main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Amph A New(er) World of Gods and Monsters: The Universal Monsters (The Invisible Man)

Discussion in 'Community' started by DantheJedi, Jul 31, 2014.

  1. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004

    Yeah, titles like Bride of Frankenstein and Invisible Man wouldn't likely have budgets on par w/a more action oriented title like this.
     
  2. Rylo Ken

    Rylo Ken Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Dec 19, 2015
    Based on Thu-Friday previews for Mummy and Fri totals for WW, looks like WW is going to win the weekend by $20 million or more
     
  3. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    I wanted to see this. But I have utterly lost interest.
     
  4. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Reposting my review of the newer film:



    [​IMG]


    The Mummy (2017)- Unlike many here, I was anticipating this one as I rather enjoyed the trailers. The teaser obviously had a "Mummy Impossible" take on it to try and leverage the recent MI films but the second trailer seemed to convey an attempt at actual horror elements with a dash of adventure.

    Sadly, this one isn't that great. It's not bad- the major sequences are fine, the creature effects are pretty good and the Mummy herself (played by the beautiful Sofia Boutella) is an effective mix of imposing threat, beauty and creepiness. It also manages a pretty consistent tone (for the most part- there's an exception noted below) so it is less schizo than the first Frasier Mummy movie. So, that was a welcome improvement. And Crowe as Jekyll (but especially as Hyde) is a great addition.

    However, there's a couple significant flaws that prevent the film from ever fully working.

    The lesser problem is a semi-annoying comedic sidekick head character that only works sometimes and feels like a distraction in tone from the rest of the film. He should have been cut from the film entirely after the plane sequence.

    The more significant one is that the emotional conflict at the heart of the story (a sort of lightside/darkside love triangle with Cruise's character in the middle) revolves around Cruise's connection with the Jenny character... and she's too underdeveloped for us to care about, so we don't buy why he cares about her so much. She's not an empty character or just an object in the film (like the female lead in the original classic) but she's pretty generic.

    So, lacking that connection, the crux of the film falls apart.

    That said, I'm still interested in seeing the subsequent Dark Universe films, as there's enough here to build off of (and if they can make a Mummy sequel that improves upon the groundwork here like The Mummy Returns did, it could make for a really kickass film). They just need better direction and a little more development on the emotional core.

    In the end, I wouldn't give this one a recommendation but I wouldn't actively avoid it either, as it is entertaining in spurts. It doesn't have the developed female lead of the Frasier films, but does have a generally consistent tone unlike the first Frasier film. It also lacks the major plotholes of the original classic and incorporates more traditional undead threats. Yet, all three incarnations of this franchise feature strong portrayals by their central Mummies. Karloff, Vosloo and Boutella all bring something new to the role to anchor it.

    As such, I currently rank the Mummy films that I've seen as such:

    -The Mummy Returns
    -The Mummy '99
    -The Mummy '17
    -The Mummy '32
    -The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

    (Honorable mention: Doctor Who: Mummy on the Orient Express. :cool:)
     
    Jedi Merkurian and Gamiel like this.
  5. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    According to this...

    It has made 174 million world wide, and they have every intention of continuing.
     
  6. FamousAmos

    FamousAmos VIP star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2003
    I could not agree with you less. Having Dr. Jekyll randomly show up in the middle of a mummy movie felt out of place to me. Combined with Crowe's acting, which I can only describe as Hayden Christensen-esque, made the Jekyll sequence cringe-worthy. Overall, I found myself rooting for the mummy as she was the only character I found remotely relatable.
     
  7. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I suppose I liked him better as Hyde than Jekyll but I still enjoyed his inclusion as the film had more momentum from that point.

    I agree though that they should have brought him in more directly earlier in the film though.
     
  8. BigAl6ft6

    BigAl6ft6 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Nov 12, 2012
    Crowe's Dr. Jekyll did feel the most randomly craven Cinematic Universe positioning (and not even trying to ape it all that originally, they basically just made SHIELD) and they didn't actually do much aside from drop exposition / clean up the mess / screw things up. But I got a kick outta his Mister Hyde. I thought Boutella was actually fantastic in the movie but the gal is just pretty darn compelling in anything so I shouldn't be surprised.

    This movie has way too much exposition by half for not much payoff. I mean, the extensive crusade knight opening bit is basically just there so they can have the mummy knights in the third act. for, like, five minutes then they literally disappear into nothing.
     
    Jedi Merkurian likes this.
  9. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I think that was meant more to setup the whole "London was built over a tomb" angle so there'd be plenty of undead hordes for her to summon0 not just the knights.

    They also needed to provide a place that would take time to search to find the stone for the knife.
     
    Jedi Merkurian likes this.
  10. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    So, in this new, updated, shared Universal Dark Universe, who fills in for Abbott & Costello?
     
  11. BigAl6ft6

    BigAl6ft6 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Nov 12, 2012
    Tom Cruise. Who I actually like in the movie because his character is kind of a dimwit and mostly Cruise is playing guys who have it all together but this dude is mostly kinda dopey. And he plays the reactions nice and big for yuks. Overall, I think acting is the least problems I had with the flick, save for Cruise's exposition girlfriend which got old after the first, perky scene but then kinda divebombs.

    actually, if they're going to go full bore on the Dark Universe, which I think could be a thing because the Universal Monsters Roster is deep and impressive, it could work. It just needs to be, uhm, better.

