*Directed by Alex Kurtzman
*Starring Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Russell Crowe, and Jake Johnson
The Plot: In the middle of a military operation in Iraq a couple agents and an explorer stumble across an ancient burial containing the sarcophagus of an Egyptian princess (Sofia Boutella) who is then reawakened and links her consciousness to one of the agents, Nick (Tom Cruise) in which a curse is unleashed and the princess strives to wreak havoc to gain immortality.
For those who do not know, this is the first film to kick off the next shared universe with the Universal Movie Monster characters called the Dark Universe. So as the first film in this next big franchise it certainly has energy in its action sequences, which I must say were very well orchestrated and undeniably fun to watch on screen. The effort shows in Alex Kurtzman's direction to make the visual aspect of the film really leap out. I have no doubt that if Kurtzman makes more films in the future that their visual look will not be lacking, but unfortunately the style overshadows the substance this time around because the screenplay for this film was disappointingly hollow.
There's no denying no one will find this film at the very least entertaining and find that the performances in Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe and Sofia Boutella are all great, but it really would've been a step up if the script itself had a lot more meat to it. I honestly couldn't tell you one unique thing about each character and describe them in the least bit. They honestly felt like they were just there to carry the movie along. I mention how great Tom Cruise is and I'd be blind to say he doesn't commit to his roles and does a brilliant job performing his own stunts in the action scenes. I love that he has the guts to accomplish that and it honestly is great to see him perform, but I feel he deserved better with what he was given. I know he showcases great characters because I've seen him do it in the past, but without spoiling anything his character was merely just there to set up another movie, which leads into my biggest issue with the film.
I'll give it credit that this film felt more cohesive with telling a story from beginning to end, but personally I do wish it felt a little more complete. To me this felt entirely like a movie to set up this franchise and although I'm very optimistic about the future ahead and the different characters they'll introduce in further installments this film just didn't feel important to me. There was a lot more teasing and less about the character development. There are so many great ideas they have planned for this universe and I really hope there's better writing involved to have me more invested in the universe because in this film's capacity, it didn't deliver.
Sofia Boutella was fantastic performing such a motivated villain on screen and there was a lot of intrigue and with Russell Crowe's character and the organization he runs, but what the film mostly did was just explain things to keep this plot in motion and in that regard the conflict just lacked that emotional investment I really wanted it to have. Not to mention when the film tries to be emotional I just couldn't find myself gaining an attachment to any character because the writing behind them was incredibly bland.
Also, the humor that they tried to include in this film made it feel so tonally inconsistent and very forced in the dialogue. I might've smirked a couple of times, but I feel the film would've benefitted for having more of a serious tone throughout. I really hate to say it, but this is yet another very underwhelming film of the year for me. Kong Skull Island was the first film this year to give me a similar feeling, but really this film wasn't any better. Even though I could have fun watching it in its action sequences and acknowledge the performances were of quality, the screenplay was just missed opportunity of what could've been a bit more layered with its characters with possibly more emotional investment in its conflict. Sadly, that wasn't the case and The Mummy is the next film this year to let me down.
Verdict: C-
Personally, I wouldn't recommend you seeing this film this weekend. Instead just go see Wonder Woman or Alien Covenant because these are just great, fun films in the cinema that deserve all the attention right now. I might be on the negative side for this film, but I still really do have high hopes for the future of this franchise and excited to see what talent they'll bring in there. I think there's a lot of interesting characters that I think would be a delight to see on screen, so here's hoping the talent in its direction and writing is present.
Now the next plan I have for this blog is a Transformers Series Retrospective in preparation for Transformers The Last Knight releasing next week. Be on the lookout for that and for more updates be sure to follow me in the social media links below:
Twitter and Instagram: @alexjcorey
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this review. See some movies and all that good stuff.
Take care. :-)
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