'The Mummy' (2017) Review

The Mummy follows reconnaissance officer Sergeant Nick Morton and his partner Chris Vail as they galavant across the Middle East looting any antiquities they can find to sell on the blackmarket. In the midst an Iraqi firefight, Nick and Vail unintentionally discover the tomb of an Egyptian princess. Reinforcements soon arrive along with anthropologist Jenny Halsey, who wants to explore the crypt and retrieve any interesting artifacts the team may come across. The group stumbles upon the sarcophagus of Ahmanet and upon extraction accidentally unleash an ancient evil.

The Mummy is yet another attempt to launch a shared cinematic universe following the footsteps of Marvel Studios' startling success. Other ongoing efforts include Warner Bros.' DCEU and Legendary's Monsterverse (Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island). Anyways, Universal Studios intends to dust off their library of classic creature movies and reboot each character to revitalize one of the very first shared cinematic universes around, Universal's classic monster universe. Their proposed rejuvenated world is being dubbed the Dark Universe and Universal intends to fill it with iconic monsters including the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Phantom of the Opera, and the Invisible Man to name a handful.

I believe Dracula Untold was originally intended to be the foundation of this universe, but after that film flopped the burden shifted to The Mummy. Naturally, Universal quickly went to work assembling as many A-list actors for their franchise as possible, recruiting the likes of Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp, and Javier Bardem. Therefore, Universal has a lot riding on The Mummy if they want to actually get this universe off the ground in one piece.

Alex Kurtzman helms the monster movie as his second feature length film and the end result is an unfocused, tonally inconsistent film. On one hand, Kurtzman deserves praise for successfully piecing together some cool action sequences in his first big budget affair. It's well known that Tom Cruise is one of the most dedicated action stars around today, always insistent on performing the most outrageous stunts and the insane set piece this time around is a plane crash that was actually filmed in Zero-G. However, Kurtzman doesn't really allow for these stunts to appear as though they were actually filmed in-camera. The way cinematographer Ben Seresin shoots the action and editors Andrew Mondshein and Gina & Paul Hirsch splice things together doesn't provide Cruise the guise of authenticity he's offered by his Mission: Impossible antics. 

For example, in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol it is quite apparent that Cruise is a lunatic for actually dangling off the side of the world's tallest building. You can feel the sense of unease because Brad Bird allowed for longer takes and fewer cuts. The Zero-G sequence on the other hand, looks as though it were edited by a spastic five year old. 

Accomplished technical elements that are scattered throughout The Mummy include an exceptional union of visual effects, costuming, and hair and makeup utilized to fabricate Ahmanet's aesthetic. The technical crew managed to grant Ahmanet an unsettling, commanding appearance that works exceptionally well for the purposes of the film. Elsewhere, the surrounding vfx felt hastily made with a rough unfinished look (even though they're light years ahead of the 1999 version) and the score from Brian Tyler was forgettable to say the least. 

Where The Mummy fails most however is in prioritizing world-building over quality stand alone storytelling. The script simply had too many writers working on it with credits to a screen story developed by Jon Spaihts, Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet and screenplay credits for David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, and Dylan Kussman respectively. The screenwriting team were well intentioned in trying to incorporate elements of the overarching Dark Universe in The Mummy but it simply compromises the standalone nature of the story.

Imagine if Iron Man had been bogged down by constantly informing viewers other superheroes existed instead of telling a dedicated origin story for Tony Stark and simply teasing the viewer with the possibility of The Avengers in its infamous post credits stinger. The Mummy spends way too much time with needless exposition, much of which is repeated multiple times over the course of the one hour fifty minute runtime. If the overabundant exposition doesn't freak you out, then get ready for painfully unfunny one-liners and weak characters you aren't liable to care about.

Tom Cruise commands attention from the get-go as Nick Morton, throwing himself into the mix as he would in any Mission: Impossible installment. It's exceptionally rare that Cruise doesn't deliver a dedicated performance and thankfully that's not the case here. If anything, Cruise is held back by limits the screenplay places around his character. Annabelle Wallis' Jenny Halsey is unfortunately relegated to the confines of being the damsel-in-distress and spouting out anthropologist jargon but she makes a decent love interest with what she's provided.

And it is with a heavy heart that I declare Jake Johnson's Vail character to be the most annoying sidekick imaginable. Johnson was one of my favorite parts of Jurassic World so seeing him be written as an obnoxious obstacle here was incredibly disheartening and I hope to see him bounce back.

Sofia Boutella strides forward as Ahmanet and showcases an unwieldy creepiness, that's only amplified and accentuated by her undead army. Boutella brings out the most with what she's given but is portrayed with an over sexualized characterization that simply wasn't necessary. Rounding out the cast, Russell Crowe plays an enigmatic genius and entrepreneur heading up a shadowy society and is definitely the Nick Fury of this franchise (I won't reveal exactly who he's playing in case you haven't heard).

In my mind there's no question about it, this weekend you should definitely check out Wonder Woman if you haven't already or watch it again rather than digging up this mediocre monster movie. If you're dying to get wrapped up in watching The Mummy, then I'd advise not paying any more than matinee ticket price.

To wrap things up, The Mummy had plenty of potential to be an interesting standalone feature but it sacrificed that goodwill to establish future Dark Universe entries. Perhaps The Mummy would have been better left buried, but I'm admittedly intrigued by everything the Dark Universe has to offer.

Film Assessment: D+