The Mummy Review [Spoilers]

The Mummy is the first film in Universal's attempt to kick start a shared Dark Universe filled with legendary monsters. This is not to be confused with Legendary's Monsterverse comprising of Godzilla and King Kong. As the name of the universe suggests, this one is not like the Brendan Fraser mummy films.

Mummy is about an Egyptian Princess Ahmanet who in her desire to claim the throne sells her soul out to the God Set who in turn asks her to bring him back to real world through the use of a dagger. Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) is caught and mummified only to be restored in present day by an archaelogist, Jenny (Annabelle Wallis), US military officer Nick (Tom Cruise) and Chris Vail (Jake Johnson) and then the rest of the story is about Nick fighting to remain human with Ahmanet hell bent on using the dagger to bring Set to life.

Alex Kurtzman directs this movie with cinematography by Ben Seresin who is the brother of Michael Seresin who did War for the Planet of the Apes. What a coincidence. I did enjoy the cinematography in this one although personally Apes was much better. The movie felt like it was trying hard to start up this shared universe and missed out on making the characters in this one totally fleshed out. I was not convinced by the actions of the main characters Jenny and Nick at various points as they felt hurried. Jenny grew into her role later in the film for me but her eventual death (and resurrection) did not have the emotional impact that the film makers intended. That was also the case with Nick turning good by over turning the hold Ahmanet had on him. There was almost no secrets to look forward to as they were revealed immediately which was disappointing.

Sofia Boutella was the best part of the movie in my opinion. Tom Cruise always gives his best in all his movies and he does so here too but he felt more like Tom Cruise than Nick. The action scenes were good but did not have the vibe of a monster universe. It felt like a mission impossible film.

I will still watch the future installments of this universe to see what the studio has planned and in hopes for better story the next time around.

Overall Rating: 5/10