THE MUMMY
Director: Alex Kurtzman
Cast: Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Russell Crowe
Rating: (M)
One and a half stars (out of five)
They practically invented the concept with their monster movies of the ’20s to the ’50s, pillaging great works of horror literature such as Dracula, Frankenstein and The Invisible Man, as well as creating original characters such as The Wolf Man and The Mummy, then crossing them over ad infinitum to ever more ridiculous effect.
Whatever campy entertainment value still exists in these B-grade efforts from another era, they’re pretty much ignored by cinema history (James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein being the exception that proves the rule), but that hasn’t prevented successive generations from attempting to revive the concept at different times, with the Hammer horrors of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s being the most notably successful.
Universal made a false start in 2014 with Dracula Untold, a reboot that was intended to be the first entry in the Dark Universe series, but a poor reception has retconned that out of existence, and so The Mummy begins the franchise proper ... and it’s profoundly, depressingly terrible.
There is one lone good scene, in two hours, in which a plane, carrying a mummy for some reason, spirals out of control, and Tom Cruise, playing some guy, flips around like Lionel Richie in the Dancing on the Ceiling video. I like Lionel Richie ... he does all his own stunts.
- Jeremy Quinn
