Universal tries to get back into the classic-monster biz with the help of Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe in this Alex Kurtzman-directed adventure.
Some have noted that Universal must hate to be opening Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy in the second week of Wonder Woman‘s run, with that hit sure to suck millions out of its box-office haul.
But Wonder Woman isn’t all bad for the newly launched “enterprise,” dubbed Dark Universe, with which the studio hopes to exploit characters it introduced way back in the 1920-50s: After all, it proves that such a series of interrelated movies (like DC’s “extended universe”) can still succeed after the well has been poisoned by outings so terrible any executive with taste would have pulled the plug. Sure, it’s hard to muster anything like desire for another Dark Universe flick after seeing this limp, thrill-free debut. But who knows? Maybe shifting gears to a female protagonist in 2019’s Bride of Frankenstein will do the trick.Then again, the fact that Uni’s recent D.U. hype mentions only the Bride’s groom, to be played by Javier Bardem, may show it’s more heavily invested in big-name dudes than in making heroes of women. Dudes like Russell Crowe, whose Dr. Jekyll apparently will be the glue holding these pictures together as a series. Or like Tom Cruise, who gave his all to one long-running franchise by reviving Mission: Impossible, and, judging from The Mummy, should perhaps not be asked to do so again.
Weirdly out of place here, Cruise brings little daring and less charm to the film, though to be fair to the actor, his character’s a stiff: Nick Morton, an Army sergeant who secretly loots antiquities from Iraqi war zones, might have been a charismatic anti-hero in Drafts One or Five of a script credited to David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman (with story by Jon Spaihts, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet). But what made it to the screen is a watered-down version of “irresistible rogue” with all the irresistibility trimmed away.
Accompanied by partner in crime Chris Vail (Jake Johnson), Morton is in Iraq pursuing treasures promised on a map he stole from archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis of Peaky Blinders). Halsey catches up to Morton around the time his misadventures expose an ancient burial site, and she’s none too happy that he seduced her just to steal that map. After some low-stakes bickering, the two find themselves in the presence of a sarcophagus buried in,…
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