"The Mummy" Film Review

The 2017 The Mummy kicks off Universal Studios' Dark Universe with a snooze. I'd like to say that it's a remarkable piece of work and brought the horror back to the monster film genre but sadly it didn't. Don't get me wrong, there were some positives to the film but overall it was a mess - and that's coming from a loyal Cruise-ite.

The film begins with the story of Ahmanet, who she was and how she came to be mummified. She lusted for power and made a deal with Set, the Egyptian god of war (not to be confused with Ares who is the GREEK god of war). Set gave her power and in exchange, she was to give him a body for him to inhabit. What began her lust for power? Well, see she was supposed to be the next in line for the throne but a baby brother came along. Because he was a boy, he would get the throne instead of her. Sounds rather petty doesn't it? In the previous Mummy films, there was always a love interest somewhere that sacrifices were made for. You could sympathize with the monster no matter how terrible or horrifying their actions were. In this one, however, Ahmanet was just a monster.

The film then introduced us to Tom Cruise's character Nick. Nick is a military man that tends to divert from his missions and hunt for valuable artifacts, steal them, and sell them on the black market. Kind of an insult to the military and treasure hunters everywhere. He and his friend Kale stumble upon the burial site of Princess Ahmanet and that's when everything goes wrong....for them I mean. Jenny, who Nick had slept with earlier, catches up to them and helps extract the sarcophagus so she can have Dr. Jekyll study it.

I'll avoid revealing any more about the film since that would be crossing spoiler territory, but I will say that the film is very rushed and at the same time tries to cram in too much. The film is called The Mummy but it honestly should have been called The Curse of Set. You hardly see Ahmanet and when you do it's underwhelming. Everyone in the film has a selfish agenda. You can't sympathize with anyone and you honestly just watch for the action because that is the most spectacular part of the film.

In conclusion, I wanted The Mummy to be good. I really did. I have been a lifelong loyal fan of Tom Cruise and I have loved what I have seen of Sofia Boutella. Russell Crowe has also been one of my all-time favorite actors but sadly all three were disgraced. There was so much hidden potential in this film but even that was drowned out by an overabundance of information intended to start up the Dark Universe. Maybe the next film will actually focus on the monster rather than put him/her in the background for most of the film. I give The Mummy a 1.5 out of 4.