'Mirrors' review

Kiefer Sutherland in "Mirrors" (Credit: Toni Salabasev/20th Century Fox)

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Ex-cop and recovering alcoholic Ben (Kiefer Sutherland) is estranged from his wife (Paula Patton, still nothing more than a pretty face) and sleeping on a couch in the living room of his little sister (Amy Smart, still making awful career choices). When Ben's nighttime gig as a security guard leads him into the depths of an abandoned department store, he unwittingly unleashes an ancient evil that claims its victims through mirrors and other reflective surfaces.

Big question: Can TV's Jack Bauer make yet another Asian-horror-remake interesting?

Skip it: "Mirrors" starts out with an attention-grabbing bit of ultra-graphic violence, then kills nothing more than time with uninteresting character business and mundane attempts at atmospheric horror. That's followed by more graphic violence and then more dull downtime with paper-thin characters. The seemingly endless cycle repeats until a nonsensical explosion-heavy finale and a "twist" ending so unimpressive it's amazing M. Night Shyamalan didn't think of it first.

Catch it: If you're jonesing to hear Sutherland yell "Dammit!" in that patented Bauer rasp. "24" really has been off the air for too long.

Bottom line: Sure, it's easy to laugh at lines like "These mirrors are dangerous!" but anything involving broken glass is pretty damn dangerous. The concept isn't the problem here, it's the execution. Never campy enough to qualify as a guilty pleasure or consistently scary enough to work as pure horror, the only thing that's truly shocking about "Mirrors" is the involvement of director Alexandre Aja ("High Tension," "The Hills Have Eyes"), whose proven ability to craft disturbing visions goes entirely to waste.

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