When Universal Pictures very
prematurely announced that The Mummy would be the first in
their cinematic universe named, ahem, Dark Universe, my eyes – like many
others’ – rolled. I’ve nothing against shared cinematic universes. Hell, I’m
all for it. Look at the incredible job the MCU has done, with the DCEU being
taught lessons by Wonder Woman and her lasso, and even this year’s Kong:
Skull Island breathing some much-needed fire into Warner Bros. and
Legendary's new monster franchise. But those guys? The
Wolfman, Swamp Thing, Frankenstein, Dracula et al? Really? But if
the filmmakers really think it’s going to work – and they surely do given such
an early promise of a shared universe, and it’s got Tom Cruise
- I’ll make the effort to go watch this new reiteration of The
Mummy even if it does seem overly action-focused and starring a very
out of place Tom Cruise, and see what it is they've done. And that’s just what
I did.
