Tags:
Film: The Mummy
Year: 2017
Director: Alex Kurtzman
Writer: David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella and Annabelle Wallis
Review:
This film begins in England in 1127 A.D. We see the Knights Templar burying one of their own. There is a red jewel that is placed on his chest as the top of his tomb is placed over top of him. We then shift to present day where a machine that is drilling holes under London are being used to make more tunnels for the subway. It opens up on the room where the knight we saw was buried as well as other Templars. We then learn through news broadcasts that there are a lot of hidden tombs under London. There are also similar ones that are in the River Thames due to flooding and erosion.
We then learn about an ancient Egyptian princess. She is played by Sofia Boutella. She is trained as a warrior and her father is proud of her. That is until he has a son. This makes Boutella make a drastic move. She does a ritual that allows a devilish god to take over her body. She then slaughters her father, his wife and her new younger half-brother. She goes to kill her lover, giving this demon a body to live in. Before she can, she is captured. She is mummified while being alive and then hidden.
Next we go to modern day Iraq. We have two soldiers, played by Tom Cruise and Jake Johnson. We see that Cruise has a map with some information written on it. Johnson is upset that they are outside of a village that has insurgents. Cruise states there is a tomb down there and they have to get into it. Johnson wants to call in an airstrike to clear them out, but Cruise knows that will draw the attention from their superiors which could lead to prison time.
They end up attacking the insurgents and they are outnumbered. Johnson ends up calling in an airstrike and they discover the tomb when the enemies flee. Their superior shows up, played by Courtney B. Vance. Cruise tries feed him a story and he is called out on it. A woman then shows up and slaps Cruise; she is played by Annabelle Wallis. It appears that they stayed the night together and Cruise stole a map from her. They go down into the crypt.
It is here that we see this is an Egyptian crypt, well away from their lands. The signs are backwards in that they are not leading the soul to the underworld, but they are there to keep whatever is resting here to stay. There is liquid mercury that is also there to keep whatever is here. Cruise gets images of Boutella, speaking to him in ancient Egyptian, stating he is the chosen one. He then shoots a rope and it is a pulley system. It brings up the sarcophagus that holds Boutella’s mummy. They are attacked by spiders and one of them bites Johnson.
They go to take the mummy back to the United Kingdom. They have to go through a sandstorm to get on to a plane. It is on here that Johnson is sick and then he becomes a zombie of sorts. The soldiers pull guns on them and Johnson gets a knife. He tries to cut one of the soldiers. Cruise gets a gun from a soldier and tells Johnson to stop. He ends up shooting him a few times. They are attacked by birds. The pilots are killed and the plane starts to crash. Wallis is given the only parachute and survives.
We then see that Wallis works with Dr. Henry Jekyll, who is played by Russell Crowe. Wallis is asked if could identify the bodies. It then shifts to the morgue where Cruise wakes up inside of a body bag. Johnson then appears to him, pointing out that he survived without a scratch, asking how that is possible. It is revealed that he’s been cursed and Boutella is going to come for him.
Her tomb is opened in the crash. There are two police officers who are searching through it. She ends up taking energy from them to make herself stronger. They follow her as zombie like creatures. Can Boutella be destroyed before she gets to full strength? What does she want to do with Cruise? How does Crowe and his group fit into all of this?
This film I was leery about seeing it. This version was definitely trying to mimic what the one from the 1990’s did and went heavy on the action. I think that is an issue with the film. I think they should have gone more on the horror and I think that would have helped. Another issue I had with the story was that they focused too much on Cruise and Boutella pursuing him. I think they could have delved a little bit more in the history of Boutella or how she could control some people and not others. I do really like that they introduce the Knights Templar. I’m a big of them and their lore. It was fun to see the skeletons of the Templars waking up, even though there probably isn’t enough on them for that. It was odd as well having the fight between Cruise and Crowe with Crowe losing control and becoming Mr. Hyde. It is unfortunate that due to these issues that there is a chance the Dark Universe that is being set up by this film might not happen now. I did like the ending and how it could continue on if they wanted to.
The acting in this film is decent. Cruise was good in the action scenes, but his character seems to be quite clueless. He can do a solid job at times, but this one I wasn’t impressed. Wallis was really nice to look at, but I didn’t find her to be all that believable in her role. She wasn’t horrible; I just didn’t feel it was the best fit. Johnson was funny. Boutella looked great and was well as the mummy. I think her dance background allowed her to do some things others could not do. Crowe also seemed to be miscast in my opinion.
Effects in this were very prominent and it was mostly CGI. I had a problem with a good portion of it. I like it is good that Cruise does his own stunts and that Johnson trained with him to do his as well. I thought Boutella and her make-up looked good, even when the CGI is used to put them on at first. The birds that attacked the plane had some issues for me as well as some issues with the sandstorms. The editing was okay, but I didn’t feel the tension that needed to build in the film. I think part of that was what they focused on at times instead of actually building a story. The score of the film didn’t stand out for the most part, but also didn’t hurt the film in my eyes either.
Now with that said, this film could have been much better. I feel that it was a bad choice to focus more on the action instead of more of the horror aspects. I think that if they would have focused more on Boutella’s back-story instead of her drawing Cruise. I do like how it ended and the potential to continue into the Dark Universe if that eventually happens. The acting was decent. The effects were mostly CGI. Some where good to me while others I wasn’t impressed. The editing didn’t build the tension that I felt the film needed. The score wasn’t overly impressive either. This film is slightly above average; mostly just it was entertaining with very little substance.
My Rating: 6 out of 10