Soldier Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) is looking for a treasure with his partner in Iraq (from a map he stole off a woman named Jennifer Halsey who works for a secret organization called Prodigium.    During a conflict with armed insurgents, the entrance to an Egyptian tomb is uncovered.   Nick unleashes a sarcophagus stuck in mercury.  It belongs to Princess Ahmanet of Ancient Egypt who was imprisoned in a faraway tomb due to the dark bargain she struck with the God of Death Set which she left unfinished after killed her father (the Pharaoh), his wife, and her brother.    Ravens bring down the plane transporting Ahmanet’s sarcophagus and Nick gives a parachute to Jennifer, but somehow he has survived the crash where he next wakes up in a morgue.   Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe), the head of Prodigium, says Nick has a link to Ahmanet and she wants to use him as a vessel for Set.

 

THE MUMMY is a new reimagining of the Universal movie tale which was last rebooted in the 1990s (but a scene in the movie does show the Book of the Dead from the first movie in that series) and it is the first in the new Dark Universe horror series that Universal has launched with BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN to be the next movie.   Tom Cruise is his usual action star self (while doing many of his own stunts).  Russell Crowe is good as Dr. Jekyll.  THE MUMMY is an entertaining movie even though it feels a little underdeveloped as the movie could have used more layers to the plot, but I do consider the movie to be a promising start to Universal’s Dark Universe.   I do miss all of the humor that existed in the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies, but Hollywood is always about reinventing a brand that people know (for better or for worse).   THE MUMMY has its highlights with a few scenes and it introduces the secret organization that will fight the various universal Monsters in the Dark Universe movies.  If You like Tom Cruise action movies like the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series or sci-fi like OBLIVION, you will be entertained by the movie (and go check out the trailer recut which combines footage from this movie and the fourth MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE).  

 

This review is ©6-13-2017 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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