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****
Dir: Alex Kurtzman (12A, 120 mins)
Tom Cruise is back with another potential franchise. Universal is aiming to reboot all their classic monster movies and give them a contemporary edge; for the first time since the cinematic birth of the monster in 1932, the Mummy is played by a woman. Move over Boris Karloff for Sofia Boutella: after the trio of so-so Mummy films directed by Stephen Sommers and set in the 1920s, this brings the monster mayhem up to the present day. Cruise plays an ex-military man turned antiquities thief, and paired with the ever-amusing Jake Johnson, they stumble upon an ancient burial chamber and unwittingly unleash the bloodthirsty maiden. Swept along for the ride is Annabelle Wallis, who wants to preserve the antiquities and has a love/hate relationship with Cruise, and Russell Crowe on cameo duties as Dr Henry Jekyll, with perhaps a touch of Mr Hyde. This is big-budget spectacle with several jaw-dropping set pieces, a plane crash and sandstorm in London among them. Cruise is dependable as a lead in popcorn action, and if The Mummy has more than a whiff of familiarity about it, there are enough quirks along the way to satisfy. Monster fun.
Opens June 9