557: The Mummy

[00:00:01] Let's get to the reboot of The Mummy from 2017. It's directed by Alex Kurtzman. It stars Tom Cruise, Sophia Batella, Annabelle Wallace, Russell Crowe, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance.

[00:00:21] And the synopsis is, an ancient Egyptian princess is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.

[00:00:37] For anyone familiar with the origins of this movie, and also I will do a Mummy franchise show at some point, but I figured it would probably be a while.

[00:00:52] So hopefully it makes sense to include it in this collection.

[00:00:59] But this was supposed to kick off the universal, quote unquote, dark universe, which would be a modern reboot universe of the classic monster movies.

[00:01:12] So The Mummy, Dracula, Invisible Man.

[00:01:17] Sadly, however, it didn't make that much money or enough.

[00:01:22] And then reviews were very mixed.

[00:01:26] So that whole thing was canceled, essentially.

[00:01:31] I know Blumhouse is doing some of those like The Invisible Man, which I also covered.

[00:01:38] Wolfman as well.

[00:01:42] Also, from what I read, I think Dracula Untold was technically supposed to be a part of this universe too.

[00:01:51] Because it came out just a few years earlier and it was a big budget adaptation.

[00:01:57] I've seen this a few times over the years.

[00:02:02] And despite the mixed reception, I don't think it's that great.

[00:02:08] But I do enjoy it.

[00:02:10] At least more than the average person does.

[00:02:15] It could have been way, way better.

[00:02:18] And there are some issues that I'll point out specifically as to how it could have been improved.

[00:02:24] I like it because it's very much a classic monster film.

[00:02:31] These people unlock this ancient curse monster demon and they have to try and kill it.

[00:02:38] And that's basically the movie.

[00:02:42] The plot is very simple.

[00:02:44] The characters and narrative are very contained.

[00:02:49] They don't have a lot of loose ends.

[00:02:52] It's not overly complex with a bunch of exposition.

[00:02:58] Talking about Alex Kurtzman for a little bit.

[00:03:01] He has quite the filmography.

[00:03:05] He has a lot of writing credits under his belt.

[00:03:09] Like some of the Transformers films.

[00:03:12] Amazing Spider-Man 2.

[00:03:15] Star Trek Into Darkness.

[00:03:18] Mission Impossible 3.

[00:03:19] So he's not at all inexperienced with big genre films.

[00:03:27] I don't think that he was the right person to direct this.

[00:03:31] Because overall the direction would be one of the least effective things.

[00:03:38] It's not terrible in terms of that.

[00:03:41] But it's really nothing to write home about either.

[00:03:46] Since there are a lot of problems, like I said, I'll get into those first.

[00:03:52] I knew going in that this was not going to do well financially.

[00:03:57] And that is also part of the problem.

[00:04:01] Because if you're making something like this that is $150 million, $200 million, you need it to appeal to a big audience.

[00:04:13] Or in other words, fit into the PG-13 rating.

[00:04:19] So it can't be too scary.

[00:04:21] It can't be too gory.

[00:04:24] There needs to be a big reliance on action and spectacle.

[00:04:29] The characters aren't that important.

[00:04:32] Aside from a surface level design for monsters.

[00:04:38] Long story short, it doesn't commit to anything fully.

[00:04:43] It's kind of spooky and has some cool horror elements.

[00:04:48] But not enough to make it really impactful.

[00:04:53] The action is good.

[00:04:54] But I can go see any other blockbuster for decent action.

[00:04:59] So that's not that big of a win.

[00:05:03] It's got some comedy in there, but not enough to really make it a comedic horror film.

[00:05:11] However, performance-wise, Tom Cruise is great in this as he always is.

[00:05:17] He has a lot of opportunities to do the classic Tom Cruise stuff.

[00:05:23] You see him running a lot.

[00:05:25] You see his comedic chops in there.

[00:05:30] This was one of the first big roles for Sofia Patella, who I love.

[00:05:35] I've followed her work ever since I saw her first in Kingsman.

[00:05:42] Annabelle Wallace, I like in general.

