Movie Review : The Mummy (2017)

The Mummy franchise is one that is very close to my heart. I was 10 years  old when the original Mummy came out. This was a time when most English language movies would be dubbed in the regional language and they would usually be horrendously dubbed. But the stars aligned for The Mummy and the dubbing was awesome and I also later got to catch the movie in English. This is one of those movies that my sisters and I watch every time it is on TV. And then there was the follow up, The Mummy returns, another great movie, though it did suffer a bit for being the sequel. (I will not accept the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor as a part of this franchise as it was awful).

I found out about this reboot, just a couple of months ago, and I just knew this would not be one of my favourite remakes. Maybe because the original is such a favourite of mine. I just strongly felt that this was a bad idea. I wanted to catch Wonder Woman when it came out, but as luck would have it, living in a small town, only Baywatch (you heard that right) released here in my podunk town. But lo and behold The Mummy was on the next week. I watched it last Friday.

I know it’s almost been a week since I watched it. Why am I reviewing it so late? Because I was so furious. I do not usually hate a movie. I hated what they did to the franchise. This might get a bit spoilery, so be warned and do not read ahead if you have plan to watch the movie (please don’t). Let me list the things that bothered me with this movie –

1. The pacing was off. I just felt like the movie dragged in most places. We didn’t get to the juicy Mummy parts (literally) for quite a while
2. The original was funny, still is. This one just tried too hard. It just seemed forced
3. The Curse: OK I get that Princess Amonet made a deal with the God of Death Set to be immortal and to give himself a corporeal form. OK, I can deal with that, it is a movie so i can deal with that. But then as a nod to the original they show us the Golden Book of Amun Ra from the original in this movie. So this movie occurs in that universe. So they could have used that book in some way other than to knock someone down (this is exactly how they used it). Maybe it had a clue to how to break the curse if not a total cure for the curse? No they just want to know what “Evil” is.
4. The Secret Society: They could’ve had the Medjai in this movie. But no, they went with Prodigium, whose purpose is not to destroy Evil but to harness and study it so they can find a cure for it. I can get behind that, but the way they went about it was so weird. They wanted to bring a God, a GOD, mind you in to Tom Cruise’s body and they thought they could study him and use him. Like that would never backfire. I get it. They were thinking of sequel options and thinking of creating a connected universe like with the Kong – Godzilla movies of late. But it just fell flat for me.
5. The Mummies: In the first movie/original, Imhotep had his followers/priests buried with him and he uses the Book to bring them back and they do his bidding, along with the palace guard mummies. And in that case, they are clearly mummies. But the so called Mummies, apart from Amonet, were more zombies than Mummies
6. The Ending: As a mortal vessel for Set, Tom Cruise would have control over life and death, he can bring people back to life if he so wished. This is what prompts him to complete the ritual started by Amonet and he becomes Set. Why? To bring back his so called love interest in the series. What’s wrong with that you ask? This was also done in the original you say. Yes it was and there was a justification to it, with the Books of Life and of Death. We have already established that this story is set in the same universe as the one with those books existed. Well then why could he not just use it to get her back? Nope, better just bring great evil down upon ourselves and depend upon the will of this man that was so easily led along by Amonet, but can withstand the onslaught of Set’s will. Sure
7. The so-called pairing/Love interest: Maybe I can overlook a few of the glaring mistakes made if the pairing worked out well. But Tom Cruise (Nick Morton) and Annabelle Wallis ( Jennifer Halsey) just did not have the chemistry. They had a one night stand and met a few days later and just that day they get into a life or death situation and she just trusts him to break the curse/ be able to withstand being the mortal vessel for a God. It just didn’t work.

I know I might have been a lot harsher on this movie, than maybe I would’ve been if it were not a reboot of a beloved franchise. But I think I would have found this movie weak if it were a stand alone. They just thought more of what sequels they could make to expand the Mummy universe than to the story and editing. All in all this was a disappointing reboot. It’s not impossible to make a great reboot, case in point – Jurassic World. For me this was a one star Movie. And I am usually a generous person when it comes to rating movies.

If there’s one silver lining to this, it is that this movie is so bad, I will probably watch it with my sisters to make fun of it. But probably not anytime soon, as I still hate this movie right now. I am saddened to know that this will be the definitive Mummy not the awesome 1999 Movie.

What did you think of the movie? Do know that this is my opinion, and I would like to know if you liked the movie.