The Mummy Review
by Ram Samudrala (ram DOT samudrala AT stanford DOT edu)June 4th, 1999
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The Mummy
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/mummy.html
/The Mummy/ is a special-effects extravaganza with a plot that is simply fodder to showcase the effects.
The year is 1923. Rick O'Connell (Brendan Frasier), a French foreign legionnaire, stumbles on the lost city of Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, believed to contain great treasures that were buried along with the dead. But it also contains the mummy of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), an Egyptian High Priest, who was mummified alive almost 3000 years ago with flesh-eating beetles as punishment for sleeping with the Pharoah's wife and killing the Pharoah.
Three years after his initial discovery, Rick runs into some trouble with the locals. On the verge of being hanged, he is saved by Evelyn Carnarvon (Rachel Weisz), a librarian with an interest in Egyptology, in exchange for taking her to Hamunaptra. Needless to say, the two of them, and Evelyn's treasure seeking brother Jonathan (John Hannah) unleash Imhotep's Mummified persona who brings forth ten proverbial plagues upon Egypt, including but not limited to locusts, flesh-eating beetles, zombies chanting "Imhotep" (which makes for the best one-liner in the film), balls of fire from the sky, and more. O'Connell and his friends attempt to stop the Mummy before the world is destroyed.
Discussing the acting would be pointless, though I will mention that Director Stephen Sommers pays way too much attention to the human beings. For an action film like this, it's better to stick with an un-complicated plot, use the characters as filler, and focus on the special effects. Speaking of which, a lot of special effects in movies to me is more about concept than about the actual wizardry involved. The Mummy's use of special effects is fairly clever and generally effective. There are some pretty good action scenes here, including the collapsing sand which outlines a face, the sandstorm pursuing and dwarfing an escaping tiny airplane with O'Connell, and of course, the ten plagues.
/The Mummy/ is a silly no-brainer, and is worth checking out on the big screen for the matinee fare.
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