Delivering assorted thrills and chills

WHERE is Brendan Fraser when you need him? The actor who exuded a goofy charm and good-natured demeanour while channelling his inner Indiana Jones and fighting off an army of undead creatures in The Mummy (1999) and two sequels might have been an interesting option to return for a modern-day reboot. Instead, we have Tom Cruise playing, well, Tom Cruise in a new, flamboyant and quite possibly unnecessary 2017 version of The Mummy.

In it, viewers are treated to a blockbuster action-adventure starring one of the biggest action stars in the world, flashing his pearly whites and well-toned bod while fighting off an army of ... you get the picture. The star, who turns 55 next month, already has plans to dust the cobwebs off one of his own golden oldies and make Top Gun 2, so perhaps he felt the urge to muscle in on someone else's B-movie in the meantime.

The Mummy, directed by Alex Kurtzman and written by David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman, is the first instalment in the Dark Universe horror series, which is set to feature the likes of Frankenstein, the Invisible Man and Jekyll and Hyde (somewhat incongruously, this last pair makes a guest appearance in the movie). As a result, and also because the plot also involves modern-day scenarios in Iraq and London, The Mummy comes across as a bit of a monster mishmash.