The Mummy is an action-adventure directed by Alex Kurtzman. It’s a reboot of the Mummy franchise and the first movie to start off Universal’s Dark Universe. An ancient princess who plotted against her father in an attempt to overthrow his reign, was entombed in a prison deep beneath and hidden away in the desert. Now in the present day two soldiers, Sergeant Nick Morton (Cruise) and Corporal Chris Vail (Johnson), are working reconnaissance for the US military in Iraq. Instead of doing recon, they are moonlighting as tomb raiders hunting for antiquities to sell on the black market. Using stolen intel from an archaeologist (Wallis), they discover the tomb of Princess Ahmanet. The ancient princess is inadvertently awakened and threatens to bring destruction upon the world.
When I heard they were starting to reboot Universal Monster movies to create a franchise, I thought that was lame. I like those movies, but I knew they weren’t going to make them in the same vein. Universal was just trying to cash in on studios creating franchises on existing properties. Universal’s Dark Universe stunk of trying to mimic the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universes. Instead they should have opted to try and remake the 1999 version of The Mummy. The film had a more family Indiana Jones vibe with some good shlock. Brendan Fraser’s role as Rick O’Connell made it fun to watch. Tom Cruise just portrays his character he normally plays in recent action flicks shoehorned into trying to play the Rick O’Connell role. The script is just bad and doesn’t help to cultivate the main characters into likeable people. Jack Johnson just plays a soldier version of Nick Miller, his character on New Girl. Sofia Boutella who plays the Mummy is under utilized as this is the “Tom Cruise show”. Russell Crowe did an okay performance as Dr. Henry Jekyll. In the end like everyone else in the film, I can’t place all the blame on them as the script was horrible. There is nothing else to point out that makes a difference in this turd of a movie. The effects should have been the best part of a film like this, but came off as a bit average. The plot is rather boring and the story becomes convoluted by the end.
The Mummy has a few entertaining moments, but its held back by almost everything. The Dark Universe is off to a bad start and if they continue to make more horrible films it will be over sooner rather than later.
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 1 hr 50 min
Director: Alex Kurtzman
Screenplay: David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman
Cast: Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson and Russell Crowe
Producers: Alex Kurtzman, Chris Morgan, Sean Daniel and Sarah Bradshaw
Music: Brian Tyler
Cinematography: Ben Seresin