As long as the profits keep coming in from big-name franchises, Hollywood will continue to churn out sequels and reboots, even if the gains are marginal. Recently, there have been two, and both further dented the legacy of their brands.
To start with is the reboot The Mummy that stars Tom Cruise as ex-military man Nick Morton, Annabelle Wallis as former archaeologist Jennifer Halsey, Sofia Boutella as a long-dead Egyptian goddess who rises as a powerful mummy, as well as Russell Crowe who plays the famous character Dr Henry Jekyll.
The Mummy has some excellent special effects. This is a good-looking film by Alex Kurtzman who actually doesn’t have much in the way of directorial experience though he has plenty of writing experience, but more on that later.
As far as movies with huge CGI set pieces in which cities are annihilated go, The Mummy is easy on the eyes for the popcorn filmgoers. But that’s about all it has to offer. Unfortunately, this is yet another film that’s taken the dark and moody route, as Hollywood seems to believe that is all that fans want. And while I did like the visuals, they admittedly follow the customary gritty grey colour palette that gets boring, fast.
The Mummy shouldn’t have risen from the dead. The only jokes Dead Men Tell No Tales tells are terribly unfunny
The original Mummy films starring Brendan Fraser weren’t particularly good either, but they certainly carried a low-brow goofy charm. On the other hand, this reboot has none of it, though Tom Cruise certainly gives it his best in the lead role. The largest problem with the film is the pacing, where the inexperience of Kurtzman is evident. To make matters worse, the script is awful, with obvious plot holes and poor characterisation. Some of the supporting actors have little to do except act as eye-candy.
You might be curious as to why The Mummy carries so many jarring scenes of long exposition. Well, that’s because Universal Pictures is trying to set up a Dark Universe franchise, where you’ll have heroes battle some of the most famous supernatural horror characters in history. It sounds interesting in concept, but by evidence of this film alone, The Mummy shouldn’t have risen from the dead.
Rated PG-13 for violence, action, scary images, suggestive content and partial nudity
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