Reviews

Oh dear. I so wanted to like this movie - a big budget remake of The Mummy starring Tom Cruise? What could go wrong? Well, as it turns out, everything. Of all the classic Universal monsters, the Mummy was always my favourite. The 1999 version was enjoyable, here I was expecting a much darker, dare I say scary update. Nope. They've taken the best elements of the 1999 film (sandstorm with the giant face of the Mummy, Zombies/Mummies used as slaves/henchmen, the backstory of the Mummy) and inserted them into this mess. Couldn't they come up with something original? Cruise is miscast, it turns into Mission impossible - The Mummy protocol. The Mummy herself doesn't do much, far more screen time is given to Cruise in order to justify his salary, no doubt. Bottom line, The Mummy is a confused mess, playing more like 28 Days Later or the Walking Dead, and I was bored to tears throughout, other than the plane crash - the only excitement in the film. And the ending? So Cruise is now the Mummy, but a good, friendly Mummy? Please. Avoid at all costs!

I wish I could turn back time and not watch this movie, but sadly I can't so I'm stuck with the memory of it all. I love disaster movies, liked Independence day but god, this was terrible. Boring, cliché ridden, insulting, overblown, did I mention boring? None of the characters were of any interest to me (ooh, a divorced dad whose kids have no respect for him, never seen that before). But what really made me angry was the way the movie constantly insulted the audiences intelligence, eg. the endless near miss escapes where an old camper van can outrun a superheated cloud of ash and fireballs, a light aircraft can be engulfed by the same ash cloud and emerge unscathed, and of course the biggest and heaviest cargo plane in the world, loaded with 10 or so cars, can dive nose down into a hole at the end of the runway and still have enough lift to safely make it out, weaving between collapsing buildings like it was a bird. (Sorry, but that last scene really got to me). Add dozens more improbable moments like these, and of course that nausea inducing we must retain our humanity speech near the end, and you have one BAD movie. (I'm seriously thinking of taking the DVD back to the store, saying the disc is scratched and getting my money back).

Ahh, to revisit the halcyon days of 1970's London policing! Anyone watching this film will probably be aware of the infamous TV series, so introductions are not needed. Free from the restrictions of television guidelines and budgets, the makers of Sweeney! show us what a sleazy and violent world 1976 London can be. D.I. Reagan promises an old friend he will investigate further the death of a high class escort (yes, the oxo mum herself going topless) and slowly uncovers a high level conspiracy involving a naive politician and his crooked press relations man, who wants to lower oil prices for a year and make the oil companies billions in the process. With me so far? It matters not, forget the plot and enjoy the fistfights, shootings and the wonderful teamwork of John thaw and Dennis waterman. Altogether now..."You're nicked, son!"