Mummified Re-boot

Johnson Thomas

Tom Cruise’s attempt to reinvent himself by appropriating the Brendan Fraser starring hit franchise fails to hit all the right notes. Universal Pictures’ reboot salvo for their much vaunted ‘Dark Series’ may not be a copy but it certainly has a broad thematic content that feels similar except that this sophomore attempt by Alex Kurtzman has darker leanings and perforce misses out on the general fun adventure tenets that the 1999 origin story had so successfully exhibited. 

The idea of creating a new cinematic universe out of classic monsters that powered the studio coffers with unprecedented Box office earnings is not a bad one but to tamper with the successful template is not exactly sound. This re-imagined story holds on to the resurrection of the evil Mummy, this time it’s power hungry Princess Ahmanet(Sofia Boutella) who as per ancient writings killed her father, his new wife and son because their being alive would have denied her a chance to ascend the throne. Several thousand years later an artifacts thief, Nick Morton( Tom Cruise) who is also a reconnaissance agent for the army, along with sidekick Sgt. Vail(Jake Johnson) and antiquities expert Jenny Halsey(Annabelle Wallis) stir up an ancient curse that reawakens Ahmanet’s desire for power -via a mediator(the chosen one) who will connect her to Set, the Egyptian god of war and chaos.

Tom Cruise trying to wear Brendan Fraser’s shoes ?– should not have been a tall order but here, it seems almost like an impossible one. Kurtzman, in his efforts to make it easier for Cruise, sets this up as an action/horror extravaganza and loses out entirely on the very adventure-fun elements that made the 1999 movie a blockbuster. Despite the gothic horror elements, the hustling speed and the hokey fluff there’s little entertainment to be had here. The confused mythology and it’s unrelenting spin leave you untouched. The performances are generic – in fact Cruise, Crowe and Wallis come up short. So the honors (what little there is) is shared by Sofia Boutella- whose sensual evil presence at least lends the film some heat, and Jake Johnson who adds a little comic lightness to this heavy duty, careering, un-mitigating wreck. This film reeks of desperation and it shows!