Director: Alex Kurtzman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Marwan Kenzari and Russell Crowe.
Storyline: Princess Ahmanet – who struck a deal with the god of death, Set – is awakened to wreak havoc on humanity.
The Mummy is the latest in Hollywood’s recent trend to remake and reboot old franchises. It’s also perhaps Universal’s attempt to create an extended universe akin to Star Wars, DC and even Marvel. With action star Tom Cruise helming the new series, it should have ideally spelled out success at the get go. But unfortunately, the sure-fire box office hero is not enough to salvage this reboot.
Cruise stars as Nick Morton who, along with fellow Sergeant Chris Vail (the always hilarious Jake Johnson), capitalises on war to steal antiques. We’re never really sure how the two are part of the military, except that they are and their thievery is mildly annoying. One such expedition leads them to Iraq which is apparently present day Mesopotamia where the ancient Egyptians have buried Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella). She was once supposed to reign over a kingdom but her father’s new son thwarted her plans for power and Ahmanet strikes a deal with the God of Death Set to seize what’s hers. Unfortunately she’s mummy-fied and buried before the ritual — to bring Set into a mortal man’s body — can be complete.
Cut to present day when Morton and Vail along with the British Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) have accidentally awoken Ahmanet. She’s now The Mummy looking to pick up where she left off to destroy humanity. The only one who can help them is Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russel Crowe)… yes, the very same Jekyll from Robert Louis Stevenson’s book.
The original series with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz successfully held the audience’s attention through three films. Cruise’s film though is the first of Universal’s attempt at expanding the Dark Universe which features characters like The Mummy, Frankenstein and yes even Dr Jekyll. But the latter is forced in The Mummy. Jekyll, instead of adding to the plot, only distracts.
And in the spirit of gender balance, it’s nice to see a woman as the formidable Mummy. But that’s in theory. What we have instead is, Boutella simply sauntering throughout with no actual menace to chill her audience and that’s in spite of her multiplied pupils and scary body tattoos. The few tepid scares arrive in the form of Ahmanet’s resurrected zombies. As for action, it’s done and dusted within the first 20 minutes of the film during a skirmish between Morton, Vail and the Iraqi insurgents.
The Mummy is your usual action(less) caper where everything, including the antagonist, revolves around the male lead. And it has a plot that is as loose as the sands of the desert where the film was shot. Hopefully, the next film in the Dark Universe series, Bride of Frankenstein, is better.
(The article first appeared in The Hindu CinemaPlus.)