2017’s The Mummy is a mess for a number of reasons. For starters, the supernatural action reboot was supposed to launch the Dark Universe, a interconnected Universal monster movie franchise akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But after the film’s abysmal box office performance, the Dark Universe immediately ended, putting to bed Russell Crowe’s Jekyll and Hyde, Johnny Depp’s Invisible Man, Javier Bardem’s Frankenstein’s Monster, and Angelina Jolie’s Bride of Frankenstein. The Mummy itself starred Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, and Sofia Boutella as the titular mummy. Directed by Alex Kurtzman, The Mummy sought to infuse the monster movie with Cruise’s signature action stunts from the Mission Impossible movies. However, just from the very first trailer, the film didn’t necessarily look like a modern update from what came before. The preview largely featured the film’s zero gravity sequence, which culminates in Tom Cruise screaming, almost hyperventilating, as an airplane crashes into the ground. While the cast and crew are to be commended for performing the stunt as real as possible, the sequence in the film itself isn’t as daring nor threatening as it is supposed to be.
The CGI Plane in ‘The Mummy’ Just Isn’t Convincing
While Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, and the rest of the filmmaking crew actually went up in a plane that simulated a zero gravity nosedive, the shots of the crashing plane in the movie are completely CGI. So while the real stunts are happening inside the cabin, the threat of a crash landing is undermined by the less convincing cuts to the plane’s exterior. Overall, the constant cutting back and forth between the real actors going through the struggle of getting a parachute and the plastic-looking CGI plane makes for an inconsistent sense of stakes. But crashing a real plane would be too much of a hassle, right?
What makes other blockbusters have a more genuine sense of scale and threat is the use of technically practical set pieces. For instance, when Tom Cruise performed the HALO jump in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, he was on an actual plane from which he jumped off alongside the crew who filmed the entire sequence. While there is some CGI involved, specifically the thunderstorm that takes place in the middle of Ethan Hunt’s free fall, the sequence doesn’t cut back and forth between the practical stunt and the CGI that accents the scene. There is a seamless continuity that blends both the real-life danger and the added visual effect.
Another example comes from yet another Cruise stunt in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, during which Cruise actually hung onto the side of a plane as it was lifting off the ground and into the air. The difference between these Mission Impossible stunts and the zero-gravity sequence in The Mummy is that the former engages the real-life environment for its sense of danger while the latter minimizes the stakes through a computer-generated environment. Yes, Cruise and Wallis’ real stunt work inside the plane is impressive, but without a more convincing scene of the plane nosediving, they might as well be in a bounce house or an indoor skydiving attraction.
‘The Mummy’s Zero-G Sequence Ultimately Felt Safe
The best action sequences are the ones that convince audiences about the imminent danger for both the actors and their characters. That has been the driving philosophy behind many of Tom Cruise’s stunts in the Mission Impossible films. However, combining those action movie stunts with the supernatural threat of a centuries-old mummy and her magic cruses just doesn’t capture the same effect, especially when the dependence on CGI effects outweighs the practical. For another example, there is something to be said about Christopher Nolan’s choice to recreate the Trinity test and other explosions in Oppenheimer without any CGI. Nolan told Collider, “I think computer graphics, they’re very versatile, they can do all kinds of things, but they tend to feel a bit safe.” While the zero-gravity stunt in The Mummy might have been dangerous in real life, the CGI plane and its crashing debris ultimately made it feel safe.