This might be the hardest comparison this year. The original 1932 Mummy is so vastly different than the 2017 reboot. Cinematography, stunts, effects, lighting and everything else associated to a movie is advanced compared to the 1930’s. Still…a good story is a good story and good acting is good acting no matter what year it is.
“The Mummy”
PLOT
Nick and his buddy from “The New Girl” show are in the military as a two man recon unit. I guess this is a thing? Sure they scout bad guys, but they also use this time to hunt treasure and/or rob ancient ruins. Then they sell said treasure on the black market. While running for their lives from guns and explosions, they discover an ancient Egyptian crypt, that is not in Egypt. I wonder why that is? Of course it must be full of treasure!
As they are set to explore it they are suddenly saddled with a female archeologist, Jenny. Why well that is part of a grand scheme still to come. While searching they find a crazy sarcophagus. They remove it and then everything goes right down the crapper.
Nick’s buddy from “New Girl” dies from an ear bug incident. Crazy sandstorms. Flocks of crazy birds forcing a plane crash. Nick dies. You know all the stuff you expect from messing with a mummy.
Well of course Nick isn’t dead dead. He is resurrected because the mummy is a lady mummy and she has chosen him to hers. Her what? Well vessel to hold the god Set. Why? So she can destroy and rule the world. You know that old bit.
Now toss in a clandestine organization that knows, studies and fights monsters to the mix. An organization that Jenny is a part of and is run by no other than one Dr. Jekyll. Yeah that Dr. Jekyll. Whom of course wants to dissect said girl mummy and use her powers for whatever they can. You know that other old bit.
Now Nick must stop the mummy. Her legion on undead. Save London, because that is where the majority of the film seems to be. Stop or maybe help the machinations of the Dr. Jekyll organization. Get the girl? Maybe even save the soul of the dead guy from “New Girl” too. I wonder if he will accomplish all that?
THOUGHTS
Holy cats is this so different than the 1932 original. It is even more silly than the 90’s Brendan Fraser Mummy films (which I found delightful and pulpy fun).
We have girl mummy Ahmanet, who is after power and revenge because her father had a younger son after promising the throne to her. This means she decides to kill her family and then raise the god Set with a mortal shell. A mortal she has to sex up while killing for some reason. Only to get thwarted by the clergy and guards before she can finish the ritual.
This is nowhere near the whole lost love reincarnated tale like the original Imhotep mummy story from 1932.
Does this new spin on girl mummy and silly plan work?
Well it could have if not for some problems.
Like….
The fact this movie couldn’t decide if it was action horror or comedy. It has elements of all these but fails to balance any of them properly. The horror isn’t scary, gross, new or really any fun. The comedy beats are off. The action is a lot of Nick running away from computer animated stuff. It just felt really jumbled together and never felt like movie knew what it wanted to be. There are chucks of entertainment here but sadly they just don’t mesh with each other.
Tom Cruise really didn’t feel like he fit this role. I had a really hard time believeing he was anyone besides Tom Cruise from every other action movie he has been part of. Well besides the first Jack Reacher that movie I was really shocked how fun that one was. Is it a dated character trope? Yeah, but if done right the smarmy anti-hero/ scoundrel still works, but it just didn’t here.
The gender swapped villain could have worked, but didn’t. The look of Ahmanet was good, but that was about it. We all know she has to be defeated by the hero without him beating her about the head neck and chest. I mean this is the 21st century. You can’t show a dude beating up a woman in an action film in good conscience. You also know he isn’t going to succumb to her feminine wilds either. I mean everyone should have known that going into the film. Plus there is the low hanging fruit of sexualization of Ahmanet too. It just seemed like they didn’t know what to do besides make sexy girl mummy because we can totally make a sexy girl mummy.
The fact that a lot of this film felt like other films didn’t help either. You had Ahmanet kissing guys to drain their life and make zombies. You know like in “Lifeforce,” which was also British based. You have the dead buddy showing up to make witty banter or drive the plot just like in “American Werewolf in London.” The whole mind control bug in the ear from “Wrath of Khan.” Some slapstick undead that came out of “Army of Darkness.” The whole face in a storm from the 90’s mummy films. These are just the bits I noticed. I’m guessing there was even more.
 |
| Swimming undead? BLERG! |
Boy did Russel Crowe phoned in his performance. Russel Crowe was playing Russel Crowe as Dr. Jekyll. It was just awful.
Jenny the archeologist is a mash of damsel in distress, full of moxy and a love interest that is supposed to inspire the hero. This of course led her to be a mess of a character as well. Plus she looked 20 years younger than the love interest Tom Cruise.
This was the start of a whole Universal Studios shared monster universe and they laid the groundwork for that, but did it poorly.
FINAL DECISION
“The Mummy” reboot has some entertainment value. If it would have just picked a genre and stuck to it then it would have been a much better film.
Ahmanet could have been a great villain if give better stuff to work with. Sadly, she pales in comparison to Boris Karloff. Hell she pales in comparison to the dude who played Imhotep in the 90’s.
The 1932 mummy movie had very little actual mummy in it. Imhotep was mainly a guy not a guy wrapped in bandages. Still the performance from Boris Karloff was and is still better than the reboot.
The story, albeit silly, is even better in the 1932 original. One could feel sorry for the mummy. He was just looking for a lost love. The reboot is about a power crazed sexy dame who wants to summon Set to destroy/ rule the world. You have creepy love story vs. familicide and god summoning for personal gain.
Sure the movie bits (lights, camera, effects) are way better, but that doesn’t help the story or acting.
I’m giving the original “The Mummy” the nod here. It is better than the current reboot. Hell, I’ll even say the 90’s “The Mummy” was better than this current version as well.
A big star and a big budget with a gender swap villain does not a better mummy make.
No comments:
Post a Comment