No Curse of the Sequel
Friday May 4, 2001
If you've been looking for a
film like "The Mummy Returns," "The Mummy Returns" is the film you've been
looking for.
A new and much improved version of 1999's "The Mummy," this sequel is a
shrewdly conceived and efficiently executed Saturday afternoon popcorn
movie. Both pleasantly old-fashioned and packed with up-to-date
computer-generated special effects, the film's constant plot turns, cheeky
sensibility and omnipresent action sequences have no trouble attracting our
attention and holding on.
Appropriate for a story that pivots on reincarnation, writer-director
Stephen Sommers has returned from "The Mummy," as have stars Brendan Fraser
and Rachel Weisz, four important co-stars and the original's key creative
personnel, including producers James Jacks and Sean Daniel, cinematographer
Adrian Biddle, production designer Allan Cameron and costume designer John
Bloomfield.
Experience, as ads used to say, is a great teacher, and "The Mummy
Returns" cast and crew benefited considerably from having that first film
under their belt. Increasingly assured across the board, this sequel
displays more action at a faster pace, which has the added benefit of less
screen time for borderline inane dialogue. There are even fewer (but still
some) of the yucky insect moments that have become one of the film's de
facto trademarks.
Perhaps most critically for a film that showcases everything from
murderous soldier mummies to bad-tempered Pygmy skeletons to an infinite
army of jackal-headed warriors was the decision to rehire Industrial Light &
Magic's masterful John Berton as visual effects supervisor. With press
reports putting the ILM price tag alone at $20 million, "The Mummy Returns"
is probably the most expensive Saturday matinee serial ever made, but the
decision not to cut corners in production value was definitely a wise one.
Also back but in a bit less sophomoric form is the film's
self-referential sense of humor. "The Mummy Returns" is slick enough to make
good use of both old-style lines that begin, "It is written . . ." and a
final exasperated comeback that asks, "Where is all this stuff written
anyway?"
Fraser, one of the few actors who can be convincing in both doofy and
intrepid modes, is ideal to play soldier of fortune Rick O'Connell in this
half-serious, half-jokey film set in Egypt and London in 1933.
Though no one looks a minute older, eight years have allegedly passed
since the previous adventure, and O'Connell and Egyptologist Evelyn (Weisz)
have taken that opportunity to marry and produce a young son named Alex
(Freddie Boath).
That change in marital status benefits both stars. It enables them to
demonstrate personal chemistry as a dashing Nick and Nora Charles-type
couple with a son instead of a dog and avoid completely the tiresome "I hate
you so much I must be in love" courtship ritual that dominated things the
last time around.
Sommers, who seems to have evolved into a real Egyptology buff, has
come up with a rather complex back story for "The Mummy Returns." It begins
in 3067 BC and not a year sooner and allows for a brief wordless cameo from
pro wrestling star the Rock as a fearless warrior named the Scorpion King.
Defeated in an attempt to take over Egypt, the King sells his soul to
Anubis, one of the gods of the Egyptian underworld, for enough jackal-headed
warriors to help him gain the victories he thirsts for. But far too soon all
those fighters turn into so many grains of sand, a magical army that, along
with their king, can be awakened every 5,000 years and take over the Earth.
Hoping to piggyback on that phenomenon is Meela, the reincarnation of
Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velasquez), the star-crossed lover of the terrifying
mummy Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), who caused so much trouble the last time
around. She hopes to bring Imhotep back from the dead one last time, for if
he can beat the Scorpion King two falls out of three, he can command the
King's warriors and conquer the world without so much as a by your leave.
Key to this elaborate plan turns out to be an impressive piece of gold
jewelry called the Bracelet of Anubis that gets uncovered by the intrepid
Evelyn, who has an uncanny sense of where things were in ancient times. Are
these visions, hallucinations, memories of a previous life, or a side effect
of being the only 1930s Egyptologist to run around the desert in low-cut
tops?
Trying to keep the bad guys from the bracelet are two veterans of "The
Mummy," John Hannah as Evelyn's rapscallion brother Jonathan and Oded Fehr
as Ardeth Bay, the leader of the Medjai, a benevolent desert brotherhood
that comes off like an armed and dangerous version of the Shriners.
In telling this story, writer-director Sommers has not neglected to
throw in a lot of old fashioned elements to make us feel at home, including
chests that really shouldn't be opened, birds that deliver messages and
scenes reminiscent of the Biblical pageantry of "The Ten Commandments."
That's not to mention floods, fires and enough action elements to allow for
cutting between four separate conflicts in the film's climactic section. It
may be, as one character puts it, "the old end-of-the-world ploy," but it's
fun to see it done with the energy "The Mummy Returns" brings to this
twice-told tale.
The Mummy Returns, 2001. PG-13, for adventure action and violence. An Alphaville production, released by Universal Pictures. Director Stephen Sommers. Producers James Jacks, Sean Daniel. Executive producers Bob Ducsay, Don Zepfel. Screenplay Stephen Sommers. Cinematographer Adrian Biddle. Editors Bob Ducsay, Kelly Matsumoto. Costumes John Bloomfield. Music Alan Silvestri. Production design Allan Cameron. Art director Anthony Reading, Giles Masters. Set decorator Peter Young. Running time: 2 hours, 9 minutes. Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell. Rachel Weisz as Evelyn. John Hannah as Jonathan. Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep. Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay. Patricia Velasquez as Anck-Su-Namun. Freddie Boath as Alex.
