5 burning questions we have after watching ‘The Mummy’ trailers
By Beatrice Seilern
We’ve all seen the trailers for the remake of “The Mummy”, the first instalment of Universal Pictures’ new Dark Universe franchise.
And while these action-packed (and at times terrifying) snippets have us all counting down until the movie is released on 8 June, we currently have more questions than answers.
1) Is this an action or a horror film?
Western cultures have long been mesmerised by ancient Egypt, and with mummies in particular. Universal’s fascination with the topic dates all the way back to the iconic 1932 version of “The Mummy” starring Boris Karloff, which is considered a masterpiece of the horror genre.
The franchise has now rebooted. This time, it’s not just another horror remake: in 2017 “The Mummy” blurs the lines between action and horror, and good and evil, and sets up a whole new world of gods and monsters.
2) So who, or what, is The Mummy in 2017?
In the trailers, we see a tomb being lifted from its resting place, after which all hell breaks loose. Literally. Planes crash, Tom Cruise wakes up in a morgue, London is destroyed and we are introduced to the terrifying and very angry looking Princess Ahmanet.
Described as an ancient princess whose destiny was unjustly taken from her, Ahmanet brings with her a malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension. She is also the first female mummy in the franchise.
3) How much of the latest movie is based on facts?
There is no evidence to suggest that ancient Egyptians considered the possibility of re-animated mummies, but they did believe there had to be a preserved body on Earth in order for the soul to have eternal life.
This is where the idea of mummification came from, but the burial site we see in the trailers turns out to be a prison, not a tomb, designed to keep the mummified Ahmanet buried forever rather than welcome her into the afterlife for all eternity.
The jackal-headed god Anubis was often associated with mummification and the afterlife, and one of his roles was to usher souls into the Land of Two Fields, the Egyptian version of heaven.
However, in the trailers for “The Mummy”, the statues of Anubis surrounding the princess’ sarcophagus are more likely a spiritual trap. Unfortunately, the submerged tomb, guarded by statues and safely held down by chains for millennia, prove to be no match for Tom Cruise’s trigger-happy soldier of fortune Nick Morton.
4) Does Tom Cruise actually die in the film?
Fans will know that Tom Cruise very rarely plays anything less than a good-looking, lovable hero who always saves the day.
In The Mummy, however, director and producer Alex Kurtzman wanted to put the actor in an entirely new position. After his character unwittingly frees Princess Ahmanet from her prison tomb, Morton sets off a chain of events which apparently result in his demise (as seen from the plane crash and morgue scenes from the trailer).
Throughout the trailers, Morton often seems out of his depth, because according to Kurtzman, “the scariest monster movies are the ones where the protagonist starts to feel very out of control”. Whether he dies or not, or even whether he himself is the titular Mummy, remains to be seen.
5) What is Oscar winner Russell Crowe doing in the trailer?
Russell Crowe features as the narrator in the trailers, and fans of the franchise will recognise his character as Dr Henry Jekyll, whose alter-ego is of course the monstrous Mr Hyde.
Dr Jekyll’s presence is in the plot is crucial, as he is the glue holding Universal’s new classic monster series of films together. More than a reboot, The Mummy is in fact the inaugural film in Universal’s attempt at bringing the classic monsters into modern cinema.
The Dark Universe films will all be connected by an organisation known as Prodigium, which is led by Crowe’s Dr Jekyll.
Beyond that, there’s really not much we know about the Dark Universe either, so you’ll have to wait until The Mummy hits theatres on 8 June.
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