‘The Mummy’ Is an Exuberant Start to the Dark Universe

Alex Aronson

“The Mummy” serves as an entertaining popcorn movie. The Tom Cruise helmed film is merely an energetic work of spectacle – and not much more. Ultimately though, “The Mummy” offers a pleasing start for the Dark Universe.

An ancient Egyptian princess (Sofia Boutella) is awakened from her crypt when an archeologist, Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis), and military personnel, Nick Morton (Tom Cruise), discover her final resting place. While in transit from the desert to London, the tomb begins to display its ancient power as it causes chaos aboard the plane – which eventually leads to an impressive and intense practically shot, zero gravity airplane crash, that not everyone makes it out of “alive.”

Following the accident, Princess Ahmanet, now free from her tomb, begins to collect the souls of those around her to build her strength, turning victims into zombielike servants. Only those who freed her in the first place can stop Ahmanet, who is on a mission to collect a rare jewel. Simultaneously, Nick Morton, who after dying in the plane crash, mysteriously comes back to life only to find out that he is now fitted with the same ancient curse that haunts Ahmanet. Once he discovers that he is the only one that can stop her, he must come to grips with his new powers and end her influence before it is too late. It should be noted that Cruise should stick to action, which he does well, as the few comedic lines he attempts in the film really fall flat.

Of course, Morton needs a little coaxing to believe he is the only one who can stop vengeful zombie. Enter Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe), who runs a military like a team, set on defeating the world’s greatest monsters. Dr. Jekyll is to the Dark Universe as Nick Fury is to the Marvel Universe. He connects all the films together – as evident in the production design of his office, which includes Easter eggs, such as a vampire skull and creature gills. As the movie comes to a close, it becomes apparent that it is Dr. Jekyll’s goal to befriend Morton, in the hopes that he works in an alliance to defeat the other monsters within the cinematic universe. Whether or not Morton is on board for this remains unknown by the end of the picture. In a failed attempt to create an empathetic love interest storyline, the viewer is left to believe that perhaps he might lean in favor of Dr. Jekyll after he rescues Jenny from the Ahmanet’s grip.

It has been almost ten years since Universal’s last “Mummy” outing. Since then, the studio has been feverishly working to bring their classic monster catalog back into the mainstream lexicon. “The Wolfman” in 2010 and “Dracula Untold” in 2014 both performed mildly at the box office, but failed to reignite general interest in the classic Universal monsters.

A lot is riding on the success of the film, as it is the official kick-start to Universal’s Dark Universe – a monster movie version of the Marvel Universe. The slate of films expected to follow include, “Bride of Frankenstein,” helmed by Bill Condon (“Beauty and the Beast”) and starring Javier Bardem, set for 2019, “The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Dracula,” “Creature From The Black Lagoon,” “The Invisible Man,” starring Johnny Depp, and a Dr. Jekyll spin-off.

Directed by Alex Kurtzman, “The Mummy” introduces a new universe for the world of gods and monsters to exist – one that is giant, visually spectacular, intricate, and nicely lays the groundwork for future installments. The one caveat being a lack of substance. A note to forthcoming monster movies, although spectacle certainly has its place in the movie theater, substance, especially when building an entire cinematic universe, is very necessary. However, with all this being said, it is still an enjoyable monster mash.

“The Mummy” opens in theaters June 9.