    As for the ending

    Notice there's been no mention of Dracula in this setup, no one is talking about Dracula Untold which seems like it is not a part of the series. But the very end when Tom, now superpowered, hollers to Girlfriend Exposition "Wake up!!" and notice his eyes are giant and he has fangs. I think they're setting up Cruise as the Dracula / vampire of the verse. Or *maybe* the Wolfman. But I'm thinking likely Cruise = Dracula. Which he sort of did in Interview with the Vampire but this character, as mentioned, is kind of dopey. But Cruise may end up being a big time roster player like Drac or Wolfman based upon his superpowered big eyes / big fangs stuff at the end
     
  12. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    I am thrilled that Universal has now extended their brilliant legacy of authentic sounding mummies: Imhotep/Ardeth Bey, Kharis, Ahmanet... and Nick...
     
  13. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    My God, that sounds unbearably stupid. I figured the movie would be bad, but that sounds like a whole other level of terrible.
     
    Healer_Leona likes this.
  14. BigAl6ft6

    BigAl6ft6 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Nov 12, 2012
    It's definitely not the movie's shining moment. Dug the plane crash and anything Boutella did. And apparently I'm the only person who liked Russell Crowe's mugging but I have a soft spot for him going real big and odd.
     
    Jedi Merkurian likes this.
  15. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I really liked his Hyde. His Jekyll wasn't bad, but the transition between the two could have been better (and I'm not talking about the effects).

    As for your theory, Al... you missed details

    They pretty blatantly showed the Vampire skull amongst the Prodigium lab leading to Jekyll's office. They even showed it again during the end credits.

    So, vampires already exist- you don't need to force Cruise's character into being Dracula. Especially given what chain of events were required to make Cruise into a monster. Because then where did the earlier vampire come from? It certainly isn't Set reincarnated, otherwise he couldn't enter Cruise's body.

    Also, they were pretty clearly setting him up to be an anti-hero of sorts and a likely ally to Prodigium. I cant see them doing that with Dracula from the outset with the DU- they're going to want Dracula to be a monster first.

    Additionally, even though they've aborted the Dracula Untold retcon option, even if they do expand his power set (like Untold's bat swarms), I don't see them giving Dracula the sand powers of an Egyptian god (let alone letting him adventure off into the sunny desert without bursting into flames).

    I think, in the end, it is just their attempt to introduce something new to the roster.
     
    Jedi Merkurian likes this.
  16. Jedi Master Scorpio

    Jedi Master Scorpio Star Wars Television star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Oct 24, 2015
    I actually enjoyed the movie to be quite honest. Sure it wasn't perfect by any means, but overall it was a good popcorn flick for me.
     
  17. Jedi Merkurian

    Jedi Merkurian Future Films Rumor Naysayer star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    May 25, 2000
    Didn't we already see this movie tho?
     
  18. BigAl6ft6

    BigAl6ft6 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Nov 12, 2012
    Well, Dark Universe may go forward but The Mummy is a money-bloodsucker. (Deadline once again labels it as a 195 mil pricetag PLUS 150 for promotion)

    http://deadline.com/2017/06/the-mummy-tom-cruise-box-office-bomb-loss-1202114482/

    After consulting a number of film finance sources, Universal’s Tom Cruise movie stands to lose an estimated $95M off of a final estimated global box office tally of $375M. That’s $75M at the domestic B.O., and $300M from overseas.
    This despite the fact that the movie was the biggest global opening ever for Cruise at $169.3M. However, relative to the production investment here, which we are informed is estimated at $345M in total production and global P&A spend (broken out $195M production cost and $150M distribution/ad expenses), those records — and even this weekend’s No. 1 overseas hold of $53M — are not enough to get Mummy over these hurdles.
     
  19. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Those June reports may have been a bit premature- the global tally is now at $384m, with Japan and others still to come (the previous Mummy trilogy each did between $20-30m in Japan alone). That may not be enough to get it into the black if the budget is what Deadline claims it is, but the loss could end up being half what they were predicting at that point.

    And, of course, the way they have it broken down makes it difficult to make a traditional multiplier comparison. However, if the BOM figure of $125m remains accurate, then the film is well into the black based on a 3x multiplier measure.
     
  20. Darth Punk

    Darth Punk JCC Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2013
    it felt like whatever deep poo they were in, cruise would come up smelling of roses

    which I put down to some residual scientology
     
    BigAl6ft6 likes this.
  21. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    BigAl6ft6 likes this.
  22. Jordan1Kenobi

    Jordan1Kenobi SWC Jedi Draft Champion star 6 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    The Mummy was good, but nothing more. It was nowhere near as good as Brendan Fraser's first two, which were so much fun and the characters were all fantastic. That was the biggest problem in this one, it just wasn't fun. It's fine that they didn't want to do exactly what the originals did, and I liked the dark feel they gave it, but it just wasn't the same. The first 20 minutes had me very hopeful as it felt like a proper Mummy film, but then it just took a completely different turn. That being said I'm pretty excited to see where this universe goes next.
     
  23. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    So it has been confirmed that Universal is delaying production on Bride of Frankenstein so that script rewrites won't be forced to hit a release date (which it won't be hitting now).

    Additionally, rumor is that which Bardem and Jolie are still on board, they're not committing until they see the revised script. Should Jolie fall through due to conflicts with Maleficent 2, supposedly Gal Gadot is being looked at as a back up.
     
  24. Diggy

    Diggy Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2013
    Wait. You think the Brendan Fraser Mummy films were the originals?
     
    Jedi Merkurian likes this.
  25. Jordan1Kenobi

    Jordan1Kenobi SWC Jedi Draft Champion star 6 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    I'm young, alright! :p