The Mummy Review: 4 Ups & 7 Downs

3. Tom Cruise Is Thoroughly Wasted

Tom Cruise almost never gives a bad performance, and while you can't quite accuse him of phoning it in here, he's nevertheless at the mercy of a screenplay that gives him very little and begs to be propped up by his sheer charisma and star status.

To that end, Cruise does about as well with the material as any A-lister could, but the ultimate feeling remains, that his talents are squandered in a movie not remotely deserving of them.

As with last year's Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, it's tough to imagine why an actor of Cruise's stature would sign off on such a bare bones, charmless script (beyond the obvious financial incentive, of course).