The Mummy (1999)

If you are going into Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (2026) and expecting a sophisticated classic like The Mummy (1932) with Boris Karloff, a fun monster romp like The Mummy (1959) with Peter Cushing, an Indiana Jones-style adventure like The Mummy (1999) with Brendan Frasier, or some mashup of those concepts like The Mummy (2017) with Tom Cruise, prepare to be disappointed on all fronts.  The newest horror offering from Blumhouse Productions and New Line Cinema, giants in this space having produced films like Get Out (2017) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) respectively, is just another generic demon possession movie.

When assessing a horror movie, most viewers want an answer to one primary question: is it scary? The answer, friends and neighbors, is yes. This film, one way or another, will probably freak you out. That mostly comes from hearty servings of loud noises, gore, and (fictional) cruelty towards children, coupled with a minor helping of (fictional) animal abuse. Nowhere in Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is there any horror that originates from a concept, a thought, some psychology. This is one of the most disgusting movies I have ever seen, and admittedly that is impressive, but all it lends itself to is the ten millionth iteration of the formula founded in 1973 by The Exorcist.

Black Adam, DC’s October blockbuster starring The Rock, was unfortunately quite a predictable bore. DC is darker for sure, but it also lacks the spark and amusement of Marvel and their MCU. Black Adam is based on the DC comic book first published in 1945.

The Black Adam story is a blander copy of The Mummy, Moon Knight, and other Egyptian films made by Hollywood, taking place in the fictional Middle Eastern Kahndaq, without possessing anything really novel throughout the whole film. It’s almost as if the creators, led by director Jaume Collet-Serra, ran the story, cast, and script through “the standard Superhero algorithm” to generate the movie. However, to be honest, I think Artificial Intelligence would’ve done a better job.

I love Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He’s super cool with his incredibly bulging muscles even without CGI, his charismatic smile, along with his colorful heritage and corresponding responsibility. He gave a decent performance, playing the anti-hero Teth-Adam called to the present day from ancient Kahndaq. Adrianna, the modern mother character whom Black Adam kept saving, was played by Sarah Shahi, of Iranian and Spanish descent. Amon, the son whom Black Adam also kept rescuing, was played by 14-year-old Bodhi Sabongui, of Egyptian, Liberian, and French descent. The protective mother and good-but-rascally son delivered lines that could’ve been written by any random customer at a café.