[CRITICAL] THE MUMMY

Universal also wants its share of the cake by creating, in the image of the MCU, DCU and other SWU, its own expanded universe… But is this really possible with a if any “pilot episode ?”

In itself, a blockbuster of the genre of THE MUMMY would not be so frankly disturbing (one thinks back to one of Stephen Sommers), if it was not to start a series of films seeking to deliver the taste of the day some people rather dark – the creature of Frankenstein, the Invisible Man or the Mummy -from the collective unconscious, as well as the catalogue of Universal. But, if we compare the different universe expanded present, their common point and a guarantee of their success (public if not always critical) is still the vision of the author that animates them. Whether it be that of a producer omniscient (Kevin Feige and his MCU), where the controversy, Zack Snyder on Man of Steel or BatmanVSuperman. Ditto in the genre of ultra-cross-media, the will of the creators, George Lucas and J. K. Rowling continuing to give life to the sprawling works are stamped with Star Wars, or Harry Potter.

But here, with this Dark Universe, the only thing that returns to a long-term vision, it is this photo. And there is nothing in THE MUMMY that looks like near or far to an artistic ambition, or creative, or even a more value-added story. It will have to wait to see a little more before condemning the franchise, but let’s be clear: it is wrong party.

At the most, in terms of originality, this mummy 2017 is a woman and has 4 iris… All the rest is just archetypes, characters and story, with so a anti-hero becoming a nice hero, receiving the power to fight a threat, and an antagonist who just wants to dominate the world. The action scenes never seek the extraordinary, or until the end-ism, we are offering just shootings lambdas, body to body, lambdas, and car chases lambdas; even the famous scene of the plane crash, exhales the smell of déjà-vu, especially in Uncharted 3, Fast & Furious, James Bond, Ninja Turtles 2 , or World War Z. Not exotic, not in this “adventure movie”, THE MUMMY appears to have been shot in a studio with backdrops made of cardboard, or in “external digital”, and with that more a majority of these scenes or dark night if unpleasant to look at. The humour could have been, as in the opus of Stephen Sommers, to take a consequent place in the heart of the film, but it falls here completely flat, despite the insistence of a Tom Cruise to put a “joke” in a response on five. Also, speaking of Tom Cruise, as usual, with its blockbusters, the film revolves clearly around him… Except that usually, his power is circumscribed by that of a stage director and talented ( Spielberg, De Palma, Christopher McQuarrie, etc) or at least offset by a script that is smart play of its aura (Edge of Tomorrow). This is not the case in THE MUMMY, the film director Alex Kurtzmann simply place a Tom Cruise in freewheel at the heart of almost every scene, with as a result of phagocytosing all the potential in the film. The egyptian mythology that THE MUMMY is trying to (re)build for example, and to a lesser extent, the other characters.

As well, the girl there*, the one that one instantly forgets once the film is finished, bah it’s not used for anything except to suffer the valves sexist uttered by Tom Cruise off-topic. The other sidekick is illustrated by jokes fart-fart of bad taste before it become a kind of zombie fantasy, which is totally useless. One would have thought that Russell Crowe and his charisma would go up the level, but his doctor Jekill is transparent while his Mr. Hyde is a little too inflated with hormones digital to be anything other than a villain generic. Finally, the famous antagonist, The Mummy, doesn’t do much more than mumble, cause of the jump-scares, and eventually suffer the justice of the hero. For a point of comparison, the mummy 1932 (Boris Karloff), his charisma is captivating and his intelligence and manipulative were the real stars of the film, making him an antagonist deadly and dangerous, the indicator of the dramaturgy of the narrative, and our front door in a egyptian mythology is rich and exciting. We could hope for something in the genre with THE MUMMY version 2017, especially in the introduction to a universe dedicated to mythical figures cursed.

In fact the film is not even bad, it is just lambda to the possible. Any. They are bored not really, but no one is interested in anything more. There is nothing surprising, but what we see is executed in the correct manner. Tom Cruise is everywhere, all the time, he’s running, “just kidding”, he saves the world, and all that without an ounce of investment. THE MUMMY is no beginning nor no homage to anything, and is shown more by its non-risk-taking. Out: how is the film so little interesting would like to know more on a possible expanded universe ? The box office of the film should we bring a first element of response.

Georgeslechameau

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