Review: The Mummy Is...Actually Pretty Good
- Jun 8, 2017
- 2 min read
As I stepped into the dimly lit theatre I was somewhat apprehensive. Images of Brendan Fraser, the 90's and childhood rushing about my head. As I sat and watched however, the cloud of memories slowly began to lift. I left the theatre, the sun shining brightly outside and I smiled to myself. Tom Cruise wasn't so bad after all.
When Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) and Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) accidentally unearth the dead Egyptian Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella), they unleash a long dormant evil, one that will destroy all in her path to achieve her goals. They must join forces with The Prodigium, led by Dr Jekyll (Russel Crowe) a society that exists to contain and destroy evil. Together they face a near impossible task, a task that, if failed, will bring about the end of the world as we know it.
The latest iteration of The Mummy isn't a great movie and it can't hold a candle to the 1999 classic, but it is a fairly entertaining film in its own right. It has elements of horror, action and comedy and, while they don't always mix to well, the come together competently enough. Cruise is solid, though he does give the same performance he gives in every action movie he's done since the first Mission Impossible. Crowe gives the stand out performance in a relatively small role, approaching his part with what appears to be nothing short of raw enjoyment. Sofia Boutella is a solid mummy and while she isn't exactly memorable, she powerful and sinister enough to give her a real screen presence.
The action is good, though not overly imaginative, often devolving into fights against Ahmanet's army of undeath, little more than generic zombies. The real highlight are the more horror centric scenes, filled with an eerie tension and dripping with a sense of dread and foreboding. The earlier ones in particular are almost excellent.
Ultimately, The Mummy is a decent blockbuster. While it has neither the charm nor lasting appeal of the 1999 film, it stands on its own well enough. As for it being the first film in the proposed Dark Universe, it's as good a place as any to start. Not a classic but by no means a bad movie, not in the slightest.
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