Customer Reviews

The Mummy Returns (Widescreen)

5 star:		(145)
4 star:		(109)
3 star:		(64)
2 star:		(46)
1 star:		(75)

 

 

...this could have been much better. Three years after the fact, I know many of us are in agreement that this sequel did not live up to the original, so instead of just bashing it, I thought I'd do a take on what NOT to do with a sequel:

1.) Do not sacrifice plot for action. After so many sequels that bombed because of this, the producers still fell for it anyway. Do you know what made "The Mummy" so awesome? The lure of all the ancient Egyptian lore and myth, which, when interspersed with action, brought the entire movie alive. We don't need more brawls and swordfights and self-consuming cities--we need more of the MAGIC.

2.) Don't reference the original more than twice. It's not as if we don't remember the books and the plagues and the happy romance. If anything, constant reflections insult us as an audience. It's another bad trap that sequel-makers fall into, and again, it happened here too.

3.) Don't wreck the memory of a beloved setting. Hamunaptra was chock-full of all that we as Americans want from ancient Egypt: vast treasures, sarcophogi, curses, booby traps, juicy mummies. And what did we see of it in the second film? Sand, teeming with people who couldn't even find it eight years before. Huge electric lights illuminating what once could only be seen by torchlight. Trucks, instead of camels! And some really strangely reincarnated Anck-su-namun. The moviemakers effectively ruined the magic of Hamunaptra, and they didn't have to. Shame!

4.) Never, ever, ever pull a stunt like a CGI Rock again. Could they not afford to pay him for the final scenes? Just imagine the heroic fight between Rick, Imhotep, and the Scorpion King--only all three are in the flesh! People would have been cheering in the theatre watching the Rock fight with Brendan Fraser and Arnold Vosloo. But noooo...let's pull CGI out of our butts for the eighty millionth time. Shame shame!

5.) Don't ruin the best moments of the film by shortening them. Were we too busy playing around with CGI Rock to choreograph a great fight scene between Anck and Evie? I think we might have been. I understand that having Anck shy away from fighting helped set up her not being brave enough in the end for other things, but even just extending the fight a little longer would have helped. Anck could have given her best in an extended fight but still lost, and then we could have watched her bravado melt away and become her undoing.

All that being said, there are some bright spots. The mummy himself, for one. And the character of Jonathan was as lively and funny as ever, thank goodness; Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr) was even more campily serious and apocolyptic, and that was fun, too. Enough can't be said for Brendan Frasier, who IS the action hero of the the new millenium--handsome, funny, totally self-aware, and he puts his heart into everything completely.

I hope they make a third "Mummy." There's a lot left of ancient Egypt to explore, especially since in the time period of the movies not everything had been discovered yet. I think all the main characters would have to return, and that the plot with the most potential still remains that between Imhotep and Anck-su-namun. With all the money they have in Hollywood, the producers should be able to hire a team talented enough to write a movie as magical as the first.

if it's possible,this sequel to "The Mummy" is even better than the
original.it's just as fun and exciting,but i liked the story better.i
really liked the way the filmmakers developed the characters and gave
them more to do.i also liked the direction the story took.the humour is
still there,and Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz return in their
original roles.they are a great screen couple.John Hannah also returns
in his role as Evie's(Weisz) Brother.the visual effects are just as
good,maybe better.the bad guys are more dangerous than in the first
outing.again,realism is not of the utmost importance in this movie,nor
should it be.if it were,this would be one boring picture.for me,"The
Mummy Returns" is a strong 4.5/5

Such trash the movie studios insult us with. The Cringometer peaked over the red line from the opener and climaxed with some of the worst CG ever. The Rock- more like The Crock! Possibly the worst film in any aspect ratio, preferable on NO SCREEN. Had hoped that Stephen Sommers would be sent into exile for this sub-par Jules Verne abortion, but we've just seen Van Helsing and don't understand why he hasn't suicided.

The second adventure of this series is set eight years after the first. This time the affects are better and we get to see more of supermodel, Patricia Velasquez, wearing only gold paint as well as toting a machine gun. The most popular scene in the movie is the chic fight between Velasquez and Weiss, no doubt the pause and shuttle buttons will get a work out...

As usuall Brendan Frazer is at his silly best with his now on screen wife, Rachael Wiess a still overly beautiful adventurist. This time they have an equally inqusitive son who simple can't leave things alone...

The mummy is back! So is the original cast from the first hit movie! Many movies have terrible sequels, but that does not apply to this movie!

