THE MUMMY (2017)

Genre: Action / Horror
Running Length: 1:50
Cast: Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson
Director: Alex Kurtzman
Screenplay: David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman

Tom Cruise's THE MUMMY has a few memorable moments but the narrative is so inconsistent it feels like the writers borrowed heavily from an assortment of ideas and stitched it clumsily together. End result: a Frankenstein monster (UUUUUGGGGHHH...)

Perhaps it's a case of too many cooks spoil the broth (the writing talents here is insane), coupled with an incapable director. The soundtrack seems off. And there were unnecessary roles like Russell Crowe's character and Jake Johnson's. And don't get me started with the poor casting; a weak and irritating female protagonist who actually plays an important role to Cruise's character motivation. As for Sofia Boutella's mummy, she is not even menacing.

As for Maverick himself, Mr Cruise as we all know, is always 101% committed to the moment and the audience can feel his intensity. Whether he's acting (boggle-eyed, doing the "What.The.Hell..." expression, screaming) or running or even flashing his signature smile, he is ALWAYS ALL IN. Even so, he is totally miscast here. It would be an interesting choice though if he played a supporting role in this movie, perhaps Russell's character. Hmmm...

I supposed the main goal of The Mummy is to kickstart a Marvel MCU / DC DCEU multi-movie crossover franchise with classic monster characters like Dracula, The Wolfman and yes, Frankenstein monster but judging from the supposedly lacklustre box office taking and the horrible reviews it's currently receiving, I am not sure this would be happening anytime soon.

Well, compared to the Brendan Fraser's 1999 The Mummy, at least that was was fun in a National Treasure / Indiana Jones-ish way.

RATING: 5.5/10

THE NICE GUYS (2016)

Genre: Thriller / Comedy
Running Length: 1:56
Cast:Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Kim Basinger
Director: Shane Black
Screenplay: Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi

In my opinion, Shane Black (once upon a time the most sought after and highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood; Lethal Weapon series, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Last Action Hero) is perhaps a better writer than a director. The narrative of THE NICE GUYS has all the elements of a fun and quirky "mismatched buddy cop" movie coupled with a Tarantino-esque approach to humour. But the end product ended up not as engaging as what the trailer promises. I reckon perhaps Black was unable to draw the best out of his talented actors, especially Ryan Gosling.

Fans of Gosling will probably hate me for this, but in this movie he was overdoing the gags and was just trying too hard to be funny. As a result, his performance was bordering on the silly lawak bodoh kind. Again, I don't blame Gosling but the director.

Set in the mid 1970s in LA (think Boogie Nights), Gosling plays a down-on-his-luck detective who teams up with Crowe, a hired messenger who delivers his messages with his fists. Their job is to track down the runaway daughter of a District attorney (Kim Basinger) who's involved in the sleazy underbelly world of the porn industry. Gosling's the brain of the operations while Crowe's the brawn; both characters are flawed but they are well, nice guys.

Of course, to make this film worthy of a cinema release, their seemingly simple mission is very quickly escalated into an outrageous one involving mermaids, dead bodies and a giant killer bee. Overall, it's a welcome throwback to the good old fashioned 80s/90s commercial action movies made for adults; free of superheroes and CGI galore. But somehow, it's not as edgy as I expected it to be eventhough it's peppered with some laugh out loud moments.

Rating: 6.5/10