acid reflects

Walking dead
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Semi-spoilerish review
Pulished 6.09.2017 Inquirer Libre, PH

The Mummy
Directed by Alex Kutrzman
Based on the Universal Pictures horror franchise
Rated R-13

The Mummy trailer

Tom Cruise needs a credible film to bring back his Oscar-caliber Magnolia (1999) days, but this tangled mess of The Mummy is definitely not it.

Based on Universal Pictures’ long-running history of horror flicks since the 1932 original, The Mummy is a nonsensical narrative of elaborate set-ups with zero satisfying pay-offs. But the effects look grand and expensive, I have to grant that.

In northern “rebel-infested” Iraq, a hidden chamber underground is revealed to contain a mysterious Egyptian sarcophagus after a military strike is provoked by US soldiers and treasure-hunters Nick (Tom Cruise) and comic sidekick Chris (Jake Johnson.) In swoops the US military and British archaeologist Annabelle Wallis (Jenny Halsey) who indicates with her generic accent that the find is of immense importance while also pointing out her annoyance with former flame Nick.

The thing is brought to London, but the plane they ride on meets an accident. NIck amazingly wakes up wrapped up dead in a morgue, where the ghost of his now-dead partner Chris appears to him to explain that he has been “chosen” as an instrument of mummified Egyptian princess Ahmanet (Sophia Boutella) to reclaim her powers to rule the world. Or something like that. Anyways, Nick meets Dr. Jeckyll (Russel Crowe) who explains what is happening. Annabelle explains how they can prevent Ahmanet from regaining her mortal form, Ahmanet explains to Nick why she chose him. Ahmanet emerges and wreaks havoc in London, etcetera. Nick saves the day – but with a price. Sort of.

There’s a lot of explaining done in the film just to connect a cause and effect to all that transpires, the movie feels like it’s a long movie even if it’s under two hours. However, the most crucial explanation should come from studio execs why they greenlit this script in the first place. Sure, they need a vehicle to introduce the Dark Universe – Universal’s version of the cinematic universes of Disney/Marvel and Warner/DC by capitalizing on their horror-adventure brands that have also become staples in their theme park studios. This film introduces The Mummy, Dr, Jeckyll, and in one scene when Nick enters the shapeshifting doctor’s laboratory, we can see other members of Universal’s pantheon of monsters – possibly a werewolf’s skull, the hand of a swamp thing, and somewhere along the way, a vampire perhaps. Sure. Except that this movie does a horrible and forgettable job introducing this Dark Universe.

I mean, what does it mean when the narrative skews to give the US military outright permission to ransack their military targets? The beginning of the film hints at Three Kings, a 1999 film starring George Clooney that shows four US soldiers looting Kuwait of its gold in the aftermath of the US invasion. And then, the Egyptian mummy-demon princess terrorizes good ol’ London. While connections are far-fetched, how else can one watch this film comfortably during these real-life troubled times, I wonder?

It’s a strange concept, this story. And I would rather not make sense of it, because surely, this movie was not intended to tell a meaningful story but to introduce new products to Tom Cruise’s market.