The Mummy (3D)

The Mummy': Action packed and middling (Review By Troy Ribeiro ; Rating: ***1/2)

With this film, Universal Pictures, introduces us to its new franchise -- the Dark Universe. The franchise explores the realms of the netherworld, making "The Mummy" an action packed, horror film.

While this film is astutely mounted with all the finesse of a star-studded, studio-production, the end product lacks lustre in terms of its narrative.

Zooming through time-zones, the premise is a bit flimsy and the one-dimensional plot is equally weak with a reincarnation track, ghosts, zombies et al. Nevertheless, the film is engaging for an awe-struck viewer.

The history in the back-story with the weird time zones, though narrated in a simplistic manner, only makes the plot seem convoluted.

The first half of the film shows tremendous promise with a kind of rollicking and goofy action sequence for a perfect summer bonanza. But gradually, by the second half the effort seems extremely conjured. However, in the larger frame it is a sound and visual extravaganza.

Nearly 5,000 years ago, Egyptian Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) is mummified and entombed in Mesopotamia, which is currently Iraq, because in her bid to take power of her kingdom, she killed her family and was about to stab her lover with a jewel studded dagger.

Circa 1127 AD, the jewel from the dagger is stolen by a crusading English Knight and buried along with him in a tomb in London.

Then, we are transported to current day Iraq, where ambitious soldier Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) steals a map of a hidden treasure from an acquaintance, Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) and lands up in the tomb of Princess Ahmanet along with his colleague Sergeant Chris Vail (Jake Johnson).

They inevitably liberate her soul and along with her the malevolence grown over the years. The repercussions are deadly as she tries to repossess the sacred dagger and turn her "chosen" one to immortality.

Tom Cruise's character is ambiguously and feebly fitted into an action-hero mould, where he instead of being the hunter is the hunted and his overcoming of the obstacles is, therefore, a predictable conclusion.

His saying that "we are not looters, we are liberators" insinuates that instead of being a soldier fighting insurgents, he is more interested in antiquity hunting. As a performer, he still has the chutzpah but he does comes off as a lame jaded super-star.

He is effortlessly supported by Jake Johnson as his buddy, who gives ample scope for comic relief. Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll with his troublesome alter-ego is simply campy, yet charming.

Annabelle Wallis is perfunctory as the intelligent and saucy archaeologist and Nick's love interest.

Sofia Boutella with all the lovelorn and vengeful "Mummy" avatar is the scene-stealer. Her persona is what makes her come alive on screen.

Overall, "The Mummy" is a fun film that sets the Dark Universe's ball rolling as viewers look forward to the next edition.

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'The Mummy': Mummy, please take me home (Review By Subhash K. Jha ; Rating: **1/2)

If you are a fan of Tom Cruise, who is incidentally the biggest star of this planet even now, or the "Mummy" franchise, you would know what to expect from this film. And it is certainly not the languorous luminosity of Ritesh Batra's "The Sense Of An Ending". Nor for that matter, the vacuous brazen 'bimboism' of "Baywatch".

The truth about "The Mummy" lies somewhere in-between "Captain Fantastic" and "Baywatch". It intellectualizes the cheap horror tricks of the Egyptian tombs erupting into a banshee of terror, but only to the point where the ghouls sucking the life out of their victims do not appear to be anything more than a grotesque manifestation of evil.

For more, try hieroglyphics.

Many parts of "The Mummy", with the evil creatures rushing at striking speed for their victims' mouth for a suck truck, resemble the zombie 'B' movies from Hollywood with outstanding special affects to raise the bar.

Cruise, looking 30 at 50, still conveys the charisma and agility of a full-blown matinee idol who doesn't quite understand how to combat the forces that take control of his life.

It's a one-note performance in a fun-note film. Not to be taken seriously, certainly not for its politics. Cruise and his entertaining partner-in-crime Jake Johnson play antique thieves who run into a scam far beyond their control.

In the beginning, they are rescued from their roguish shenanigans in Iraq by American mercenary soldiers in a crackdown that can given the Pentagon nightmare for weeks.

The one-line plot stretches into two hours of frenetic fun filled with self-deprecatory humour and a tongue-in-cheek reverence for the "Mummy" franchise which has over the years acquired the sustained silliness of a childish prank played on unsuspecting adults -- the kind that a Dubai television channel played on Shah Rukh Khan recently where he was trapped in a desert cavity and attacked by 'a adinosaur' which turned out be a man dressed in a fake animal suit.

Well, ha ha to that. And ho ho to Tom Cruise's scary-only-if-you-believe-in-fairytale which slams a tenner in terms of tempo and tension. The chase scenes are excellent.

Cruise's two female co-stars are a sturdy, if somewhat shallow study in contrasts. While Annabelle Wallis is the proper almost asexual academician, and the fascinating Sofia Boutella is the yummy Mummy reborn to finish her unfinished mating business with Cruise.

You really can't take this re-b(h)oot seriously. It's meant to be fun, pacey, exhilarating and finally gratuitous. Director Kurtzman preserves an even pace that flags only with the entry of the Russell Crowe character.

But that's another story.

Tom Cruise headlines a spectacular, all-new cinematic version of the legend that has fascinated cultures all over the world since the dawn of civilization: The Mummy.

Thought safely entombed in a tomb deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient princess (Sofia Boutella of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond) whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.

From the sweeping sands of the Middle East through hidden labyrinths under modern-day London, The Mummy brings a surprising intensity and balance of wonder and thrills in an imaginative new take that ushers in a new world of gods and monsters.

Cruise is joined by a cast including Annabelle Wallis (upcoming King Arthur, television’s Peaky Blinders), Jake Johnson (Jurassic World), Courtney B. Vance (TV’s American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson) and Oscar® winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator).

The creative team on this action-adventure event is led by director/producer Alex Kurtzman and producer Chris Morgan, who have been instrumental in growing some of the most successful franchises of the past several years—with Kurtzman writing or producing entries in the Transformers, Star Trek and Mission: Impossible series, and Morgan being the narrative engineer of the Fast & Furious saga as it has experienced explosive growth from its third chapter on. Sean Daniel, who produced the most recent Mummy trilogy, produces alongside Kurtzman and Morgan. www.themummy.com