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COLINS FILM CLUB Review – Cinema

THE MUMMY (2017)

Billed as the start of a brand new franchise under the heading “Dark Universe”, Universal Studios is bringing us quite a few of its past monsters out from under the bed, starting here with yet another re-telling of the Mummy. We are destined to see other monsters in future films if this one is successful enough – but its a big weight on its shoulders to carry not only a reboot of the series but also an entire future franchise. Does the gamble pay off..???

We have TomCruise playing Nick Morton, a kind of rogue element from an army background who is more into stealing treasure and selling it on the black market than anything with an historical nature to it. Upon stumbling across the prison Tomb of Princess Ahmanet who had been left outside of Egypt due to the slaughter of her Father, Mother and Brother by her own hands and for colluding with the Egyptian Devil himself, Set. Along for the ride is Annabelle Wallis as Jenny, an archaeologist who works for a secret organization (like S.H.I.E.L.D. but incompetent) called Peridgium, lorded over by Russell Crowe as Dr Jekyll. Ahmanet seeks a magical knife McGuffin and curses Morton into becoming the vessel of Set, thus a series of chases and set pieces ensue...

Now, lets cut to the chase. The Mummy is not a good film. Sadly it just feels like yet another generic Tom Cruise action-fest, with explosions and a lot of running. If the action was transported into Jack Reacher or Impossible Mission you could hardly tell the difference, and Cruise has done the ordinary guy with flaws to Hero bit countless times, even he must be getting bored with these types of film, gone is the actor who gave us Rain Man and Top Gun with character nuances aplenty, now we get Cruise in simply action-mode and little else.

Wallis too falls simply into the same one dimension heroine in trouble, saved at the last minute type cardboard cut out, and doesnt really get a lot to do except turn up, say a few lines and then get chased.

Crowe gets to do a bit of scenery chewing but only as his alter-ego Mr Hyde – its when he is in this character that he has fun and is interesting to watch, but as Jekyll he is too straight and has few exceptional moments. As the leader of a secret organization you expect him to have some skeletons in his cupboard, indeed he has a few skulls as specimens lying about the place, but his own backstory is woefully neglected.

The stand-out character of the film is Sofia Boutella`s Ahmanet, the young actress is really finding her feet since Kingsman: A Secret Service and last years Star Trek Beyond as she graces the Egyptian with poise and steadfastness, her singleminded obsession to complete the ceremony that was interrupted centuries earlier and her progression as she is released from her tomb into the chaotic 21st century are handled easily, and Boutella once again reminds us of her great athleticism and agility in a couple of the action scenes, one most notable is the backward, upsidedown climb on the chains that bind her at the Peridgium HQ under the Natural History Museum in London. She acquits herself well and we see big things for her in the future.

The main problem with this film is it seems to jump all over the place, the attempt here is to give a sense of a globetrotting adventure, but this hardly works well if your locations are only London, Sussex or Iraq. The flashback scenes are repeated too, as if we cant work out for ourselves exactly how and why this object or person got to where they are or is doing what they are doing because of etc.. this is just damn irritating, its like the Director cannot allow his audience into his own film! And as noted already, the film with The Mummy in its title should really belong to the character in question and not just become another vehicle for Cruise, but its worse than that – there are often huge plot holes in the script. Ahmanet suddenly turning up somewhere be it in water or on a London street, there is never any explanation given for this power unless we are to assume all Mummy`s have the power to teleport? How can Ahmanet just simply place a curse on someone by looking into their mind?? And why would Knights from the Crusades take orders from an Egyptian Princess who died long before them, or even worship her...??? It makes no sense!!!

And dont get me started on the CGI... I thought at times it looked like a film from the SyFy Channel with a budget to match!!

So, the film is a nightmare of bad ideas, bad script and contrivances. As a foretasting for the Dark Universe franchise, it kind of feels like a massive let down after promising so much more. The are likeable elements to it but these are few and are swallowed up almost immediately by yet another bout of idiocy. If this franchise is to continue then it needs to look at what the audiences are saying about this film and re-think the policy a bit. Overall the whole premise of various monster films sounds intriguing and holds a lot of promise, and the studio has got quite a few heavy hitting stars signed up for them, Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe just to start, but we also have Johnny Depp in the group too for a forthcoming Invisible Man role, so this could be a franchise to watch – remember, the Marvel universe and the DC one have both had shaky starts but have now since found their footing – could the Dark Universe do the same? If based just on this one then my answer would be no, but it is too early to tell yet.

A poor début – lets hope for better things with the next instalment because this film kind of makes you wish for the return of the O`Connell`s and their particular blend of Mummy-bashing mayhem and Camel kissing. One thing is certain, if viewed as a Cruise film it could be mildly enjoyable, but as a franchise starting Mummy flick, its disappointing...

Only boasting a few neat twists, this formulaic and weary Monster flick might have been okay had it not been over-laidened with Cruise`s star-power. Time to wrap it back up and seal the lid...

COLINS FILM CLUB Rating

**