Here's my thing: I had my hopes up with Tom Cruise's upcoming project. Now, I did not expect that his next project would be a horror thriller. But, with him at the helm, it will be an action horror/thriller with him kicking butt and running (yeah, there's running in this movie.) However, why would we need another reboot of The Mummy? We had already a reboot of the 1932 original movie with Brendan Fraser. It is actually a trilogy. The first movie was solid, the second movie was a guilty pleasure and the third one was awful. Now, Universal Pictures want to solidify a franchise, another franchise called the Dark Universe where each movie headlines monsters such as the Mummy, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, etc. This movie may have sealed the deal for the Dark Universe before the franchise ever takes off because this movie was not very good.
The movie begins with Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella), who is first in line, to succeed her father, King Menehptre. However, Menehptre and his mother has a son and it upsets Ahmanet because the youngest would take over the throne. Determined to have the throne for herself, she sells her soul to the god, Set, and claims a special dagger for herself to transfer his spirit into matter. Because Ahmanet kills her family, her father's priests kills her lover and mummifies Ahmanet, sentencing her to be buried alive forever.
In present day Iraq, Nick Morton (Tom Cruise), a soldier, and his friend, Chris Vail (Jake Johnson) discover Ahmanet's tomb after a staged airstrike. Jenny Halsey (Annabellw Wallis), an archaeologist who has had a relationship with Morton, investigates and identifies it as a prison of some sort. Ahmanet's sarcophagus is being placed on a transport plane headed to England. After attempting to open the sarcophagus, hell breaks loose as a huge wave of crows assault the plane, causing it to crash and kill everyone except Jenny, who was parachuted off the plane. However, Nick wakes up a day in the morgue and it is revealed that he is cursed by Ahmanet.
The difference between the Fraser version and this version is fun. The Fraser version seemed like an Indiana Jones ripoff but it was a fun adventure. With this movie, there is some capable action set-pieces and a few good scenes regarding a plane crash and a fight involving Cruise and somebody else, but that's it. The rest of the movie is a mess and it feels forced liked that the studio wants to ignite a franchise without planning and creative collaboration. The studio seems like they have all the pieces, the nostalgia from the old classics but they have a bland story and not much character development in any of them. The movie seems like an exercise of horror/fantasy special effects and trying to start a franchise.
Tom Cruise is basically Tom Cruise in action form but the movie simply does not know how to use him as a character or as an action star. He seems a bit misused in certain areas that does not allow us to connect to his character in both an entertaining and emotional level, especially in the second half. Sofia Boutella has had a couple of successful hits on her resume with Kingsman and Star Trek Beyond. She is scary and seductive here but it is not as memorable compared to The Mummy in Arnold Vosloo or in the 1930s. Annabelle Wallis was fine in her role, but again, does not use her character too well. And, the comic relief by Jake Johnson lands with thuds. Russell Crowe plays the Dr. Jekyll that is basically the key to the universe and provides a little bit of depth and what might happen.
There's way too much going on here: It tries to be a horror/fantasy movie and delivers it in a subpar level, it tries to be adventurous but it is a little dull, it tries to be comedic and there's nothing, it has romance but not much chemistry between Cruise and Wallis and it tries to be action film where it has the best elements. Director Alex Kurtzman and four writers felt like they have ideas but it is noticeable that in the movie they had no destination or consensus as to how to start the franchise or even make the movie. Plus, they focused on it too much that the dialogue seemed too on-the-nose. Is this Tom Cruise's worst movie? Mmmm...you can make a case. But, Knight and Day, Cocktail, Far and Away, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. And, also, this is a rarity that Cruise has been in two very bad movies and I'm hoping he'll be in a good project soon. Hopefully, American Made. This is a missed opportunity.
*1/2
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