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Story

In The Mummy, Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) and his buddy Vale (Jake Johnson) are US soldiers who moonlight as treasure hunters. They come under fire in Iraq and, with unintentional military help, find the prison tomb of the evil Egyptian Princess Ahmanet (Sophia Boutella).

The Princess has been erased from history and hidden beneath the sands of Mesopotamia in the hope that she’ll never again be able to unleash her horror on humanity. With the help of English archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis), Nick and Vale try to take the Princess’s sarcophagus (stone coffin) to England. This unleashes a series of terrifying events.

Nick awakens in the London morgue to find that he is Ahmanet’s chosen one. She’s determined to use his body as the temple through which the god of the dead can take human form. Nick and Jenny, with the help of Dr Jekyll (Russell Crowe), try to find a way to break the curse and stop Ahmanet before she destroys the world. At the same time, they must battle Ahmanet’s ever-increasing army of the undead.

Themes

Death; resurrection; unnatural phenomena; the thirst for power; immortality

Violence

The Mummy has a lot of violence. For example:

  • Ahmanet slices her arm open with a dagger and uses her own blood for a ritual.
  • Ahmanet slices the throats of her father, his wife and their baby son. Blood sprays across the room.
  • Ahmanet is about to stab a man to death with a dagger when guards grab her.
  • Ahmanet is mummified alive.
  • A group of insurgents stab Nick and Vale. They return fire but are convinced they’ll die. A US air attack on the village saves them.
  • In a vision Nick sees Ahmanet about to stab him.
  • Vale stabs an army captain in the chest twice.
  • Nick shoots Vale three times as Vale tries to stab them all.
  • Ahmanet puts her mummified finger through a man’s eye and into his brain.
  • Ahmanet attacks anyone she can and sucks the life out of their faces. This leaves her victims looking like undead mummies, while she slowly takes human form. This happens often throughout the movie.
  • While trying to flee from an undead creature Nick is attacked by hundreds of huge rats.
  • There are many fight scenes in which Nick fights off the undead. He steps on a head and its skull explodes. He also puts his legs and hands through the undead and rips them apart or bashes them with bricks or anything that’s handy.
  • Nick stabs Ahmanet and hits her with a candlestick.
  • Dr Jekyll’s team subdue Ahmanet with darts and hooks shot into her body. Nick is also shot with a dart.
  • Ahmanet is being mummified with mercury in her veins. She screams about how it burns until Nick begs Dr Jekyll to stop.
  • Dr Jekyll tries to break Nick’s ribs, and Nick knocks his tooth out.
  • Jenny must fight off one of Dr Jekyll’s guards. They wrestle, knock things over and slam into glass.
  • Ahmanet throws Nick into the air. He slams against a wall and later a crypt. She slams into him, and there’s a horrible crack. Nick screams as if his bones are being broken by the blows.
  • Nick stabs himself in the chest with a ritual knife.
  • Nick and Ahmanet attack each other, then Nick sucks the life out of Ahmanet and she returns to mummy form.

Sexual references

The Mummy has some sexual references. For example:

  • Vale is told to ‘Get a “ho”’.
  • Jenny tells a colonel that she and Nick slept together and that it only lasted 15 seconds. Nick brings this up on a couple of occasions.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

The Mummy shows some use of substances. For example:

  • Nick and Jenny are in a bar, and Nick is drinking heavily.
  • Dr Jekyll offers Nick a drink, and Nick downs it in one gulp.
  • Dr Jekyll injects himself with a serum that helps prevent him from turning evil.

Product placement

There is no product placement in The Mummy.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in The Mummy.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The main messages from this movie are that there is good in (almost) everyone, that love is stronger than hate and that, ultimately, good will conquer evil.

But the sustained suspense and violence in The Mummy, combined with its supernatural themes involving death, resurrection and unnatural phenomena, make this movie unsuitable for children under 15 years. If children over 15 years watch this movie, we recommend parental guidance for them.

Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include loyalty, selflessness, honesty and courage.

This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the importance of respect for ancient customs and cultures of the past.

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Raising Children Network is supported by the Australian Government. Member organisations are the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for Community Child Health.

Member Organisations

  • Parenting Research Centre
  • The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne
  • Murdoch Children's Research Institute

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