Directed by: Alex Kurtzman
Written by: Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet, Jon Spaihts, David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, Dylan Kussman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis
IMDb Link
Not at all related to the silly-but-never-serious Brendan Fraser films, The Mummy is Universal's second attempt at creating their own cinematic "Dark Universe", after they failed to drum up excitement with the now decanonised Dracula Untold (2014). Unfortunately for Universal, The Mummy manages to be somehow worse and even more forgettable.
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
Ancient mummy Ahmanet (Boutella) is unearthed by Nick Morton (Cruise) and sets out to perform a ritual with Nick that possesses him with the spirit Set, the Egyptian god of death. Because Universal wants to hurry this Dark Universe along, they also include a shadow society that seeks out and destroys evil, run by Dr. Jekyll (Russell Crowe).
The movie has problems from the start, in the sense that it starts about three times. The film is front-loaded with multiple unnecessary scenes that are there purely for exposition, delivered through flashbacks and narration from a bored-sounding Crowe. They simply slow the movie down, giving us information that is sometimes unnecessarily complex and sometimes just plain unnecessary. We don't need to know about the Templar Knights right away, yet we're subjected to two scenes of their involvement in the story before having a pile of exposition dumped on us that's just a spin on the original film's backstory It's essentially what was weakest about the original film, but here less interesting and without charm following it up. It's also worse in this case because they immediately remove all of the mystery from the film's horror aspect, which is leaned on much more heavily this time around. So much happens in the film that could have an air of curiosity or intrigue attached to it's more brutal moments, but by telling us everything about the cause of the film's horror before the film begins, we're given nothing to wonder about what's to come, which gives us nothing to think about, which makes the film's smaller weaknesses, conveniences and nitpicks more apparent. When nothing compelling is happening on-screen, all I can think about is how the film's plot would essentially be void if they'd destroyed the all-important ruby as soon as it was found, or how the film's finale starts defining nuances to the ritual on the fly to fit the story's needs. It's a shame, too, because some of the action and horror sequences could've been considerably more effective if they'd at least tried to be enigmatic about it; we know that a mummy is gonna come along and do some freaky stuff, we don't need our hand held throughout the entire experience.
Acting was all over the place, thought that seems to be down to the writing: Cruise seemed to be having fun, but that fun was an anomaly in the film in and of itself, and for the most part his character was flat and had a very simple arc, so there wasn't much to work with. Crowe was just an exposition machine as Jekyll, ragging on about good and evil with no other purpose than to set up the Dark Universe. Boutella was a prop more than a character for the most part, there to look menacing and occasionally say some Ancient Egyptian. She gets a chance to be more convincingly threatening in the finale, but by that point the film is so loaded with fantasy bother that the scenes where she should be most effective are simply confusing.
One final thought, only here because it crossed my mind as I watched the movie and a few of my friends will understand, but The Mummy is seriously the darkest film I've seen since Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), and I mean that in the physical sense. There are several scenes in the film that are incomprehensibly dark, so poorly lit that you can barely make out definable features, and they were so notably bad in this regard that they reminded me of AvP: R.
The Verdict: The Mummy is unnecessarily convoluted and bland. The film struggles to balance its elements of action, adventure and horror, in the process creating a lot of scenes that simply have no impact. It doesn't help that the film's story happens only because of a combination of fantasy rigmarole and poor character decisions. I don't recommend seeing the film, if only to stem the tide of Universal's attempt to flash-fry yet another cinematic universe together; it's also nothing like the original, so if you're a fan then this film doesn't offer appeal in that regard.
Rating: 4/10
Published June 8th, 2017
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