Review: The Mummy
Must everything be part of a universe now? Take The Mummy, the official first installment in Universal's Dark Universe (2014's Dracula Untold was intended to kickstart the franchise, but its connection to the shared universe has since been downplayed). On its own, The Mummy functions well enough as the latest version of the studio's classic horror film, but tends to falter when establishing pieces of the overall cinematic world.
Not that one can blame Universal for getting into the arena. With the MCU, DCEU, and the MonsterVerse all in play and raking in serious profits, why wouldn't Universal plunder its own archives and revive classic horror characters such as the Mummy, Bride of Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, Dracula, and Frankenstein with superstars like Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Russell Crowe, and Javier Bardem attached? That in and of itself is not a bad idea, but to interconnect them may be questionable. When these films came out between the 1920s and 1950s, they were often stand-alone films and even when they combined for a series, installments did not necessarily hark back to previous entries. They were serials, episodes featuring the same characters but not containing any continuity or throughline.
Continuity, tenuous and otherwise, is the name of the game in The Mummy which, in addition to Sofia Boutella's skimpily bandaged, resurrected Egyptian princess Ahmanet, introduces viewers to Russell Crowe's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (The way the film gives weight to this reveal is so ludicrous it may as well have blared the character's name in neon letters.) Crowe is a secondary player here as Cruise's Nick Morton is the main hero. It's a slightly odd choice for Cruise. On the one hand, Nick is a typical Cruise character - a cocky charmer with maverick ways - but it's also a character that feels dated, at least the way it's written. This is a role Cruise could have done 30 years ago; at a youthful-looking 54, the boyishness of the performance feels strained.
Nick and his sidekick Chris (Jake Johnson) are treasure hunters working with the U.S. army and archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis, who gives good gasp). After surviving a firefight and a bickering session with Jenny, from whom he stole a map after spending a night together, Nick stumbles upon an enormous sinkhole in the sand. Exploring it leads to the discovery of the tomb of Ahmanet, who was mummified alive after murdering her father and infant brother so she could claim the throne. The awakened Ahmanet is determined to find the ceremonial dagger in order to carry out her part of the bargain with the evil god Set so that he can take on human form. Of course, the dagger is in the possession of Nick and his team and, naturally, Nick has been targeted by Ahmanet to be the human sacrifice.
The film's marketing has highlighted the "zero gravity" action sequence to no end and, indeed, it is a thriller. The plane carrying Ahmanet's tomb is attacked by a swarm of crows, and Nick and Jenny pinball from one end of the plane to another, desperately trying to reach a parachute, as the plane careens towards the ground. And yet...did Cruise not perform a variation of this stunt in more outstanding fashion in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation? Not only that, but this scene actually feels out of place in The Mummy because, though Cruise is the headliner, this is very much not a Tom Cruise vehicle in the usual sense of the word. It definitely does not meet the usual standards of quality in most of Cruise's work. Deliberately or not, The Mummy seems intent on putting Cruise through his paces - trapping him in a crashing plane, throwing him out of a moving ambulance, swarming him with rats and, most hilariously, constantly getting slapped away like a mere ant by the formidable Ahmanet.
The Mummy does have its moments when it replicates the high spirits and lightheartedness of 1999's The Mummy. A chase through the woods, during which Nick and Jenny's vehicle are attacked Ahmanet's undead minions, combines action, comic banter, scares, and a certain tongue-in-cheek self-awareness that this is all just silly fun. And that's the thing: this is all meant to be silly fun with some scares here and there. Yes, the original 1932 version had a quiet dread, but it also didn't take itself too seriously. This latest version of The Mummy is distracting enough entertainment, but it in no way whets the appetite for what's to come in the Dark Universe.
The Mummy
Directed by: Alex Kurtzman
Written by: David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, Dylan Kussman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Russell Crowe, Marwan Kenzari
