The Mummy (Review)

So I finally sat down to watch The Mummy. No not the classic Brenden Frasier one, The maligned Tom Cruise version. (Spoilers ahead)

Firstly I can't quite tell if it wanted to be a action adventure similar to the previously successful trilogy, or if it wanted to tread a darker line. There are elements of both throughout the movie and cause some of the largest moments of cognitive dissonance I had while watching the film.

It opens not too dissimilarly to the Frasier trilogy with a brief origin for the titular "Mummy" this time giving a sequential run of the uncovering of the tombs. This quickly moves in to an action sequence that introduces our main character and one of the movies side characters. Not too different from what we have seen before. Complete with the sand facial reveal to signify the Mummy's presence.

The film takes many underlying elements from the Frasier trilogy with action, a burgeoning romance, and a reluctant hero who has a colourful past. The scarabs have been replaced with these other creatures that seem to zombify those who they bight. Not as scary as the crawling under the skin seen in the previous trilogy. But it did lead to an interesting thing where Tom Cruise's in film best friend is killed and remains there as ghost very much akin to An American Werewolf in London. 

The movie's main fault is it's apparent indecisiveness on weather or not it wants to be in the spirit of the prior trilogy, or a Tom Cruise movie. It's almost as if they wanted to make a more serious film but once it became part of "The Dark Universe" it had to begin to fall more in line with the outlandish and far less serious Dracula Untold. To lighten it up they fell back on examples set by the Frasier trilogy with some comedic physicality and a few one liners, however they are delivered far more dryly this time around. 

One of the few saving graces I found in the movie is Russel Crowe's take on Jekyll and Hyde. Its a slightly hammy performance in the right kind of way the belies a far greater story underneath. Even with the film being overall boring, I would have been highly interested in where they took the Jekyll and Hyde story line. 

The ending however I cannot say the same thing for though. It was sadly and tiredly predictable and despite some decent visuals coupling it, it did little for my enjoyment of the film. 

The casting of a female for the role of the titular Mummy didn't bother me, and lent itself to interesting take on the formula, as well as being believable in her place as a ruler. However I feel that spending a good portion of the movie tied down being filled with mercury to weaken her, weakened her role in the film as a destructive force. I wish we had seen more of her building her power and regaining her strength, and then showing it in full force.

Ultimately there was a better movie to be made here. As what was there didn't leave much in the way of lasting memories. It worked well enough though as a popcorn movie, but not something I'll be revisiting anytime soon.