Who’s the daddy of this unholy monster mess? Tom Cruise crash tackles The Mummy

REVIEW: Alex Kurtzman’s reboot of The Mummy opted for sound, fury and action over the original film’s Gothic horror.

Tom Cruise in a scene from The Mummy.

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THE MUMMY

Two stars

DIRECTOR Alex Kurztman

STARRING Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Sofia Boutella

RATING M

RUNNING TIME 111 minutes

VERDICT Should have been kept under wraps

THE revivification of a decomposed, 80-year-old horror icon is not a task for the faint-hearted.

There are so many points in the complex and delicate process at which things could go seriously awry.

Employing Tom Cruise to take care of the action is a sound — if not particularly inspired — move.

Tom Cruise and Annabelle Wallis make a strong action team.

The thrillseeking actor’s much-vaunted zero gravity plan crash sequence certainly delivers plenty of bang for its buck (although behind-the-scenes footage of the stunt itself is even more impressive.)

It also gives Cruise’s tomb-plundering soldier of fortune, Nick Morton, a chance to redeem himself by strapping the only remaining parachute onto the back of Egyptologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) whose map he stole in a rather ungentlemanly fashion.

But Morton’s emergence from the plane’s twisted wreckage, with barely a scratch on him, is hard to swallow even in an alternative fantasy Superverse of demigods and arachnid-human hybrids.

Switching the gender of The Mummy, first played by Boris Karloff in 1932, also allows for a potentially fresh perspective.

In a token nod to contemporary audiences, Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) is given a backstory that traces her evil origins back to patriarchal injustice.

Sofia Boutells summons supernatural forces as The Mummy.

Cruise and Russell Crowe form a reluctant alliance in The Mummy.

The main problem with Alex Kurtzman’s reboot of The Mummy, however, lies within the project’s DNA.

In reimagining the story for multiplex audiences, Kurtzman has opted for sound, fury and action over the original film’s Gothic horror

Extraordinary advances in visual effects notwithstanding, The Mummy loses much of its potency in this iteration.

The Mummy is a lumbering monster of a film. Despite its limited intelligence, however, it is still capable of maximum destruction.

The Mummy is now screening (opens June 8)

Originally published as Who’s the daddy of this unholy monster mess? Tom Cruise crash tackles The Mummy