The Mummy Returns
| by Jeffrey Westhoff,
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
An old-fashioned adventure yarn accelerated for a video-game era, an
H. Rider Haggard novel rocketing by at 150 MPH. |
The Mummy Returns
by Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) An old-fashioned adventure yarn accelerated for a video-game era, an H. Rider Haggard novel rocketing by at 150 MPH.
"The Mummy Returns" is a "more of the same" sequel, and that's just fine. Stephen Sommers' 1999 hit, "The Mummy," genuinely left you wanting more of the same.
Like its predecessor "The Mummy Returns" is an old-fashioned adventure yarn accelerated for a video-game era, an H. Rider Haggard novel rocketing by at 150 MPH.
"The Mummy Returns" may be the fastest story since "Run Lola Run," not giving the audience a chance to catch its breath until well into the second act.
Within that time Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and former librarian Evie (Rachel Weisz) uncover another magical Egyptian artifact, a cult again raises evil mummy Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) and everyone is racing down the Nile toward another legendary site to prevent the end of the world.
As the mystical warrior priest Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr) puts it, "You have started a chain of events that could bring about the next apocalypse." Does he mean there's more than one?
The sequel takes place in 1933, nine years after the first film. Now married, Rick and Evie have become the Nick and Nora Charles of the pith helmet crowd. They have an 8-year-old son, Alex (Freddie Boath), who is a regular Jonny Quest, always inserting himself into Dad's adventures.
Alex is the one who puts on the bracelet of the Scorpion King, setting in motion that apocalyptic chain of events. The Scorpion King, we learn in the prologue, once led a mighty army in league with the Egyptian god Anubis and almost conquered the world until they all got sucked into the sand. Funny how those things fail to make the history books.
The Scorpion King is played by the wrestler The Rock, who appears in only the first five minutes. He gets more screen time in the commercials. The Scorpion King will star in his own spin-off film (now in production), though, so The Rock must have impressed everyone with the way he runs across the sand waving a sword above his head.
Imhotep's resurrected girlfriend, Anck-Su-Namen (Patricia Velasquez), resurrects Imhotep hoping he will defeat the resurrected Scorpion King and claim his army of the undead. Meanwhile, Evie discovers she is the resurrected daughter of the pharaoh whom Imhotep murdered in the first film. "The Mummy Returns" has a whole lot of resurrectin' going on.
"The Mummy Returns" is more of an ensemble piece than the first film. Fraser shares equal screen time (if not equal salaries) with Weisz, Fehr, Boath and John Hannah, who returns as Evie's cowardly but greedy brother, Jonathan. This shows a laudable lack of ego on Fraser's part, but the movie could have used a stronger lead, especially near the end as the characters get lost in the special effects.
Rick remains a great role for Fraser, though, and he hasn't lost his gift for droll delivery. Witnessing a group of red-robed priests chant Imhotep back into existence, he says, "A couple of years ago this would have seemed really weird to me."
Not since Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones years has a filmmaker displayed affection for and mastery of classic adventure elements. Sommers created not only "The Mummy" but a lively (if not exactly faithful to Kipling) version of "The Jungle Book." Sommers' vision is more childlike than Spielberg's, with his tongue pressed more deeply into his cheek. You can imagine his glee as he wrote the sequence in which Rick and friends are attacked by zombie pygmies.
The jokes become too self-conscious this time, though, as Sommers makes in-joke references to "The Wizard of Oz," "E.T." "Titanic" and - for trivia masters - "The Hunt for Red October."
"The Mummy Returns" is a special effects bonanza filled with digital imagery. CGI effects seldom appear as convincing as Hollywood believes, but hokiness actually helps this kind of adventure. Besides, most of the effects created by Neil Corbould's team are excellent. The only sore spots are a fake-looking hot-air balloon and a key effect near the end where one of the actor's heads is digitally re-created. The human face still defies CGI rendering, and in "The Mummy Returns" the effect elicits laughs where it wants gasps.
For the first hour sequel outstrips the original, with wittier dialogue and such kinetic action sequences as a double-decker bus chase through London. But the story loses its ferocious drive a few scenes too early, and in the final fight scene Sommers borrows flashy bits from "The Matrix" and "Gladiator" when straightforward camerawork would have greater impact.
Such sputtering near the end does little damage, though. "The Mummy Returns" is a sequel nearly as entertaining as its original. Of all the story's resurrections, nothing tops the way Sommers revives the notion that action movies can be bright and fun instead of dreary and angry.