[00:05:45] She doesn't have much to do at all.

[00:05:47] She's mostly just the love interest of Tom Cruise.

[00:05:53] Russell Crowe, I feel like the last decade or so, his choice of projects has really been dipping in quality.

[00:06:03] I don't know if that's his choice.

[00:06:06] His agent is screwing him over or what.

[00:06:09] But I've been very underwhelmed with a lot of the work that he's been doing.

[00:06:16] I like him as Dr. Jekyll, and I like when he does eventually turn, so to speak.

[00:06:24] I would have liked to have seen more of him and what he would go on to do with the other monsters and how it would connect.

[00:06:34] Jake Johnson is basically Jake Johnson.

[00:06:38] He's funny, but he doesn't do much more than that.

[00:06:43] There are a lot of strong design elements, with the best one by far being the design of the mummy.

[00:06:52] Egyptian hieroglyphic tattoos on her face and her hands and wrists.

[00:06:57] The splitting of the eyes.

[00:07:02] The deteriorating dirty mummy bandages.

[00:07:08] Plus when she's tied up in the laboratory and her hands are behind her back and she's like, not necessarily being hung, but her shriek and that sound design is very effective.

[00:07:22] The look of the undead mummies, the zombies, whatever you want to call them.

[00:07:28] It's nothing amazing, but they're creepy enough and there seems to be some use of practical effects there.

[00:07:37] And I appreciate that.

[00:07:40] The flashbacks to ancient Egypt to see the mummy's origin.

[00:07:47] Killing her family, getting cursed, and then being mummified and put in that sarcophagus.

[00:07:55] That's honestly where you see a lot of the horror elements that I wish there was more of.

[00:08:02] And the movie cinematography wise, I think it looks good.

[00:08:06] It's fairly dark and washed out, but there's something about it that works for me.

[00:08:15] Going back to the action, the plane crash is definitely one of the more bigger and more marketed ones that I saw constantly when it was being advertised.

[00:08:30] When the mummy breaks out towards the end and she's walking through the city streets and screaming and there's that shot of Tom Cruise and Annabelle Wallace running through a museum or something.

[00:08:46] And all the glass is blowing up behind them as they run through each aisle.

[00:08:53] There's also the underwater mummies swimming to try and catch Tom Cruise.

[00:09:00] I thought that was creative.

[00:09:01] I liked that concept and visual.

[00:09:06] Those final few minutes, that final fight, basically just becomes a one-on-one fight with the mummy and Tom Cruise in a dark tomb.

[00:09:19] It's okay. It's not horrible, but a bit of an underwhelming resolution.

[00:09:28] Humor wise, like I was saying, it does have some genuinely funny moments that I was laughing out loud at.

[00:09:37] Tom Cruise, I think this is the funniest thing in the whole movie.

[00:09:40] When there's the ambulance chase attack and they crash, the mummy is over out in the woods somewhere.

[00:09:50] Tom Cruise gets up from the crash, is a little shaky.

[00:09:55] He grabs this tree limb and he's kind of stumbling towards the mummy.

[00:10:01] And you hear Annabelle Wallace in the background go, get her neck.

[00:10:08] And that's just so goofy.

[00:10:10] Especially considering when he finally does get up to her, she hits him and he flies back in a very exaggerated way.

[00:10:22] The bathroom scene with him and Jake Johnson is another highlight.

[00:10:27] I do like the connection.

[00:10:32] There's nothing that deep there, but the connection between the mummy and Tom Cruise and then she kind of turns him at the end.

[00:10:42] It's also not too long.

[00:10:44] It doesn't take itself that seriously.

[00:10:48] The music is good.

[00:10:49] So I understand if this is not for you or if just the average viewer doesn't like this movie.

[00:10:59] I know it's not ever going to be a true classic or even come close to the Brendan Fraser mummy film.

[00:11:11] I'm not a huge fan, honestly, of the first one, like the original from the 30s.

[00:11:15] I think it's mainly just the mummy.

[00:11:17] That's interesting.

[00:11:18] Not much else.

[00:11:22] That one is a heavy three and a half out of five.