In 1931, Universal Studios launched an incredibly successful chain of monster movies beginning with Dracula and Frankenstein. The latter begins with a famous scene in which actor Edward Van Sloan appears onstage to warn the audience of the terrors to come. 'I think it will thrill you' he announces, 'it may shock you, it might even horrify you.' Well, the same can be said for Universal's latest attempt to revamp their monster movies, The Mummy, only not for all the right reasons. While the film does have some mild thrills, I was more shocked by its treatment of the titular character, and horrified at it's terrible script. Set to kick off the Dark Universe franchise, the film follows ancient Egyptian priestess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) who rises from the dead in the 21st century and attempts to resurrect an evil god of death. While it has some enjoyable moments, overall the film is a straight out mess.
Tom Cruise stars as Ethan Hu- I mean, Nick Morton, a soldier turned treasure hunter who uncovers Ahmanet's tomb. Morton is that same old loveable rogue that Cruise has played time and time again, only this time he didn't seem so loveable. This is the main protagonist after all, a character we're supposed to root for, but instead he spends the whole film looking confused, being downright arrogant, and of course, running. He has a few comedic moments, but overall I would have rather seen him being eaten by flesh eating scarabs or something actually exciting. To make matters worse, his chemistry with female lead Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) is virtually nonexistent. One of the things that the film actually does get right is to give the 'love interest' some sort of development, and I actually did enjoy Wallis' performance and her character overall. However, there is little chemistry between her and Cruise aside from a few flirtations early on, and this really takes away any impactful emotions from the films climax. Of course, I thought at least Russell Crowe could save this film as Dr. Henry Jekyll and his villainous counterpart Edward Hyde, but oh was I wrong. Crowe's Hyde persona is literally him doing a Danny Dyer impression with a bit of CGI to change his eye colours and add veins to his face. However, I'm still convinced that with a better script and better direction, Crowe could still pull off a better iteration of this character.
Then of course, there's the eponymous Mummy herself Ahmanet, played by Kingsman star Sofia Boutella. Boutella does the best with what she's given, unfortunately what she's given is not that much. That's right, in her own bloody film the mummy is reduced to a mere supporting role who spends the whole film chasing Tom Cruise like an obsessive fan girl. This is not Boutella's fault however, and there are some moments where she is truly menacing, especially in the films first act. However, from the moment she is chained up in the underground headquarters of Prodigium (don't ask), it's hard to see her as anything but a supporting character in The Tom Cruise Show. Ahmanet had so much potential as a character, but if I'm brutally honest, those in charge had so little respect for her. If you look at Universal's classic monster movies, the monster is generally front and center for most of the film. They are intimidating and have this constantly menacing presence that leaves an impact on the audience. Karloff's original mummy Imhotep had this, even Arnold Vosloo's iteration of the character in the 1999 version of The Mummy had this, but unfortunately poor Ahmanet is deprived of this. She is not treated with the respect that she is more than deservant of. Hopefully if a sequel ever materialises she will get better treatment, but as of now she is just wasted potential.
The worst thing about this film, and for me, the thing that drags it down most is its terrible script. It's hard to believe that it took six writers altogether, between the screenplay and the overall story, to come up with such an awful script. The worst thing about it is the consistent and excessive exposition throughout the film. The convoluted story is explained more than once, practically drilled into our heads, and it feels like every time a character goes to do something, they have to announce what they're doing. For example, during the plane crash scene where Nick searches frantically for a parachute he keeps shouting 'parachute! parachute!' For god's sake man, we know what you're looking for, you don't have to keep telling us. There's nothing more frustrating than a film that underestimates its audiences intelligence, this film may as well have been made for three year olds, only even they would still feel insulted. Along with that, there's nothing really new here and the entire film just feels like a mash up of various other films. From previous mummy movies, to Mission Impossible films, even An American Werewolf in London (you'll see), it feels like a variety of much better films all rolled into one to create something just awful. It tries to balance too many themes and ideas that it just feels like one big mess and really brings the film down upon itself.
Which leads me to the films tonal inconsistency. The Mummy never really knows what it is, one minute it tries to be a horror, the next it tries to do action, one minute it takes itself seriously, the next it throws in some comedic one-liners. For me, the film does best when it tries to be scary and there are some really enjoyable scenes near the beginning where the film genuinely feels like a mummy movie. Ahmanet roaming the gloomy countryside with her undead minions, that's what we're here to see, that's what works. However, as soon as monster-hunting organisation Prodigium are introduced in an effort to expand this shared universe, the film just goes completely off the rails. Along with this, the film quickly veers away from horror to action, which could have worked in the way the Brendan Fraiser films did, but unfortunately the action just isn't that good. Sure, the plane sequence is thrilling enough, but after that there's practically nothing, a bit of running, a bit of swimming, it all feels very mundane after a while. While there are some admittedly humourous moments, a lot of them feel extremely out of place at times. The worst is by far one of Cruises one-liners at the end where he says something along the lines of 'you're just not my type', and that was the final nail in the sarcophagus for me. The Mummy works best when it tries to be just that, a mummy movie. If it stuck to its horror roots and refrained from introducing this shared universe it would have been a lot more enjoyable, but unfortunately it didn't.
Overall, The Mummy is a huge disappointment and a terrible start to Universal's Dark Universe. The poor script, inconsistent tone, and general treatment of the titular antagonist really hold the film back from doing anything spectacular. While there are some funny moments, both intentional and unintentional, along with some exciting scenes, overall the film is just a mess and a blatant attempt to follow the success that Marvel have experienced with the MCU. The Mummy had the potential to do something great, to reimagine this classic movie monster for a new generation of horror fans to issue in a new era of terror. Unfortunately, it veers too far away from its horror routes and instead opts for a below average action flick with as much exposition as there is CGI. This new version of The Mummy is bad enough to make even Imhotep turn in his tomb.
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