THE MUMMY (2017) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

the mummy (2017) movie

Genre             |  Horror Thriller

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   110 minutes

Released         |   8 June 2017

cast

Tom Cruise ... Nick Morton
Russell Crowe ... Henry Jekyll
Annabelle Wallis ... Jenny Halsey
Sofia Boutella ... Ahmanet
​Jake Johnson ... Sgt. Vail
Courtney B. Vance ... Col. Greenway

director

Alex Kurtzman

writer

​David Koepp ... (screenplay by) and
Christopher McQuarrie ... (screenplay by) and
Dylan Kussman ... (screenplay by)
 
Jon Spaihts ... (screen story by) and
Alex Kurtzman ... (screen story by) &
Jenny Lumet ... (screen story by)

cinematographer

​Ben Seresin

music

Brian Tyler

film editor

​Gina Hirsch
Paul Hirsch
Andrew Mondshein

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box office result

Worldwide             $409,231,607​ ​

Australia                 $​7,832,167

North America       $​​​80,227,895

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the best dialogue

Dr. Henry Jekyll: Welcome to a new world of gods and monsters.

Dr. Henry Jekyll: It's not an exact science, this business.
Nick Morton: What? And the business being?
Dr. Henry Jekyll: Evil, Mr. Morton. Recognize, contain, examine, destroy.

Dr. Henry Jekyll: You are alive because you were chosen.
Nick Morton: Chose? By what?
Dr. Henry Jekyll: Evil. The ultimate evil.

THE MUMMY (2017) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

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Posters

THE MUMMY (2017) STORY SYNOPSIS

.​Nick Morton is a soldier of fortune who plunders ancient sites for timeless artifacts and sells them to the highest bidder. When Nick and his partner come under attack in the Middle East, the ensuing battle accidentally unearths Ahmanet, a betrayed Egyptian princess who was entombed under the desert for thousands of years. With her powers constantly evolving, Morton must now stop the resurrected monster as she embarks on a furious rampage through the streets of London.

THE MUMMY (2017) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 7 June 2017
​Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐½

The Mummy is the cinematic equivalent of a new puppy; it’s busy being “busy”, exploring all kinds of new and exciting things but never managing to stay focussed long enough before the next new, bright shiny things catches it’s eye. Combine that with the need to for the film to pull double-time as a Tom Cruise project, The Mummy ends up being a less satisfying story than it otherwise ought to be, given the importance of this feature launching the “Dark Universe” reboot of Universal Pictures line-up of classic monsters including The Invisible Man, the Bride of Frankenstein and the Wolfman. Alex Kurtzman’s second feature film fails to capitalize upon the opportunity afforded him, as Sofia Boutella’s Mummy, along with other elements of the “Dark Universe”, are left to play second banana to Cruise’s ambivalent hero.

The Mummy opens with a pretty standard, cliche-riddled prologue that gives the viewer an express Origin story about how the Mummy came to be. Enraged at being supplanted by her newborn brother as ruler of Ancient Egypt, Boutella’s Ahmanet dances with the Devil and engages is some quick-fire fratricide to clear her way to the throne. The would-be Queen is thwarted when those loyal to her father decide they’ve had enough and take it upon themselves to literally wrap-up the Queen’s short-lived reign by mummifying her while she’s still alive! No sooner has the dust settled, the audience is introduced to Crusie’s Nick Morton, a professional soldier who moonlights with Army colleague Chris Vail, played by New Girl actor Jake Johnson, in stealing and selling ancient antiquities as they move from one Middle Eastern country to another as part of a long-range reconnaissance team. The pair stage a daring raid on a local Iraqi village but are pinned down and call in a drone airstrike. The ensuing bomb damage reveals a treasure greater than they could have ever have imagined; an Egyptian tomb in the middle of what was Ancient Mesopotamia!

Viewers don’t need a PhD in Screenwriting to know what happens next… Morton’s impatience gives way to quick-fire solution to cash in on their discovery, while the newly-arrived Jenny Halsey, played by Annabelle Wallis, argues they need more time to work out what it is they’ve discovered. Approaching local militia make the decision for them and the group of unintended grave robbers bring their new-found treasure with them, not realizing they’ve unearthed the ancient evil embodied in Ahmanet. The group’s situation quickly takes a turn for the worse, as the standard tropes of evil such as sandstorms and crows, are unleashed in way that can only be described as underwhelming. There’s not much in the way of innovation happening in any of the film’s set pieces, and connoisseurs of this kind of popcorn fare will have a sense that they’ve seen it done before, only better.

In terms of performance, you can’t fault Tom Cruise. He plays Nick Morton as Tom Cruise in much the same way he plays Ethan Hunt as Tom Cruise and Jack Reacher as Tom Cruise. With Cruise in just about every scene, it’s hard for anyone else get a look in throughout the film’s 110 minute running time. Russell Crowe does a variation of his Jor-El role from Man of Steel, as Dr. Henry Jekyll. Crowe seems to have perfected the art of minimalist effort when acting, his hulking presence gliding from scene-to-scene spouting exposition with a wink and a nod. Likewise Sofia Boutella, as the titular character, skirts around the edges of Cruise’s performance and never comes close to being scary enough to be the threat she is supposed to embody. One of the things that has set Boutella apart in her previous films, as much as her exotic looks, has been her exotic accent. With very little English dialogue in this role, the actress is robbed of the power she conveys through pronunciation and inflection; her character becoming a one-note villain who is more of an object for others to react to rather than an active participant. Annabelle Wallis looks lovely on the screen, but she’s another in a long line of female co-stars who are simply over-powered by Cruise’s persona. In recent times, only Emily Blunt and Rebecca Ferguson have been good enough to match him on the screen. The Mummy may be the first in the new “Dark Universe” films for Universal, but perhaps someone forget to read the memo that there was a follow-up to the original Mummy film called The Mummy’s Curse. The 2017 version may be closer to the latter than the former…

THE MUMMY MOVIE (2017) USEFUL LINKS

​The Mummy (2017) - IMDb
​The Mummy (2017 film) - Wikipedia
​The Mummy (2017) - Rotten Tomatoes

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