The Mummy

We haven’t seen such a disappointing mishmash of an A-movie in a while. After the “mirror talk” in the ladies’ restroom, the movie falls into a downward spiral. As a horror adventure set in the present day with a wise-cracking Tom Cruise, it couldn’t have ended well. After a few extraordinarily successful years, Universal wagered on proven blockbuster screenwriters – and it failed spectacularly. You cannot have a cash cow without an idea or enthusiasm. Possibly Russell Crow’s worst role? (18.06.2017)

Totally unworthy of Tom Cruise's star power. Well, yeah, there's a shortage of good original writers in A-list Hollywood productions, or there's no interest in them, so they recycle and reboot to the point of madness to create new film universes. Marvel has theirs, DC Comics has theirs, and starting with this film, Universal has theirs, with the starkly original Dark Universe title that seeks to revive the iconic monsters of the 1930s and 40s horror franchises. But the first runner they sent was a lazy bum who would have lost a 100-meter race to a turtle. This is a fairly routine, formulaic, almost B-movie 100 minutes. Well, let's say that the first 40 minutes or so follow in the footsteps of a mediocre adventure flick with a protagonist and a cute female scientist by his side, with some nice location changes and Cruise talking for his life, culminating in an excellent airplane scene in weightlessness. But with the arrival of Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde – for the less astute), the film becomes regular crap, throwing in one B-movie cliché after another, with the set never leaving the doctor's office and the dull backdrop of the London catacombs, all drowned in darkness to make it easier to render the CGI. At the end, there is no door, but a gate open for the next sequel and I will definitely not be there anymore. I've always considered Cruise to be a 100% pro who chooses his roles carefully, but he stepped in some serious shit here. Yet he is the only good thing about the whole film, he plays with such commitment that it makes me wish I had as much verve as him at 55. But the positives end there and the overseas reviews really didn't lie this time. This is truly one of the worst films Cruise has left his signature on. (10.06.2017)

Actually, it's good. The Mummy has its flaws, but Tom Cruise's charisma, the fast pace and the effort to introduce a new world for two hours easily entertains. The opening is reminiscent of Indy or the “Uncharted” games, the horror interludes work surprisingly well, and at times The Mummy straddles the line between PG-13 and R-rated. You probably won't be downright scared, but saying it’s horror adventure is not an exaggeration. There's more or less always something going on, and once they stop trying for funny interludes, it really paces just as you'd expect and hope after the trailers. In the end, it's a bit of a bummer that while The Mummy is a proper adventure flick, it unfortunately doesn't offer any scenes that you'll be excitedly describing to your friends and sending them to the cinema. As the start of a potentially interesting cinematic universe, however, it works without the slightest problem, and I'll happily be there next time. (12.06.2017)

It is so, so conflicting, what a shame. For a while it's an adaptation of Uncharted with everything, for a while it is and adventurous silly action movie with an annoying sidekick à la modern Mummy, for a while it continues in the darkened mode of gothic horror, at times it would very much like to refer to the style of good old universal movies, it often uses to the contemporary blockbuster plague "CGI solves everything", in the style of all contemporary franchise movies that make the universe go round, future thing are more indicated and actually told and... And you probably already got the idea. On the other hand, it's well-paced, most of the action has a drive, and even though it would be nice to replace Cruise with someone like new Price/Lee, nothing bad can be said about him this time. We cannot say it is a modernization of a (let alone respectful) of a true classic movie from the Universal department not even remotely. But as a (so far purely on the paper) more advanced alternative of all comic book cinemas series it´s enough to get by. Especially if the movie would have been in the same mode throughout the footage, preferably in Uncharted mode with slightly horror stylization. (07.06.2017)

All the ingredients you need for an adventurous tale are abundantly present here. Beautiful locations, a stunning damsel in distress, a courageous hero who goes to great lengths, and a mysterious tale as the central theme. But what's the point when there is a desperate lack of substance and balance? Nick is too arrogant in the beginning and then unbelievably noble as time goes on. Ahmanet spends most of her time in dried-up form, so there is nothing specific to fear, and Vail, the joking friend, is pure evil with his boisterous approach. The biggest joy is the fact that Russell Crowe didn't just drop in for a minute, but it is truly disappointing to find out that perhaps every other line was written by a different screenwriter, turning a potential blockbuster into almost a self-parody. I don't want to do a disservice to The Mummy, as I was mildly entertained at times, but its perplexing genre inconsistency, strangely anticlimactic epilogue, and absence of any new idea, where the only adrenaline moment is the airplane crash shown in the trailers, left me feeling frustrated just a few hours after watching it. (08.06.2017)

The immortal Cruise has found himself another excuse for stuntmen to kid about, this time in Iraq and England. The Mummy lacks a director with balls. Kurtzman does his work, but brings no surprise in the form of visual awesomeness or a clever idea. Luckily the screenplay seems quite original. The bad guy is a girl and Cruise is a jerk who releases her by mistake during his quest for treasure. Very refreshing. As the beginning of a bigger story about monsters, the Mummy works excellently and I’m intrigued to see what follows. Similar to Tom, gentlemen will wonder whether it will be Sofia Boutella or Annabelle Wallis. P.S: This has nothing whatsoever to do with Sommers’ Mummy and frankly this version can’t touch that one, but neither can most movies. (13.06.2017)

