The Mummy (Dir. Alex Kurtzman, 2hrs)

In this increasingly franchised world of cinema, it's hardly surprising that one of the oldest franchises in cinema, that of the collective stable of Universal's Monsters, is now joining Marvel, DC, Godzilla et al in their very own cinematic universe. What is surprising, off the back of the reasonable Dracula Untold, and the cult Stephen Sommers trilogy, starring Brendan Fraser, is quite how dull, overly po-faced and largely forgettable the first entry, The Mummy, in which Tom Cruise faces off against a long-imprisoned Egyptian Princess and her lust for power. Whilst the titular Mummy is a worthy addition of the pantheon of Universal's villains, that's more than can be said of the rest of the film, and around her, it's rushed, underacted and tries to pack too much world-building into a surprisingly slim film.

Much as Karloff and Vosloo before her, Sofia Boutella as Ahmanet is perhaps the best thing about their respective films-a powerbent, intelligent, dangerous woman imprisoned for her lust for power, and equally bent upon resurrecting her lover to act as a vessel for the god Set, she's an interesting reinterpretation of the key themes of the other two Mummy series, both in the way that the mummy is imprisoned and their respective powers, and in their quest to reunite with a deceased lover. Boutella's physicality, particularly in the early scenes, is particularly stunning, with her movements unnatural and staggered-her relentlessness is at points truly terrifying, and certainly compared to either Karloff or Vosloo, the film makes her out to be far faster, a better fighter and almost unstoppable. However, elsewhere, she is somewhat underdeveloped, and aside from her cursory backstory, and occasionally a sympathetic note that is dropped throughout the film, she is merely a force for our heroes to defeat.

Speaking of our heroes...oh dear. Tom Cruise is an actor that, over the last few years, with the exception of the Jack Reacher and later Mission Impossible films, seems to be on perpetual autopilot, and this film is no different. His character, Nick Morton, is all but a retread of the Sommers' character Rick O'Connell, a roguish, good-hearted thief and adventurer, a diamond in the rough, and all Cruise adds to the character is an utter lack of charm or interest-at multiple points in the film, one is reminded quite how much Brendan Fraser brought to O'Connell.
The supporting cast are no better, from the utterly laughable dual role of Russell Crowe as both Dr Henry Jekyll,  the head of an-anti-monster organisation and the dangerous and diabolical Edward Hyde, in which Crowe tries to shovel as much scenery as he can into his mouth, to Jake Johnson as Morton's (quickly dispatched) sidekick, Vail, to Annabella Wallis who tries to bring some chemistry with Cruise as a female archaeologist, and indeed exists largely as a foil to Ahmanet, as the human side against the monstrous.

The biggest flaw of the film, remains, however, the pacing and tone of this film; whereas the Summers and even the classic Universal films had a lightness of touch, a wicked sense of humour and were downright fun, Kurtzman's piece is a grey, unpleasant slog-starting in war torn Iraq, featuring an admittedly spectacular plane-crash, and a badly shot, badly choreographed attack on central London, it feels as though the tone of the typical brainless modern action movie have seeped into what should be a spectacular and fantastical movie. Whilst each set piece on its own is of reasonable quality, the film that links them together is so uninteresting, so lacking in fun, humour or indeed anything to make the film at all pleasant.

Between Cruise's bantering with Wallis' character, Crowe hastily setting up the "Dark Universe" with the props around his office, and with only Ahmanet seemingly having any fun with the situations she is in, this film isn't even walking but crawling, in search of life. Sadly, like the films that came before it, this franchise is almost cursed to continue. If you want to see a Mummy film this summer, stick to Sommers, or better still, the Karloff original this film so closely apes.

Rating: Avoid.