'The Mummy' uses the famous quote from 1932's 'Bride of Frankenstein' as its tagline, although if this latest incarnation of the monster classic is what Universal considers 'A New World of Gods & Monsters' then we are in for a very grim world indeed. Those who know me have already heard my cries of anger since the announcement of a 'Dark Universe' in which the classic monsters will basically be reduced to a cash in to the current superhero trend so I will skip that for the most part. The story tells of Nick (Tom Cruise) who is a thief that just happens to stumble upon what he thinks is a major pay day only to unleash the ancient evil mummy Ahmanet (Sophia Boutella) and now must work with Dr. Henry Jekyll and his special unit known as S.H.I.E.L.D...I mean the Prodigium. And the rest of the surprisingly short film is all padding and set ups for a future line up of films that may or may not even come to be if this film doesn't scrounge up enough box office dough.
'The Mummy' is a film I like to use as an example in recent film arguments that I call 'Film ADHD'. When Marvel Comics began it's cinematic universe back in 2008, it began a huge phenomenon that I doubt even those in the business could have predicted and naturally everyone wanted in on the success. Since then, we've had DC barely able to catch up with its own works (with 'Wonder Woman' being the only one worth a damn so far) and now we have Universal's 'Dark Universe' and like DC's 2016 'Batman v. Superman', the studio has their focus on the future and the moolah rather than focusing on the task and films at hand. In fact, everything about 'The Mummy' feels jumbled and confusing. The film's screenplay was written by at least four that I know of which naturally results in a confusing story and bland and forgetful characters.
Amazingly, the film looks like it was shot on the cheap as well. We get some really mundane and generic cinematography or those typical shots you'd see in a summer blockbuster film such as this. According to the producers, this is supposed to be one of the higher budgeted films in this so-called universe too, which makes me cringe at what horrible looking sequels they can come up with later. If there is one saving grace to 'The Mummy', it would have to be the cast. Tom Cruise is fine, doing what he usually does and does it well but he's just never been for me personally. Sophia Boutella as the Princess Ahmanet is really good actually and her performance is by far the most interesting to watch. Finally, there's Russel Crowe's Dr. Jekyll who was in the film more than I thought but he does his job well too. His introduction here is to set up the later movies, but with such an important role like this why is he only in the middle half of the film?
That's one of the biggest issues I had with the movie, why does it set up without any kind of payoff whatsoever? Not even the scenes of exposition really work all that well, and we don't even get a nice post-credits scene to set something up or give us horror fans a fun Easter egg to leave on a high with. 'The Mummy' was sadly everything I predicted it would be, and that's not a good thing. The film is a horrible mess that should have stayed buried and the film devoured by Scarab Beetles. This is Universal Pictures' legacy now: mediocre rehashes of the very films that stood as pillars to the studios' very foundation. Carl Laemmle would be ashamed of what his studio has become and its beloved monsters. Skip this film at all costs, and see 'It Comes At Night' or even watch your old copy of 1999's 'Mummy' remake. You'll be better off.
( D- )
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