As the audience already knows, this is the resting place of evil Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella), a murderer who was put to death for her crimes in the days of the pharaohs. The people who buried her had good reason to want her corpse far away from their native land. They also took elaborate measures to make sure she stayed put underground once they deposited her there.

All of which precautions Nick undoes in a trice, with just the sort of dire consequences you'd expect. Unleashed, Ahmanet puts a curse on Nick, and gains partial control of his mind as she schemes to recover possession of a ritual dagger, the use of which will enable her old ally Set, the Egyptian god of death, to become incarnate in Nick's body.

Behind all these diffuse details stands a sketchy but respectable good vs. evil theme. Rather unconvincingly, Jenny has by now fallen for Nick and will become the chief cheerleader for the triumph of his underlying decency and altruism.

Yet, as the eventual injection of Robert Louis Stevenson's character Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe) into the plot suggests, there's a growing note of desperation in these unwieldy proceedings. As the scene shifts across centuries and continents, the script fails to gain traction.

So, by the time they reach the blatant setup for a sequel which precedes the closing credits, moviegoers may be shaking their heads and muttering, "Tut-tut."

The film contains occult and nonscriptural religious ideas, much harsh violence with fleeting gore, numerous gruesome images, partial nudity, some sensuality, occasional sexual references and humor, a couple of mild oaths and crude words and several crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

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CAPSULE REVIEW

"The Mummy" (Universal)

Clumsy horror flick charts the dire consequences that follow when a shady soldier (Tom Cruise) and an archaeologist (Annabelle Wallis) unwittingly revive an evil Egyptian princess (Sofia Boutella) who was put to death for her crimes in the days of the pharaohs. Pagan mumbo-jumbo aside, there's not much to bother grown viewers in director Alex Kurtzman's film, which has a sketchy but respectable good-vs.-evil theme. Yet, as the eventual injection of Robert Louis Stevenson's character Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe) into the plot suggests, there's a growing note of desperation in the unwieldy proceedings as the scene shifts across centuries and continents, but the script fails to gain traction. Occult and nonscriptural religious ideas, much harsh violence with fleeting gore, numerous gruesome images, partial nudity, some sensuality, occasional sexual references and humor, a couple of mild oaths and crude words, several crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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CLASSIFICATION

"The Mummy" (Universal) -- Catholic News Service classification, A-III -- adults. Motion Picture Association of America rating, PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.