The worst thing about the MCU is that it was such a success, every single movie studio and their nan tried to make their own interconnected cinematic universes. And even Tom Cruise couldn’t resist this allure as he attempted to kickstart what was known as the ‘Dark Universe’ in 2017.
Tom Cruise took one of the 90s’ best movies — The Mummy — and stripped away every single good thing about it. The result was a soulless shell of a film, which, to be honest, was probably best kept buried in a tomb. The adventure movie was so bad, in fact, I like to think that it forced OG The Mummy star Brendan Fraser out of retirement.
But if we’re being fair, we can’t blame Tom Cruise alone for the existence of this newly-fledged Netflix movie. Its screenplay, which Mission Impossible‘s Christopher McQuarrie contributed to among others, was especially weak with a confusing premise. Cruise played Nick Morton, a soldier of fortune who ends up accidentally ‘waking up’ Ahmanet, an Egyptian princess.
Bizarrely, Ahmanet is able to possess other humans through spider bites, and pretty much every character in the movie dies multiple times before becoming reanimated in an increasingly senseless chain of events.
If nothing else, Tom Cruise movies are meant to be a spectacle. But The Mummy ends up being a spectacle for all the wrong reasons, and is arguably a career low for Cruise. In fact, The Mummy is one of Cruise’s worst-rated films ever, with a measly 15% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In the years since The Mummy, Cruise has definitely redeemed himself with films like Top Gun: Maverick. But if you want a laugh, this unintentional comedy movie is available now on Netflix.
For more on Tom Cruise, check out our guide to Top Gun cast, our Top Gun Maverick review, our Mission Impossible 7 review, and our guide to his new movie Mission Impossible 8. Or, make the most of the streaming service with our guides to Netflix secret codes and everything new on Netflix.