On a certain level, all major movie stars play themselves in every role - it is this outsized familiarity that makes them stars to begin with.
But Tom Cruise, arguably the world's biggest movie star, takes this phenemenon to new extremes in The Mummy. His character, Nick Morton, lacks any distinguishing characteristics whatsoever, aside from the fact that he's being portrayed by Tom Cruise and his associated mannerisms. They should've called this Tom Cruise Meets The Mummy.
Somehow both a career military man and a stolen antiquities dealer, Morton sets the film's plot in motion when he uncovers an ancient tomb in modern Iraq. This brings a curse down upon him and sets free a vengeful Egyptian princess, who proceeds to rampage through London.
Fatally torn between being a bombastic action movie and servicing the horror needs implied by its title character, The Mummy is a tonally inconsistent mess. The action is big, but impactless. The filmmakers here appear to be highly enamoured by the cinemtic power of windows being blown out - there's a lot of flying glass in this movie, and for no good reason.
The horror elements are never even remotely scary. The exact peril is never quite apparent. An army of the dead that is played both for laughs and scares - neither works.
