'The Mummy' – What Did You Think?

The Mummy isn't a remake of the 1999 blockbuster starring Brendan Fraser. Nor is it a remake of the 1932 horror classic starring Boris Karloff. Instead, it is Universal's attempt to launch a brand new cinematic franchise (dubbed "Dark Universe") that will blend their stable of classic movie monsters like Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, Van Helsing, and others into a shared world.

So far, reviews from critics have not been kind, but when it comes to the longevity of movie franchises, it's the audience who really matters. So let's use this space to talk about The Mummy. Please share your thoughts and feelings and opinions in the comments below!

But first, let's run through what the /Film crew thought about the movie. In his review of the film, Josh Spiegel wrote that all of the franchise-building gets in the way of the story finding a groove, resulting in a film that tries to do a lot and does none of it well:

Largely, The Mummy is much less invested in Nick's story than it is in Universal Pictures getting the Dark Universe franchise off the ground. It's likely why the film doesn't open with Nick, but Crowe delivering some exposition-heavy narration about Ahmanet. This, in spite of the fact that the Ahmanet-focused flashback could easily have been held until the moment, roughly an hour into the film, where Nick and Jekyll first meet in person. (It's always a good sign when a movie flashes back to moments that occurred on screen 30-45 minutes earlier. That happens a lot here. A lot.) Much of the second half of the film takes place in and around Prodigium, and Crowe takes center stage in a performance that at least suggests he's aware of how cheesy this material is. His looseness can't save scenes like the one where Nick faces off with Jekyll's alter ego, but it's better than nothing.

That is, in effect, as good as it gets for The Mummy: it's better than nothing. If Universal has its way, of course, The Mummy will be the first of many movies in the Dark Universe, so they can only improve, or so you would hope. This film wants to be many things: an adventure, a horror film, a romance, an actioner, etc. It's fitting for the beginning of a franchise that wants to be all of those things too, but maybe, just maybe, The Mummy and Universal Pictures should've focused on doing one thing well, instead of doing five things poorly.

In his reaction post, Jack Giroux wrote that many of the film's problems stem from the lead character, despite him being played by the consistently reliable Tom Cruise:

The biggest problem with The Mummy lies in the character of Nick Morton, despite how committed Tom Cruise is. The actor is entertaining when he plays schmucks – which he sort of is in The Mummy. Being Tom Cruise, he's innately watchable in every scene, but Morton as a character isn't as captivating. There's a push between good and bad in the opportunist, but rarely enough does his bad side reveal itself. He has heroic moments – saving Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) more than once – but the movie keeps telling us there's some evil in the selfish lead, but we don't see it enough to make it convincing. Morton could've used a little more edge, which the rest of the movie might've benefited from as well.

And now we open the floor to you! What did you think of The Mummy? Are you excited for more entires in the Dark Universe? Are we right about this one or completely and totally wrong?