Review: The Mummy (2017)
Universal Pictures kicks off it’s Dark Universe with this Tom Cruise vehicle. It hasn’t done well domestically so far but globally it’s on course, which could be what saves the film and the Dark Universe itself. Why is the film underperforming stateside? My fellow critics are razzing this film without mercy for one thing. As of this writing it has a 15% score on the Rotten Tomatoes site and is dropping fast at the domestic box office. It is in the number 4 position with a total of about $64 Million. It will probably struggle to get to the $100 million mark domestically. However, worldwide, it is one of the biggest hits Universal has ever had, as well as being the biggest hit Tom Cruise has ever had. It’s made over $300 Million total worldwide so far. Another of its problems is that it was released to close to the DCU juggernaut Wonder Woman. If it had waited maybe two more weeks it would probably be doing a bit better than it is.
Is the film really that bad? When I go to a movie, the first thing I do when rating it is asking myself Was it entertaining? And I was pleasantly entertained by this film. Does it have its flaws? Is it better than the Brendan Fraser films? Yes, it has flaws and no it’s not as good as the Fraser trilogy. Tom Cruise stars as Nick Morton, a U.S. military officer who, along with Sergeant Chris Vail (Jake Johnson) his friend and ally, accidentally find the tomb of Princess Ahmet who, like Imhotep in the Fraser trilogy, is buried alive. She suffered this horrific fate after killing her family and attempting to kill her lover with a special dagger given to her by the god Set. After unearthing the tomb, a horde of spiders attacks the trio, which now includes Jennifer Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) an archeologist who accuses Nick of stealing her map to discover the Mummy (Sofia Boutella) in question. Vail is bitten by one of the arachnid and becomes sick. In a poison induced delirium he kills the commanding officer (Courtney B. Vance) and then attacks Norton with the same knife he used on the officer, resulting in Nick shooting him dead. But that’s not the end of his character. Vail serves the same purpose in this film as Griffin Dunne did in An American Werewolf in London, the dead friend who returns and tells his mate that he has been cursed and must die. From this point the action is nonstop and includes an interesting turn by Russel Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll. I had fun with this film and, after all, isn’t that what summer films are made for? Having fun?
Yes, the critics are right in stating that there isn’t enough character development among our hero’s, making it hard for us to relate to them or their plight. However, the performances are top notch and Tom Cruise is still in great shape so I have no problem with him being a 54-year-old action hero in this movie (Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger anyone?) and Sofia Boutella owns the character of Princess Ahmanet and deserves a lot of recognition for her turn as the Mummy. This was a difficult role and I don’t think anyone else could have pulled it off as well as she did. All the performances were top notch and the suspense built with every minute of the films progress so, despite its flaws (perhaps suffering for having too many writers,) I recommend this film for Summer movie going fans ***
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Alex Kurtzman
Writer: David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, Dylan Kussman
Music: Brian Tyler
Cinematography: Ben Seresin
Run Time: 107 m
About the Author
Kevin Given Kevin Given has studied with "Longridge Writers Group" and "Writer's Boot Camp" a speech/communications major from the University of Maine Presque-Isle/Orono sites. He has created the "Karl Vincent Vampire Hunter" franchise which includes 2 novels and 8 comic books. They can be found on amazon, Indyplanet and Kindle. For a limited time you can get digital copies of "Karl Vincent: Vampire hunter" #1 and "Files of Karl Vincent" #1 for free on Indyplanet. Kevin is producing the third novel in the series "Dracula Rising" (working title) and developing "Foul Blood" into comic book form.
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