Mirrors has one great idea: your reflection is not really you, and one day it might stop copying you. Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) is a man at the bottom. He was suspended from the police after a shooting, he is trying to stay off alcohol with pills, and he is sleeping on his sister's couch because his wife does not trust him around their kids. His new job is to walk the halls of the Mayflower, a huge department store that was destroyed by a fire years ago.
The Mayflower is the star of the film. Its halls are black with ash and full of melted mannequins, and yet the giant old mirrors are spotless, as if someone keeps cleaning them. Aja and his team make every night shift feel dangerous. The best moments are the simple ones, like a reflection that lingers a second too long, or a hand that presses out from the wrong side of the glass.
Sutherland gives a sweaty, desperate performance that feels close to his role in 24, and it works for a man who may or may not be losing his mind. Amy Smart is good as his sister, but she is not in the film for long. Paula Patton does what she can as his worried ex-wife, though her role is mostly to be scared.
The problems come in the second half. The story turns into a long mystery about a patient from decades ago, and the ending piles on explosions, a fight, and a demon that is much less scary than the mirrors themselves. It is not a smart film, but it has a few truly nasty scenes and a twist ending that fans still argue about.
