In 1999, Stephen Sommers wrote and directed the smash hit "The Mummy", starring Brendon Frazer, Rachel Weisz and Arnold Vosloo as the Mummy. I was a big fan of the first Mummy film, and thought the 2nd one simply lost the plot. The first film had everything one would want from a film of this type, humour, action, special effects, romance and a little terror. The film was a huge box office hit grossing well over $415 million, and lead to a sequel and a third film penned to be released some time next year. I am usually always a huge fan of these films, they have a lot of history plot, treasure and some gorgeous looking women, what more can you ask for.
The Plot:
The film starts of with a flashback into the Ancient Egyptian world. The year is 1290 BC; the high priest of Egypt Imhotep is having a secret affair with the Pharaohs mistress Anck-su-namun. The Pharaohs finds out about the affair and is murdered by Anck-su-namun, and consequently kills herself, while Imhotep escapes. Imhotep breaks into his lovers crypt and steals her body, taking it to Hamunaptra, (the city of the dead), where he hopes to resurrect her from the dead. However, the Pharaohs guards followed Imhotep, having captured everyone, Imhotep and his priest are mummified alive, and Imhotep himself is forced to endure the curse of Hom Dai. Knowing that this curse is very powerful, they bury Imhotep were he cannot be found.
The story then picks up around the 1930's, were Captain Rick O'Connell who fought with the French
foreign legion. Whilst fighting, he is cornered by a small army, fearing he is now going to die, the army mysteriously moves away, to Rick's surprise. It just so happens that Rick is standing over the burial sight of Imhotep. Rick is eventually sent to prison, when he is approached by a young British scholar Evelyn "Evie" Carnahan, who along with her brother want Rick to take them to the City of The Dead, to find the Book of the Dead. Of course when they get there, there is another group of hunters looking for the treasure. Can these hunters find the treasure, will the Curse of Imhotep awake and if so, what will happen to Egypt and the World.
The Characters:
Brendan Fraser as Richard "Rick" O'Connell: Rick is the all guns blazing action hero of the film. He is the one that first discovers the burial sight of Imhotep, and now is being asked to guide the lead female role and her brother to the sight. He's a typical American character, very funny, good looking, and all guns blazing.
Rachel Weisz as Evelyn Carnahan: Evelyn is the lead female role in the film, she's the educated British girl, and who needs Ricks help in searching for the book of the dead. Although she's an academic person, we always get a sense that her character is in sense quite stupid and blonde. And she develops a relationship with Rick, which is to her surprise since they are the complete opposites.
John Hannah as Jonathan Carnahan: Jonathan is Evelyn's brother and the third of the trio that make up the group. He's the sly one out of the bunch, he originally meet Rick before the prison scene, because he stole a key to the book of the dead. Jonathon is funny, dopy, yet very watchable because he makes the film more humours, when there's a climatic scene, or an action scene, his facial expression and quotes can simply make you laugh at the situation.
Arnold Vosloo as High Priest Imhotep: Imhotep is the high priest who is awaken by the arrival of the Trio. After Evelyn reads a passage from the book of the dead, he arise and causes hell on earth. Imhotep is one scary thing, at first he appears in Mummy form, however gradually he gets back his human body. His quest on earth is to cause a plague as his revenge, whilst also finding a way of being with his love.
My View:
I loved the Mummy; it had everything that you would want in a film. Many people may criticise the plot because it seemed dull, but the director was very clever, he wanted to emphasise history with action. They didn't make the historical content to confusing, because it would simply bore the viewers. Instead, with the historical context, they added special effects and lots of humour. When I first heard about this film, I expected it to be like the old school mummy films, but boy was I wrong. It was more of an Indianna Jones, type film. The mummies were very realistic, however you didn't no whether to scream or laugh at them, especially when looking at the characters faces when they encounter the mummies.
The film uses its action antics along with humour and I feel they mixed these two very well. There could be an intense action scene, with lots of fighting and climax, and all of a sudden, someone will say something funny and or stupid. The same could be said about gruesome scenes. For instance, the scene were the stones turn into spiders and enter the mans body, when he rips open his shirt and you see the creatures moving, you get slightly squeamish, but then the backdrop of having to look at his big hairy chest, just made me laugh.
For me the main characters in the film also made the film more enjoyable, each character having their own individuality, yet they also have the chemistry to work together very well. Its like they've made many movies together, and they can finish each others lines. Each brining there own to the plate, Rick as the action man, Evelyn as the women in distress and Jonathon as dimwit idiot. What I particularly liked about the film was trying to figure out whether I should be sympathetic of Imhotep or not. I mean sure he's woken up and eaten a few people and is looking for revenge, but wouldn't you be slightly pissed of if you were buried alive in the cruellest way for loving someone. His love for the women is evident throughout the film, and almost reminds you that he does have certain human emotions attached to him.
Special Effects:
Like most Hollywood blockbusters, special effects and the use of CGI is always needed in these types of adventure films. I thought this film was good with using its CGI. The ancient Egypt settings and flashback it created seemed very real and believable. The Mummy animation was also very effective and having watched it in the cinema, made it seem even more realistic.
All round this is a great action film, and has something for everyone, I give it 4/5 stars.
Basic Information ----------------------- The Mummy 1999 Director: Stephen Sommers Running time: approx. 124 minutes
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I don't know how anyone could describe the plot of this movie as dull; there's never a moment of let-up in the action! Lexy
Amy69 09.05.2008 19:52
Great review. I love this film, though I havent seen it in quite a while! xx
ChemicalRomance 09.05.2008 15:06
Really good review..! I like the first film better i have to agree, but they are making another fil apprently.. not so sure it will match up to this films quality. xXx
Advantages: brilliant acting, great special effects, tonnes of special features, cheap Disadvantages: feels as if special effects are prioty over acting, storyline wasn't as good
very helpful by (100%):
