If THE MUMMY it's franchise-starter for UNIVERSAL's DARK UNIVERSE, it does a good job at that too. If it's a mindless summer entertainer, it does a decent job of that too. But if it's supposed to be a anything more, it doesn't do that well. And considering that it has a wonderful cast of Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Sofia Boutella and Annabelle Wallis amongst others, its almost a shame that it doesn't rise to more!
SPOILERS? Not sure...
It's a very cliche story of a lost artifact that turns our hero into a vessel for "pure evil" (of course you don't want that!). To defeat the pure evil, the hero has to sacrifice himself. In that process, there's a woman, who he really cares about (not sure why, how, and it's not convincing at all), so he has to save her as well. But eventually, he manages to destroy the "pure evil" and save the woman, without having to really sacrifice himself.
GOOD:
- Russell Crowe - He plays the Dr Henry Jekyll (and Mr Hyde), and he's really good. When are we getting his own movie? I'm sure we are!
- Tom Cruise - The 54 year old, can play a convincing 30s soldier, who is intense like "Tom Cruise". It works for the movie.
- Sofia Boutella - She is rocking as princess Ahmanet. Another role with tattoos & markings on her body, and she's the tattooed girl of Hollywood. But regardless, she's good!
- CGI/VFX/Action - The usual HOLLYWOOD summer extravaganza, it's fun to watch.
Not-So-Good:
- There's no real story. Re-hash of everything we have seen, with almost nothing new to offer.
- Love story between Nick (Tom) and Jenny (Annabelle) doesn't play out. And it's a BIG bummer, since the climaxe kinda relies on it.
- Tom Cruise - He could bring so much more to the movie. The fiddling with dark-side. the romance. Ground breaking action (like Mission Impossible). But no, nothing!
- CGI/VFX/Action - It's nothing we haven't seen. Nothing!
So, you should go ahead and watch the film, if you like Tom Cruise, or THE MUMMY, or just want to have brainless fun. But if you are expecting anything more, it's on you!