The Mummy (2017)

Cast: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis and Jake Johnson

Director: Alex Kurtzman

Release Date: 2017

Running Time: 1hr 50 minutes

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 15

Synopsis:

An ancient Egyptian princess, Ahmanet is awakened from her sarcophagus, beneath the desert, bringing with her evil grown of millenia and plagues that are beyond human comprehension.

The story begins in 1127 A.D, multiple English crusader knights, bury an Egyptian ruby within the sarcophagus of one of their people. In the New Kingdom era, Princess Ahmanet (Boutella) is first in line to take the throne from her father, until his second wife gives birth to a son. Determined to steal the throne for herself, the Egyptian God of Death agrees to help her if she uses a mystical dagger, known as the dagger of set to help him transform his spirit into a corporeal form. Ahmanet however is caught by her father's priests and condemned to be mummified alive for eternity. Ahmanet's tomb is buried and submerged into a pool of mercury so that even her demonic spirit can't escape. In the present day, Nick Morton (Cruise) and Chris Vail (Johnson) get more than they bargained for when they accidentally unleash her sarcophagus, waking up the monstrous form.

Unfortunately, this is a very disappointing start to the Dark Universe. The storyline has been very poorly executed and terribly written. The story is really lacking in excitement and suspense. The character development has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. It really lacks in humour, tension and conflict. The character development is about as wooden as a witch's broom. Tom Cruise delivers one of his worst performances as Sgt Nick Morton, Cruise seriously lacks in characterisation and emotion, his performance is just messy and embarrassing. Russell Crowe's character, Henry Jekyll sadly is not explained properly, although we can assume that it is a subtle link to Jekyll and Hyde that will be released in the near future, as part of the Dark Universe? Sofia Boutella not only looks the part but delivers a decent amount of characterisation to her role as Princess Ahmanet, brilliantly cast, she takes on her role in full stride!

Set in and around London, the set location is inaccurate for the storyline and seems more of a staple than part of the storyline. One moment they're flying over Iraq, a couple of hours later their plane crash lands in London? Just how close together do they think these countries are? The idea that they find an Egyptian princess in Iraq too, is ludacris. Although some of the special effects used in the film are impressive, the cinematography really lets it down. Unfortunately its one of those films where the trailer attempts to show the best bits, however when it actually comes to viewing the movie you realise they are the only good bits! The beginning of the Dark Universe was let down by poor directing an awful script and a soundtrack that does absolutely nothing for the film. Terribly disappointing.

2/5 stars