salvage job, but simply deserves better material.

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