The Mummy Review
by "R. L. Strong" (areles AT geocites DOT com)July 28th, 1999
UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS AN ALPHAVILLE PRODUCTION
OF A STEPHEN SOMMERS FILM
BRENDAN FRASER "THE MUMMY"
RACHEL WEISZ JOHN HANNAH ARNOLD VOSLOO JONATHAN HYDE KEVIN J. O'CONNOR SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS AND ANIMATION BY INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC MUSIC BY JERRY GOLDSMITH
CO-PRODUCER PATRICIA CARR
FILM EDITOR BOB DUCSAY
PRODUCTION DESIGNER ALLAN CAMERON
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY ADRIAN BIDDLE B.S.C.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER KEVIN JARRE
PRODUCED BY JAMES JACKS & SEAN DANIEL
SCREEN STORY BY STEPHEN SOMMERS AND LLOYD FONVIELLE & KEVIN JARRE SCREENPLAY BY STEPHEN SOMMERS
DIRECTED BY STEPHEN SOMMERS
Universal Pictures, once was the bastion of the Horror genre. Such venerable American icons as the Frankenstein Monster, Count Dracula, Lawrence Talbot, the Wolfman, and in the 50's, The Creature; have scared and endeared themselves to the movie going public. One of Universal Pictures most maligned creations, Karis, the Mummy; was relegated to the moderate level of 'B' picture. Having no other purpose that to come back to life to aid a conniving Egyptian Priest in his attempt to preserve their riches. All this while Karis himself tried vainly to recapture the reincarnated Princess Annunka. While these films were enjoyable programmers, they were never considered classics and rightly so. The only film to gather any notoriety was the original 1932 version of "The Mummy" which stared the venerable Boris Karloff in the role of the dreaded Imhotep. In this new appraisal of the classic tale, Director Stephen Sommers has created a sometimes amusing, but mostly barren piece of fluff.
In a nicely constructed prologue, we witness the murder of the Pharaoh by his Mistress, Anck-Su-Namun and her lover, the high Priest Imhotep. Imhotep's lover sacrifices herself so that the Priest can escape and through his magic, return her spirit to her
body. Unfortunately, the Pharaoh's guard interrupt the proceeding and mummify the Priest in a dreaded procedure that has Imhotep buried alive in a sarcophagus full of flesh eating beetles.
Flash forward to the 1920's. Rick O'Connell (Brendan Frazer) is fighting off an army of unidentified Arabian fighters. As the army decimates his men, O'Connell outruns the hordes until a huge statue corners him. His pursuers suddenly turn and run away. O'Connell turns and sees that he is standing beneath the statue of Anubis, the resting place of Imhotep. The sands move and erupt, taking on the appearance of the dreaded Priest, threatening to swallow O'Connell. He escapes and wanders the desert. Finally captured and placed in a Moroccan jail, he waits for his execution.
To his rescue, comes Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah), who discover that O'Connell may know the location of the fabled city of the dead, Hamunaptra. The expedition
begins. O'Connell and Evelyn develop an uneasy romantic relationship, as they uncover Imhotep's tomb. Unfortunately, another troupe of treasure hunters led by actor Jonathan Hyde, follows them. Finding the tomb, Imhotep is released from his slumber and proceeds to murder those who opened his crypt, taking their organs for his own
use. Imhotep soon kidnaps Evelyn to use as a sacrifice to the old Egyptian gods, in preparation to brining his beloved Anck-Su-Namun back to live.
The plot, as described above is pretty much, all there is to the film. There are several other developments and sequences that deserve attention, but they are of fleeting entertainment value. Suffice to say that, there are moments of good fun in this film, but not enough to warrant the 124 minute running time. At this length, the film seems overly long. The script is wont with contrivances and plot holes. Once Imhotep starts to wander about Egypt, the special effects take center stage. While there are some very good visuals in the film, I had the strange feeling that I was actually watching an old Charles Schneer production. Scenes of the computer generated mummy, it's skeleton visible through sections of it's anatomy (imagine the Aurora model kit of Grey's Anatomy, with some gauze raped around it and you'll get the picture). Unfortunately, I kept being reminded of Ray Harryhausen's Dynamation effects, rather than any sort of dread that these scenes may have had. While the effects are quiet enjoyable and stunning, they don't have that fission , that 'oh my gosh!' quality that drives this kind of picture.
