Exclusive film review: The Mummy

Newsroom 05/07/2017 | 15:21

Tom Cruise battling ancient Egyptian zombies? It may sound ludicrous – and parts of this mishmash of a movie indeed are, but the fun stunts and Cruise doing what he does best – racing around as a cocky but redeemable charmer – help offset the nonsense.

Debbie Stowe

Back in the prehistoric day, a pharaoh enrages his daughter-heir by remarrying and having a son. Denied her birthright to succeed her father, Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) embraces the dark side, makes a pact with the Egyptian god of death and murders her entire family. As punishment, Ahmanet is mummified alive, buried, and left to suffer for all eternity.

Back in the present day, mercenaries Nick (Cruise) and Chris (Jake Johnson) are capering around Iraq, stealing and selling antiquities. One of their daring raids leads to the discovery of an unusual tomb, which catches the interest of attractive archeologist Jennifer (Annabelle Wallis). Cavalier Nick inadvertently causes a commotion that busts open the tomb – and guess who pops out!

Newly released into the modern world, Princess Ahmanet must feast on the living to boost her own life force, while searching for a special gem that will allow her to resume her evil reign over the world – or something like that. Meanwhile, London scientist Dr. Jekyll (Russell Crowe), who seems to have wandered in from a different movie altogether, leads a secret organization that is trying to stop her. And Nick keeps having weird visions of Ahmanet, who seems to have developed a liking for him since he accidentally released her from centuries of entombment.

The finer points of the plot are easily lost as the film veers between genres. There’s Indiana Jones/Da Vinci Code-style adventuring, sci-fi-esque elements like mechanical spiders (who seem to have followed Cruise from Minority Report), horror, the supernatural, action sequences and general Tom Cruise-ness. Shaun of the Dead-type zombie humor is thrown in as well, as characters get dragged over to the dark side. And why do Jekyll and Hyde pop up out of nowhere?

The patchwork nature of the narrative makes sense if you know that this is the first in the planned Dark Universe franchise, under whose umbrella various monsters are poised to blockbust in the coming years. This also helps explain the closure-no closure nature of the ending. Proceedings throughout are fairly silly, but in a Mummy reboot one wouldn’t expect anything less.

Counterbalancing the film’s flaws is Cruise’s likeability: he’s played versions of this part most years since he was a teenager (he’s now, unbelievably, in his mid-50s and still getting away with it) and could probably do so in his sleep. The star enjoys some sparky chemistry with his (much younger) love interest Jennifer, and while their relationship isn’t on as equal a footing as his recent pairing with Emily Blunt in Edge of Oblivion, the archeologist at least has attitude and a proper job. Aside from star power, action-adventure flicks of this sort rely on their stunts, and these are also impressive enough. Set variously in the Middle East and London, the film makes good use of its striking locations for the set pieces, both the real-life and the supernatural ones. An aerial sequence near the beginning is particularly well executed and thrilling.

The Mummy is not a memorable movie – partly because it borrows heavily and is therefore reminiscent of so many other productions – and nor is it one you’d rush to see again. But Cruise and co, including the ancient zombies, will largely keep you on board throughout this divergent ride.

DIRECTOR: Alex Kurtzman

STARRING: Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Marwan Kenzari, Russell Crowe

ON AT: Movieplex Cinema, Grand Cinema & More, Grand VIP Studios, Happy Cinema, Cine Globe Titan, Hollywood Multiplex, Glendale Studio

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