The Mummy (2017)

Movie · 2017 · Fantasy, Thriller, Action, Adventure, Horror · 1h 50m · PG-13 · English

Curator score: 0.2/10 (445K ratings)

Welcome to a new world of gods and monsters.

Overview

Though safely entombed in a crypt deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient queen whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia, and terrors that defy human comprehension.

Ratings

Director

Alex Kurtzman

Production

Secret Hideout, Universal Pictures, Conspiracy Factory, Sean Daniel Company

Cast

Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Russell Crowe, Marwan Kenzari, Neil Maskell, Javier Botet, Andrew Brooke, Selva Rasalingam, Shanina Shaik, Dylan Smith, Hadrian Howard, Rez Kempton, Bella Ava Georgiou, David Burnett, Stephen Thompson, James Arama, Vera Chok

Where to watch

Max

Curator Review

Verdict

A loud, franchise-launching mashup that never finds a stable tone, The Mummy is more cluttered than thrilling. It has a few watchable action beats and a committed lead performance, but the movie is weighed down by exposition, generic spectacle, and a sense that it’s setting up a universe instead of telling a satisfying story.

Best for

  • Viewers curious about the failed Dark Universe experiment
  • Fans of glossy studio action with a horror-adventure shell
  • Tom Cruise completists
  • People who enjoy campy blockbuster misfires

Skip if

  • You want a tight, monster-forward adventure
  • You’re looking for genuine scares or atmosphere
  • You dislike heavy exposition and franchise setup
  • You prefer horror with a stronger sense of style or personality

Overview

The 2017 The Mummy is one of those big studio attempts that feels engineered from multiple competing ideas at once: old-school monster movie, modern action vehicle, and franchise pilot. The result is noisy and overstuffed, with scenes that seem to be waiting for the next piece of lore rather than building momentum on their own.

Worth noting

There are flashes of fun, especially in the more reckless action passages and in the movie’s willingness to lean into pulp absurdity. But the film rarely commits to any one flavor long enough to make it stick. It wants to be spooky, funny, and mythic, yet often lands as dutiful.

Bottom line

What lingers most is the mismatch between the material and the machinery around it. The cast is game, the premise has real B-movie appeal, but the movie never fully escapes the feeling of a corporate product trying to become a monster movie after the fact.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Patrick Willems (2★) · 1281 likes

It is so god damn weird that Tom Cruise is in this movie

Sam (1★) · 1106 likes

It's a good thing I had to pee for 75% of this because at least I got to feel something.

davidehrlich (1★) · 774 likes

What made Tom Cruise a movie star? It wasn’t his toothy smile or his all-American dimples. It wasn’t that he was cocky enough to be loved, but also vulnerable enough to be lovable, although that certainly helped. It wasn’t even the fact that the way he runs on screen tells us more about the fundamental nature of cinema than anyone has conveyed with a stride since Eadweard Muybridge trained his camera on a galloping horse. No, Tom Cruise became a… more What made Tom Cruise a movie star? It wasn’t his toothy smile or his all-American dimples. It wasn’t that he was cocky enough to be loved, but also vulnerable enough to be lovable, although that certainly helped. It wasn’t even the fact that the way he runs on screen tells us more about the fundamental nature of cinema than anyone has conveyed with a stride since Eadweard Muybridge trained his camera on a galloping horse. No, Tom Cruise became a… more

elizabeth 🌛 (0.5★) · 700 likes

Idk about y'all but I was really rooting for Ahmanet... every time she punched Tom Cruise was gay culture at work

David Sims (1.5★) · 548 likes

90 minutes of horribly directed action interspersed with 20 minutes of rambling exposition, but hey, Russell Crowe turns purple at one point

Recommended similar titles

The Mummy

1999 · Adventure, Action, Fantasy · 2h 4m · PG-13 · Curator 4.2/10 (1.1M ratings) · Where to watch: AMC+, Philo

A much more crowd-pleasing blend of adventure, romance, and monster-movie fun with stronger momentum and charm.

Van Helsing

2004 · Horror, Adventure, Action · 2h 12m · PG-13 · Curator 1.0/10 (556.5K ratings) · Where to watch: Starz, Philo

Another glossy Universal monster mash with big effects, pulpy energy, and a similarly overstuffed studio ambition.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

1984 · Adventure, Action · 1h 58m · PG · Curator 5.5/10 (1.3M ratings) · Where to watch: Disney Plus, fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential

For desert peril, ancient curses, and fast-moving pulp adventure with a sharper sense of fun.

The Adventures of Tintin

2011 · Adventure, Animation, Mystery · 1h 47m · PG · Curator 5.8/10 (652.1K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential

A brisk, globe-trotting adventure that treats spectacle as play rather than franchise obligation.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

2003 · Adventure, Fantasy, Action · 2h 23m · PG-13 · Curator 7.6/10 (3.1M ratings) · Where to watch: Disney Plus, Freeform

Swashbuckling studio fantasy that balances action, humor, and supernatural menace far better.

The Scorpion King

2002 · Action, Adventure, Fantasy · 1h 32m · PG-13 · Curator 0.5/10 (234.5K ratings)

A lighter, more straightforward sword-and-sand adventure with creature-feature energy.

An American Werewolf in London

1981 · Comedy, Horror · 1h 37m · R · Curator 6.3/10 (420.7K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Philo

A great example of horror-comedy that knows exactly how to mix scares, wit, and creature effects.

The Lost City

2022 · Action, Adventure, Comedy · 1h 52m · PG-13 · Curator 1.5/10 (530.1K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Netflix Standard with Ads

A modern, self-aware adventure that understands how to keep the tone breezy and entertaining.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

2017 · Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy · 1h 59m · PG-13 · Curator 2.8/10 (1.6M ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads

For a studio adventure that embraces chaos but keeps the jokes and momentum working.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

2003 · Fantasy, Action, Thriller · 1h 50m · PG-13 · Curator 0.0/10 (4.4K ratings)

A notorious but thematically similar attempt at building a shared monster-adventure universe.

The Wolfman

2010 · Horror · 1h 43m · R · Curator 1.0/10 (179.1K ratings) · Where to watch: Max

For gothic monster revival with a more committed atmosphere and classic horror sensibility.

The Invisible Man

2020 · Thriller, Science Fiction, Horror · 2h 4m · R · Curator 4.8/10 (983.7K ratings)

A smarter modern monster update that uses genre mechanics with much more precision.

Topics

monster movie, action-adventure, horror-fantasy, pulp, campy, blockbuster, ancient Egypt, supernatural, franchise launch, 2010s

Open The Mummy (2017) on Curator TV