The performances are nothing special in the film. Brendan Fraser does an okay job of filling in the matinee idol part. He fills the 'Indian Jones' role quite well in fact. Mr. Fraser is one of those rare actors that seems to enjoy the absurdity of the project he is involved in. A refreshingly joyous quality. However, his climatic fight with horde of mummified warriors introduces lots of Hong Kong Wu-Shu type martial arts, which are completely incongruous with his character and the setting. I don't think most westerners had the opportunity to study under the Shaolin monks at that time in history. But, this is a fantasy, so it's forgivable to an extent.
Rachel Weisz brings to her character of Evelyn a nice dry wit. Her comic timing is very refreshing. Moreover in a film being marketed as a horror / adventure, the character should be a least a little frightened. John Hannah as Evelyn's brother, Jonathan is completely wasted. His character does nothing but whine and comment on the proceedings, only occasionally getting involved in the action. One of the most interesting and ultimately most frustrating casting notes in the film is the inclusion of Bernard Fox as the aging and slightly mad Corporal Wilson. The character brings a welcome bit of comic relief to the film that is not derived from the constant one-liners and slapstick situations that abound in the film. Unfortunately, the character is used solely as a device in which to get the characters to their destination after which, he is conveniently killed off.
Kevin O'Connor is creepily amusing in his part of the cowardly, Beni. His confrontation with Imhotep, wherein he tries to protect himself from the approaching monster by holding up several holy artifacts he wares around his neck. When he finally holds up the Star of David, Imhotep recognizes the symbol as belonging to the Slaves of his time, and takes the former guide as his accomplice promising him untold riches. Unfortunately, Mr. O'Connor is afforded much too much screen time, and consequently, the character becomes less and less threatening, finally ending as a buffoon.
Arnold Vosloo is actually quiet good in the role of the re-constituted Priest Imhotep. Having appeared opposite Lance Henrickson in John Woo's "Hard Target" and the two 'Darkman' sequels, Vosloo carries with him an appropriate air of menace and stature that are a welcome benefit to the film. Vosloo is a natural screen villain. His charisma is that good.
The script for "The Mummy" is comic book from start to finish. While there is nothing wrong with that, what the script lacks is a sense of dread that any horror film needs to have. All the adventure and action in the world has no value without a sense of danger. Since none of the characters express any sense of jeopardy, it is hard to feel involved in the proceedings. While the film is enjoyably kinetic, it would have benefited from a little more suspense and less visual buffoonery.
Also, there are the dreaded instances of contrivance throughout the film. The inclusion of the flesh eating beetles as part of the mummification process in the prologue of the film is a nice and creepy touch. Yet having the pests remain alive after 3000 years of starvation (not much to chow on in a sealed crypt), is a bit of a stretch. Furthermore, these beetles continue to crawl all over Imhotep after he starts to replace his organs, the bugs crawling in and out of his flesh. Why these bugs just don't eat the darn guy up again is something that I cannot explain. A quick thanks should also go to the prop managers who managed to leave a convenient assortment of camels at the tomb for our heroes to escape on when the entire city of the dead collapses in on itself.
As it stands, "THE MUMMY" is a fun time waster. There is nothing in the film that will linger after you've left the theater. And the possibility of a franchise is moot at best. It should be mentioned that there are scenes of a grotesque nature in the film that may not be acceptable for younger viewers. The PG-13 rating is an accurate one.
Copyright © 1999 R. L. Strong Nothing in this article may be reproduced or altered in any way without the expressed written permission of the author..
--
To Reply.. Remove the "who" from the e-mail address.
Visit the Dungeon:
The Dungeonmaster's Cornucopia of Film
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
