Mummynever shifts out of Cruise control
The Mummy (M) 110 mins I guess it was inevitable. After the varying successes of monster franchises by Marvel, DC and Legendary, Universal has exhumed its frightcrew from the 1930s to create the Dark Universe.
Bizarrely, the first to be dusted off is one of its most recent successes – the first of a fourstrong Mummy movie series debuted less than two decades ago.
However, much has changed in the horror landscape since then and so new leading man Tom Cruise and company here have to find a way to appeal to a generation raised on the likes of The Walking Dead. But while there are some nods to that, director Alex Kurtzman’s film feels decidedly more old-school.
A kind of a cross between Big Trouble in Little China and An American Werewolf in London (Cruise is even frequently visited by his dead best-mate), this Mummy attempts to present itself as a rollicking ride that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
After a string of po-faced outings as Jack Reacher and Mission: Impossible‘ s Ethan Hunt you can see what appealed to Cruise. Here’s an opportunity to showcase his Jerry Maguire- esque swagger as well as his physicality.
But while his cheesy matinee idol is clearly inspired by another ‘‘liberator of precious antiquities’’, Morton is undermined by not being particularly likeable (he’s a tool and not the sharpest in the shed either) and a grating obsession with his bedroom performances.
However, he’s a joy compared to the efforts of a grave Russell Crowe. Clearly key to all things Dark Universe, his Dr Jekyll, at times, appears to be in a different, more serious film, before laughably transforming into something closer to Ray Winstone (accent and all) than the traditional Mr Hyde.
But while the film’s six writers struggle to come up with sustained laughs or thrills (or find a way to make this not seem ultimately like a Suicide Squad rip-off), there’s at least some seamless CGI and Annabelle Wallis’ ( Peaky Blinders) feisty Jenny to admire.
However, it feels like the eponymous bandaged one is kept in cotton wool for most of the movie.
So while it is a nice twist to make The Mummy a princess, Sofia Boutella’s ( Kingsman) bringer of destruction feels like a sideshow in her own story.
– James Croot