TheMummy1999

The Mummy (1999)

Two competing groups of treasure hunters accidentally bring the mummy of a cursed priest back to life in this remake of the classic Universal monster movie. The two groups race to an ancient Egyptian city of the dead; all the while battling with the ancient brotherhood that has sworn to protect it and the world from the terrible evil it hides. In the days of the Pharaohs a powerful priest fell in love with the wrong woman. This love leads to the death of the Pharaoh and the cursing of the priest and his followers. But the treasure hunters make it to the city and awaken the mummy. The mummy returns to life with a terrible desire for vengeance and destruction that will plunge the world into chaos. But before he can get to that business he must first fulfill the curse and regenerate himself at the expense of those that opened his tomb. After doing away with the foolish American treasure hunters that disturbed his tomb he then makes off with Evelyn, which sends her brother and their guide Rick off in pursuit. It is a race back to the city to save Evelyn and stop the mummy from gaining his full power and laying waste to the world.

For some reason there is a lot of hate thrown towards this movie by horror fans. I just don’t understand why that is. I’ve always found this to be a solid movie with an entertaining story. The movie is paced well and never slows down or gets boring. This is more of an action adventure movie and is pretty light on the horror elements. Though there are a few scares mixed in with the action and comedy. The movie is also filled with excellent one-liners that is a must for this sort of fun “popcorn” flick. The cast is solid with Oscar winner Rachel Weisz cast in the role of Evelyn and Brendan Frasier surprisingly good as adventurer/guide Rick. These two have great chemistry on screen and are the engine on which the rest of the movie runs. That said the supporting cast is wonderful as well with Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep), John Hannah (Jonathon), and Oded Fehr (Ardeth) as doing a bang up job. I thought that Vosloo was especially good in the role as the villain. Without a great villain these movies just don’t work.

Technically this is a solid film. Much of it was shot on location, which goes a long way towards making the movie look like it should. Some things just can’t be recreated on a soundstage or with CGI. Speaking of CGI the movie does make use of it, but does it well. Especially considering that the film is nearly ten years old which is forever when it comes to technology. There are a few rough effects shots, but these are more than made up for by some of the better effects, like the scarabs. They are all CGI but still creepy, nasty little buggers that will have your skin crawling.

Bottom line is that the Mummy isn’t a scary movie, but it is a fun one. This film can be had with both the direct sequel The Mummy Returns (another good one) and the movie it “inspired” The Scorpion King (okay film) in the recently released Mummy franchise collection for less than $15. This is worth every penny. I highly recommend The Mummy to everyone.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer