While Marvel/Lucasfilm/Disney and Warner Bros./DC Comics ride the wave of creating their respective universes in the hopes of claiming tons upon tons of cash, Universal Studios has decided to resurrect its monster franchise.
What’s that mean?
The opening of The Mummy begins what Universal hopes will launch its Dark Universe brand, a concept wherein classic movie monsters inhabit the same — you guessed it — universe. The launch is off to a decidedly rocky start.
Disparate elements and tones fight for the soul of The Mummy.
The best of the film remembers the horror genre’s genesis. When The Mummy works well, the thrills, chills and ultimately, the screams, arrive unexpectedly. It’s in that moment that horror audiences might just want to give director Alex Kurtzman’s second feature film its undivided attention.
But this isn’t the Golden Age of Horror and while Universal’s monster films, despite being in black-and-white they have aged quite well (they’ll still scare you, kids), this ain’t back then. Kurtzman and screenwriters David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman, give in to the familiar modern tropes that often doom big budget films.
About halfway through the film, those legitimate scares give way to the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire and ginormous action sequences. The subtle morphs into the borderline ridiculous. But, hey, we are talking about a mummy, right?
Sofia Boutella (Star Trek Beyond) stars as that femme fatale, a murderous Egyptian princess gift wrapped, mummified and imprisoned after she slays her father and younger male sibling.
After those moves, she obviously craves power and makes a deal with the God of Death (who else you gonna call?) to ensure that he’ll enter the body of her lover and they can rule the world together. Being caught kind of screws up her plans.
Fast-forward millennia and Nick (Tom Cruise), a soldier-antiquities hunter, his pal Vail (Jake Johnson), and Jenny (Annabelle Wallis), an archaeologist with whom Nick shares a past, accidentally find the princess’ prison and they unleash a little bit of mayhem on London with the help of a super-secret organization led by Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe) that will change all of their lives.
Much goes on in this witch’s brew of cinematic chum that’s meant to be easily consumable and digestible. In that regard, few will mind, especially those unfamiliar with what the monsters have meant to cinematic history. And, sorry, that doesn’t include the Brendan Fraser version.
Kurtzman and his crew are ambitious in that they try to introduce the audience to several monsters at once, but the effort falls short. Along the way, he provides some stunning visuals (be sure to pay attention to the plane sequence).
And at least he has a cast that’s game. Cruise, the ageless wonder, can do these things in his sleep without ever looking bored on screen. His charm comes through on more than one occasion. Wallis does acceptable work as the damsel in distress and Crowe nibbles around the scenery in an amiable fashion.
Dubbed the Dark Universe, expect Universal brethren Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman and others to eventually make their way to the screen. In the future, here’s hoping the filmmakers charged with those classic characters offer more reverence and fewer explosions.
George M. Thomas dabbles in movie coverage for the Beacon Journal. Reach him at georgemthomas@thebeaconjournal.com.