With 'Rogue One' arriving to theaters in couple weeks, we'll be receiving trailers for upcoming movies the audience should watch out for in 2017. We have already a new trailer for 'Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2' and we'll receive trailers for 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' and 'Transformers: The Last Knight' in the meantime. But we also received a trailer for a reboot of 'The Mummy' starring Tom Cruise. This isn't just a reboot because Universal all of the sudden wanted to make a reboot. They're rebooting it to unveil all of the gods and monsters. In other words, 'The Mummy' will be the first film of Universal's Monster Cinematic Universe.
To clear any confusion, 'Dracula Untold' will not be included in this cinematic universe, according to 'The Mummy' director, Alex Kurtzman. He didn't state why it wasn't canon. But he didn't need to because the film had a severely poor reception.
So as I mentioned earlier, 'The Mummy' will star Tom Cruise. It's an odd choice considering how much of an action star he is. He has the perception where you'll find it difficult to remember what character he played in his action movies except for two, which are Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible and Jack Reacher from Jack Reacher. Mission Impossible is the best thing that's going for Tom and that's not bad at all. The quality of those films keep getting better. As for Jack Reacher, well... that's pretty explanatory. But there is one big positive for bringing Tom Cruise, and that is the importance of practical effects. Tom Cruise wants to give us a real experience when we watch his stunt work. He'll go as far as possible without using green screen. For instance, you'll see a plane crashing in the trailer. While the plane crashing had to be computer generated, everyone flying around in the plane was real. A rotisserie, massive rotating set, was made to make actors feel like they were being tossed around in a real plane crash.
So one must ask why would Universal cast Tom Cruise in 'The Mummy'? In order to sell this reboot to the mass audience, you need a star. For whatever reason, Tom Cruise was Universal's best choice to star in the film and put in as many butts in seats as possible. It's hard to imagine his character not being similar to his other characters from recent years. It could happen, but I don't think so. It also doesn't help that the trailer feels similar to Mission Impossible.
I'm interested in the concept of 'The Mummy'. Let's face it. Was the 1999 version that good? Not really. It baffles me when I see people trying to idolize Brendan Fraser's version. What differentiates the reboot is now it'll emphasize more on the action, because it's a summer blockbuster, and leave room for horror. I'll be satisfied if the film can manage that. An interesting twist to the reboot is that the mummy will be a female played by Sofia Boutella. I don't mind the gender swap as long as its executed well. If she's intimidating, that's all that matters.
While watching the trailer, you'll notice that Russell Crowe makes an appearance. But who is he playing? Well, he will be playing Dr. Henry Jekyl. Him being in the film seems to be a key figure to create set up the shared universe. Director Alex Kurtzman explains why Dr. Henry Jekyl is in the film.
"In looking to figure out how to place The Mummy in a larger context and setting up this organization that has actually been dealing with monsters for longer than any of us have been around, it became clear that we needed somebody to be the voice of that organization. The next thought was like, “Well, it could be Joe Mcgillicuddy, or we could actually go into another character that makes sense organically.” It was a real point of conversation with Tom. If we’re going to bring in Henry Jekyll, how is bringing Henry Jekyll into the mummy story not a detractor from the mummy story? How does Henry Jekyll become part of this story in an organic way? And part of what Tom’s character, Nick, learns about the mummy and about the history of the mummy comes through Jekyll’s very deep understanding of monsters and how monsters have existing quietly in this world for eons."
So who else will be included in this cinematic universe? As of now, we know that the Mummy (Sofia Boutella), Invisible Man (Johnny Depp), Frankenstein (Javier Bardem), the Wolf Man, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Creature from Black Lagoon, and Van Helsing will be a part of this shared universe. It has been confirmed that we will be receiving movies for the Invisbile Man, the Wolf Man, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Creature from Black Lagoon, and Van Helsing in the near future. While not official, there are speculations that Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson could be playing the Wolf Man and Scarlett Johansson could be playing the Creature from the Black Lagoon. There hasn't been any confirmation whether or not Count Dracula will make an appearance at all in the Monsters Universe.
The Monsters Universe has me intrigued. I'm interested in seeing how all of this pans out. 'The Mummy' will be the first film in this franchise and it must deliver. I have no doubt that Tom Cruise will deliver in the film. He's a good actor. I'm just worried about how his character will be written. I'll have to wait and find out on June 9th, 2017. You can watch the trailer below.
[Sources]
http://collider.com/the-mummy-universal-monsters-s...
http://collider.com/the-mummy-tom-cruise-vfx/#figh...
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/johnn...
http://variety.com/2016/film/news/javier-bardem-fr...
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/creature-from-the-...