It's a real shame about this new Dark Universe attempt. It's always nice when a classic gets a new coat of paint so that even the youngest generation can enjoy a new take on it and discover the original at the same time. But this is where it all ended prematurely. Genre-wise it's an unbalanced mess and the whole thing feels terribly confident, and no alternative admits that The Mummy should be a solitary film. But unfortunately, it is, and in retrospect, the aftertaste of the unfulfilled fragment remains. Moreover, Tom Cruise is no longer the rascal he would probably like to remain until his death. Annabelle Wallis, the queen of historical series (The Tudors, Peaky Blinders, and Pan Am), didn't particularly impress me either. Sofia Boutella and Russell Crowe are slightly better, but it's not enough. I was hoping the classic duo of Kurtzman & Orci were enough for it to be great, but Hercules and Zorro were more successful. (30.11.2019)

A bit of horror, a bit of humor, always adventure. I liked The Mummy very much, and I was quite surprised, because I really like the original 1932 film and this newer version as well. It's a very entertaining spectacle with many imaginative scenes (that doesn't mean, of course, that something similar has never been done before), pleasantly quick but not frantic momentum, a sympathetic cast, and the bombastic music of Brian Tyler. The non-forgettable finale gave me similar joy as the zombie crusaders. And I didn't expect to ever see Tom Cruise in a “girl in trouble" role. (16.06.2017)

An incredibly moronic piece of crap that applies often completely non-continuous bridges to connect scenes and timelines, utterly fails to functionally or stylistically connect the alternating character journeys (from fantasy horror to bloated adventure comedy, WTF?), and at a point where it should be building up without bullshit and at least visually entertaining the viewer, it locks itself in a room with one of the most useless characters ever played by an A-list actor. Even the otherwise likeable Cruise couldn't help here; something so dull, unimaginative and oddly edited is a disgrace to the thriving Universal of recent years. (07.08.2017)

I'm probably too nostalgic for the original Mummy films with Fraser and as such I found this version with Cruise to be a dreadful bore, since I associate The Mummy with good gags and Tom with better action. The humor is almost absent (hints of strained jokes) and for how serious it pretends to be, half the film can’t even be taken completely seriously. I didn't even like the idea of using Crowe's character to possibly expand The Mummy into the more extensive fantasies of unrelated realms. After a few days, the film literally disappeared from my mind. (30.08.2022)

Two movies failed in theaters this year that you could say shot on money, The Great Wall and this. It's got expensive special effects, expensive actors, the usual plot structure, interchangeable characters (the irresponsible joker, his sidekick, the rational female counterpart, the mad scientist behind it all) and heaps of references. What it doesn't have, however, is even a second of creative investment. An incredibly uninspiring and mind-numbing CGI-fest where nothing matters because it lacks even an ounce of charisma. I've seen better dialogue at the cash register in Billa, better humor on TV Barrandov, a better story while writing this review. A richly deserved disaster at the box office. Considering the setting and sources of Universal's horror films, I'm glad even the Chinese won't save their glorious Dark Universe. (12.09.2017)

Suicide Squad yhdistettynä Tom Cruisen hahmoon. Yksi katsomiskerta ei vielä pitkästytä (minkä vuoksi saa enemmän kuin kaksi tähteä), mutta muuten aika heikko esitys. Jos Tom Cruiselta ei onnistu jokin Edge of Tomorrow, sitten ovat kuitenkin nämä "hänen" elokuvansa, jossa hän esittää kieroilijaa, jonka täytyy löytää tie parannukseen, pelastaa joku vaaleaverikkö ja samalla maailma, aina sama juttu. Sitä paitsi en usko häntä. Sama juttu kuin elokuvien Oblivion ja Knight and Day kanssa, ei tarvitse nähdä uudelleen. Loppudialogista ja teennäisestä takaportin auki jättämisestä tekisi mieli katkaista käsikirjoittajalta kynä. Näin sillä hetkellä sieluni silmin Russel Crowen studiolla ihmettelemässä, onko tekijäkolmikko nyt ihan tosissaan... (08.06.2017)

I didn't expect the film to be anything special, so there was no reason for disappointment. The creators focused on special effects, but the beginning of the film differed from Sommers' The Mummy only in that it was set in the present, the mummy’s gender and spiders instead of scarabs. The film did go its own way after that, but it didn’t impress me much. I wonder if the writers thought about what they'd written. I don’t think they did. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to ponder why an undead Egyptian woman was being followed by equally undead knights. Lame. (28.01.2018)

I thought - at least from the reviews I read before the screening - that it was going to be terrible, but I liked this film. Tom Cruise is classically good here, the spectacle is light-hearted, but at times it really presses hard on the horror pedal, and if some scenes didn't outright copy from The Mummy (1999), I would rate the film even higher. (31.08.2017)

The new Mummy makes absolutely no sense because it’s a totally chaotic mishmash from start to finish, with hints of a horror atmosphere but absolutely zero adventure and none of the B-movie feel of the original. No disrespect to Cruise (quite the contrary), but a new face would be far more suitable for this reboot. I'm pretty sure the main character must have been at least 25 years younger in the original script. By the way, Jake Johnson, a big no. I'm going to try to steer clear of movies in which he appears, because he makes you want to punch him in the face in each and every one of his scenes. And if you want to see Russell Crowe in one of the worst roles of his career, here’s a perfect opportunity. (21.08.2017)