I’ll be the first to admit I was rather skeptical going into Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy, as the trailers seemed to be far more focused on the action instead of the horror to the story. But thankfully, my fears about the direction this new Mummy would take were quickly quelled about 25 minutes into the film, when I realized that this brand new Dark Universe that Universal is set to unleash was starting off on the right foot, because I was having a helluva fun time and was completely immersed in this world.
And while there was a lot of action to be found (I mean, it’s a Tom Cruise movie, and honestly, no one goes for the cinematic gusto quite the way he does), it’s apparent early on that Kurtzman wasn’t screwing around when it came to the horror aspects of The Mummy, making this action/horror hybrid a fantastic start to the new Dark Universe.
In The Mummy, we learn that over 5,000 years ago, a princess named Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) was poised to take control of her father’s kingdom, but then his wife bore him a son, which threatened Ahmanet’s eventual move towards claiming the throne. Consumed by her jealousy and thirst for supremacy, she murders her royal family and calls upon an ancient god (portrayed by acclaimed performer Javier Botet) to give her unyielding power and supernatural abilities. Her dastardly deeds do not go unpunished, as she’s captured and mummified (alive) for her betrayals, tucked away inside a sarcophagus buried far away from her family’s Egyptian empire.
Flash forward to the present, where we meet Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) and Chris Vail (Jake Johnson), who consider themselves to be “liberators of antiquities,” as their military positions bring them into some exotic locales, where they love to pocket rare valuables in order to sell them off for profit. During one of their misadventures, Nick and Chris find themselves going toe-to-toe with a group of insurgents, and a friendly fire airstrike reveals an immense tomb below the surface. As it turns out, archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) was supposed to be the one to discover what turns out to be Ahmanet’s prison, and she’s forced to work with the generally untrustworthy Nick to get the Egyptian coffin to a safe location for inspection, and that’s when the proverbial poop hits the fan, and Ahmanet’s fury is unleashed all over our modern world.
That sounds like a lot of plot—and it is—but somehow Kurtzman works through all of these ideas and connective tissue with relative ease, and does an admirable job of setting up the newly monikered Dark Universe alongside his writing team for The Mummy. Beyond having Cruise playing around in the realm of The Mummy, we’re also introduced to one Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe), head of Prodigium, who is in the business of rooting out evil and eliminating it from the world at large. Suffice to say, there’s a lot going on in The Mummy, but it also comes together spectacularly and makes me excited for what’s to come.
When it was first announced that Cruise was going to lead the charge for the rebooting of Universal’s classic monsters, I’ll admit I was a bit intrigued, especially since he hadn’t dabbled in the realm of horror since 1994’s Interview with the Vampire (his performance as Lestat is so criminally underrated by genre fans, too). His casting meant that this version of The Mummy was going to be action-fueled, and while I’m generally cool with that, my biggest concern was that the horror elements to the story would become an afterthought. And, as it turns out, that’s not the case—AT ALL.
Beyond Ahmanet and her penchant for destruction, The Mummy is bursting with copious amounts of fossilized foes for Cruise and company to battle against—sometimes inside a church, sometimes while speeding through a forest driving 60 miles per hour, and sometimes underwater (the latter being the pinnacle set piece in The Mummy—absolutely breathtaking stuff I could gladly watch 50 times over again and never be bored). And, as far as adversaries go, Boutella turns in a strong performance as the cursed would-be ruler who felt betrayed by the rules of society and is hell-bent on taking revenge. The actress has been on a tear over the last few years (with Kingsman: The Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond), so I’m happy to see her getting to do something wholly different once again.
As far as Cruise’s performance in The Mummy goes, he’s great. What I enjoyed most about his character is that he’s a guy who isn’t absolutely great at everything he does. So many times we see Cruise portraying a guy who has all the answers, or an international spy who can maneuver his way through any scenario, or even the best bartender in New York. With Nick, he’s equal parts hero and “damsel in distress” (for lack of a better term), and it really reminded me of his role in Edge of Tomorrow. It’s evident that Cruise is enjoying himself immensely throughout The Mummy, and that enthusiasm really shines through in his performance.
Johnson, who plays Cruise’s closest buddy and cohort (his “Goose” in this, if you will), provides The Mummy with much of its comedic relief, and it’s just impossible for me not to like the guy. He has this infectious charisma to him, which was a big reason I enjoyed Jurassic World so much. Essentially, what I’m saying is that if Universal wants Johnson in all their big franchises from now on, I’d be cool with that. In all seriousness though, I really think genre fans are going to dig his character so much in The Mummy (for reasons I really do not want to spoil here), and I’m excited for you guys to see it for yourselves.
Some of my not-so-favorite aspects of The Mummy ended up being Wallis’ character (who is so grossly underdeveloped in comparison to those she shares the screen with, that I just felt bad for her at times), a few hokey moments of dialogue, and the underwhelming design of Dr. Jekyll’s monstrous alter ego, which rears its ugly head (pun intended). I will say that I did enjoy Crowe’s work in The Mummy, though, and it looks like Universal is setting him up to be the Dark Universe’s Nick Fury. After watching him play around in this realm as a man who now exists outside of his “time,” it’s evident that he’s the perfect character to do so (who knows how to battle evil better than the man who works so hard to contain it within himself on a daily basis?), and I’m so curious to see the explanation for the 19th century physician being alive and well in the present day.
For me, The Mummy might end up being the biggest surprise of 2017, because I honestly wasn’t really jonesing for a new Mummy movie. And not only did Kurtzman completely obliterate my mild expectations going into this, but he also made me ridiculously excited for what the future holds for these incredible monsters that so many of us hold near and dear to our hearts. As someone who immensely enjoys both horror movies and action films that marry the past with the present (like both National Treasure films, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, or even Sahara (2005), I thought the way that The Mummy infused itself with that kind of energy, while also keeping its appreciation for its genre roots front and center, was a wildly entertaining time, and I could not have enjoyed it more.
Movie Score: 4/5
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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