Mirrors 2 Review

Mirrors 2
Review By Sharon Foss

Mirrors…a good looking person’s best friend or a department store employee’s nightmare. Here we are, back again at the Mayflower department store. Full of mirrors, this department store first became a problem when Jack Bauer, I mean Ben Carson, played by Kiefer Sutherland, became the night watchman and eventually evolved into the actual mirror.

The Mayflower is set to reopen as a department store after Jack Matheson (William Katt) purchases the property. Jack’s son Max (Nick Stahl) takes on the task as the overnight security guard. Max is trying to recover from the recent trauma of his fiancé dying in a car accident while he was behind the wheel. He equates the visions he begins seeing in the mirrors at his new job as after effects of this car accident.

However, his co-workers begin dying in the exact way he sees in the mirrors. Plus, he begins to see a dead girl in the mirrors, who later learns is Eleanor, a former employee. Eleanor’s sister Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugiér) and Max get together to try to figure out the mystery of the missing Eleanor. They feel she holds the key to the mirrors.

The action and storyline that director Victor Garcia brings to Mirrors 2 begins immediately, which is a relief. Most sequels stray pretty far from the original, hoping to earn its niche somehow by being able to stand alone. While this sequel doesn’t exactly mention the first movie, it has enough similarities to make this story a believable continuation.

By far, the highlight of Mirrors 2 can be the same said of the original Mirrors—the lead actor. Nick Stahl has been on my movie radar since 1993’s The Man Without a Face. The vulnerability Stahl brought to that role, and the many roles after, has made him one of my top favorites. Place him in a mediocre movie and you will find yourself falling in love with him, regardless of the character he is playing.

Stahl is a hugely underrated actor of my generation. He seems to slip under the radar time and time again, even when he’s in blockbuster movies. Remember Terminator 3? The Oscar-nominated (winner???) In the Bedroom? Sin City? Disturbing Behavior? The little-known Bookies? Stahl was in each of these top-billed movies, yet you may have missed him.

Like the late Jonathan Brandis, Nick Stahl has the ability to tell a story through his eyes; no dialogue necessary. While Mirrors 2 was not entirely bad, it’s not a make or break movie for an actor of his caliber. Okay, that’s my entire campaign for Nick Stahl.

For a sequel, it was pretty good. But Stahl deserves top billing in a top-budget movie.

Best line of the movie: “Nobody sees anything in a mirror that isn’t a part of them.”