Film Review - ‘The Mummy’ (2017)

And yet again, the King of Hollywood mainstream strikes back with a vengeance. This time it’s not at any corrupt government official or even a horde of aliens but more rather an ancient Egyptian princess as known as ‘The Mummy’ along with her zombie followers. If you’re thinking originality is lacking here, then you’re probably right.

However, as long as you’re prepared to watch ‘The Cruise’ strut his stuff and be the Tom we all know and love or loathe, then you’re in for a treat. ‘The Mummy’ has been revamped into the 21st century, derived from the 1950’s Hammer films in where Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee dominated the genre. To see Tom Cruise embark on this project, he truly makes it his own by bringing it into extreme mainstream summer blockbuster status. It will be a pleasure for monster fans to be introduced to ‘The Mummy’ as the hints and foreshadows lie within. A calling of ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ as well as ‘Dracula’ is on the table. ‘The Mummy’ is the only the beginning, but when you have Hollywood royalty behind this project, it will garner box office success nonetheless.

The plot is straightforward. An ancient princess is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert, bringing with her wickedness grown over five thousand years, and terrors that defy human comprehension. The Mummy aka Ahmanet played by the intriguing Sofia Boutella, who some may remember as the legless assassin in ‘Kingsman’ takes pride in being the main villainess. Her character background sets the film in motion. The fact that Ahmanet was chosen to be Egypt’s next queen, but her thirst for power led her to commit murder and go down a dark and sinister path, resulted for her to be mummified alive truly captures our attention. Evil cannot rest forever and once the archaeologist, Jenny Halsey played by Britain’s Annabelle Wallis digs up the tomb, the evil arises and sets the curse on our hero better known as Tom Cruise. How will he fight the curse? How will he save the leading lady/love interest? And what dangerous stunts will Cruise undergo to impress us once again?

The special effects do not go overboard like the annoying ‘Transformers.’ The CGI is given in all the right doses and it’s a pleasure to see that characterisation between all actors plays the pivotal role here. Tom Cruise has simply awoken the evil Gods that he must fight. But these days if Cruise doesn’t fight anyone out of the ordinary, it wouldn’t be a Tom Cruise film. On the other hand, Academy Award winner, Russell Crowe takes the second billing gracefully and definitely gets his moment to shine. The fact that he plays Doctor Jekyll is not too much of a spoiler, and to see his moments of metamorphosis into the evil Hyde is excellent, adding onto a praiseworthy fight with Cruise’s character is worthy of an MTV best fight nomination.

On the whole, ‘The Mummy’ is entertaining. It’s got tension and good jumpy moments to keep you on edge. The A-List writers/Cruise collaborators, David Koepp and Christopher McQuarrie have adapted a classic film into the 21st century, using Hollywood’s biggest A-Lister to guarantee box office success. Put the Scientology and personal life of Cruise aside. Focus on his efforts to enthral you, as he without a doubt does that.