Rating: 

The Info

Directed by: Stephen Sommers
Written by: Stephen Sommers
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J. O'Connor
Produced by: Sean Daniel, James Jacks

The Nutshell

A group of explorers accidentally awaken a 3,000-year old mummy who proceeds to wreak havoc on them.

The Review

    Indiana Jones and The Raiders of The Lost Ark (or substitute either of the other two films from the series). You've most likely seen it. If you are like the vast majority of film lovers, you remember it as a fun adventure film full of snake pits and bobby traps. It's hero, Indy, was dashing, debonair, and sarcastic; a wonderful combination, not unlike James Bond's superspy. Indy always took on adventures for what he felt were the right reasons; while he maybe preferred to leave the Ark Of The Covenant where it was, he chose to find it simply to ensure that it would be kept safe in a museum, out of evil's hands. These films, and this hero have had no counterpart in film. Until now.

    The Mummy is writer/director Stephen Sommers' first hit. It has all of the qualities of the Indiana Jones films, with perhaps a bit more cheese (where Indiana Jones beat a sword-wielding by shooting him and smirking, Rick O'Connell frightens a mummy with a cat). You've got the treasure, the alluring but feisty leading lady, the goofball Englishman who tags along, and a secret sect of religious fanatics who have guarded the treasure for thousands of years. The bad guy? Well, there perhaps is the major departure from Indiana. Instead of a group of greedy Nazis, O'Connell is up against a ancient, long-incarcerated Mummy, longing for escape and a regaining of power.

   The film starts 3,000 years ago as Imhotep, a high priest, is caught kissing the Pharaoh's lover, Anck-Su-Namun. Su-Namun kills herself, knowing that Imhotep has the power to resurrect her. Unfortunately for her, during a secret resurrection procedure, Imhotep is captured and buried alive in a casket filled with flesh-eating roaches, the worst punishment known to man at the time. We jump to the 1920s, where Rick O'Connell (Fraser) finds himself defending the long-barren City of the Dead, along with a group of armed Arabs, against a rival group. He survives the battle and leaves the City. Three years later Evelyn, an artefact expert, and her brother Johnathan find O'Connell and hire him to take them to the City, to search for treasure and the Book of the Dead. Along the way they meet up with a rival group of American treasure hunters heading the same way, being guided by O'Connell's former assistant Beni. Once in the City, they predictably unearth the Mummy, find the book, and bring the Mummy back to non-life. He quickly starts enslaving Egypt, calls down various plagues, tries to kill O'Connell and company, and takes Evelyn hostage to use as a human host for the 3,000 year old soul of Anck-Su-Namun, whom he will finally resurrect. Oh, and on the side he regenerates a normal looking body using the flesh of victims.

    The action is fast and furious in places and surprisingly slow and steady in others, but the overall pace of The Mummy is summer-blockbuster quick. Lots of gunfights, fistfights and horse racing combine to give the expected level of testosterone build-up to the audience and there is enough humour and wisecracks to appease any Indiana Jones fan. The plot has many plausibility problems, but this film was made to provide simple entertainment to its audience. No one seeing The Mummy should be expecting an awe-inspiring screenplay. If some people do, they obviously mistook this film for a serious one. For the rest of you, go see The Mummy knowing that it is absurd, giddy fun, and that Brendan Fraser is a wonderful replacement for the ageing Harrison Ford.

Copyright - Tim Chandler

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