Summary: Years after Imhotep has been destroyed, Evy and Rick have settled down, married, and had a son, Alex. However, the whole family still loves to go to digs. After coming back from a succsesful trip, where they found a bracklet that was supposed to be just a legend, Alex accidently locks the find onto his wrist and is shown the way to a mythical oasis. A strange group, led by a woman who knows where Imhotep lays, digs up the high priest and kidnaps the young O'Connell. Now Evy, Rick, and their old friends must race against time to rescue Alex before Imhotep uses the braclet to unlock an acnient army.

Sill just as funny as the first:

Evy: No harm ever came from opening a chest
Rick: Yeah, no harm ever came from reading a book either. Remember how that one went?

Rick: Where the hell is Jonathon?
(Jonathon drives up in a 2-story bus)
Rick: What's the matter with my car?
Jonathan: I was forced to choose another means of transportation.
Rick: A double-decker bus!
Jonathan: It was his idea! (points to Alex)
Alex: Was not!
Jonathan: Was too!
Alex: Was not!
Jonathan: Was too!
Rick: Just go!

Still not as good as the first, but I loved the flashback scenes. The ending will surprise you very much! Enjoy!

I confess that I love (and own) "The Mummy." While it is an action movie, I enjoyed the setting and the story, and having Brendan Fraser as the main star doesn't hurt. That being said, I really wanted to like the sequel, and found it painful.

Rick and Evie have married and have somehow become nauseating. I found myself actually cheering for the bad guys when they were trying to kill Evie. The shy librarian yearning for adventure was completely gone--perhaps he actually married her twin sister.

The plot had numerous flaws, which only a serious action-flick lover could overlook. First, if the mummy was defeated in the first movie by being made into a mortal, how was he able to be brought back as the same creature? How was Rick raised in an orphanage in Egypt but is an American complete with accent? If Evie was the reincarnation of an Egyptian princess, why didn't she have the same visions in the first movie?

If you can suspend belief & watch for special effects, you will probably enjoy this movie. If you are like me and cannot overlook plot gaps & impossibilities, you will probably be disappointed.

THIS MOVIE IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD! ALMOST AS GOOD AS THE FIRST!
THE WHOLE PLOT IS STILL REALLY GOOD, SO I HIGHLY RECOMEND IT!

The Mummy (1999) was perhaps the greatest achievement in the Adventure-genre since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), while the sequel suffers quite a lot from the fact, that it was obviously rushed for commercial reasons. It's a great rough draft though and a few sequences are quite brilliant, including the fighting off the warrior-mummies in the London-doubledecker-bus turned singledecker. It's great fun, but nothing at all like the first one.

The Amazon.com Editorial is correct. The special effects and grandeur of the film leave little time for character development. While the film is visually amazing to watch, I felt betrayed that the beloved characters of the first film where given so little time to show us even more about them and their personalities. Its fast-paced, but when you think it should slow down and show us a little more about the characters and their interactions, we are off again to the next segment.

The fight scene between Nefertieri and Anuck-su-namem as seen in a flashback by their modern day selves is awesome. That whole scene helps bring the plot line together, but it comes too late and is too short. We are still left with questions.

All in all, the performances are fair when compared to the previous film. Rachel Weisz is amazing, but doesnt deliver the same energetic performance as in the original, save for a few scenes. Brendan Fraser is also toned down a bit too much in this follow up. Maybe it was on purpose to show the passage of time and age, but I think the spark of the original dimmed a bit.

. . . . . . .it's so watchable. THE MUMMY RETURNS is like this for many reasons, almost none of which have to do with the actual quality of the movie itself. In those terms, this movie is one of the very worst I have ever seen. Both plot and action are just so rushed and contrived that it all becomes . . . . well, rather boring (the exact opposite of what a film like this is supposed to be). That whole sub-plot with Evie (a very hot Rachel Weisz) being the reincarnation of an Egyptian princess is really stupid. Oh, and what's with all those little pygmy mummy things?! Comedic, perhaps, but pretty lame. Acting by most involved isn't all that great, especially the newcomers, and there are lots. So many, in fact, that character development is all but forsaken. On the other hand, that's okay, because most of the new actors/characters suck anyway.

But like I said before, there are some things that make THE MUMMY RETURNS very watchable, depending on your mood. For starters:

- First and foremost is the score by Alan Silvestri. It's one of the best I've ever heard! Such sweeping, epic music . . . WOW! The actual movie isn't worthy of the soundtrack. How often can you say that?

- Okay, Oded Fehr just plain rocks, man! He embodifies the very word "cool"! Even though his character of Ardeth-Bey has been reduced to a 2-Dimensional "come-to-save-the-day" hero, his assured performance is one of the few saving graces of this film.

- Third and least of all are the visuals. THE MUMMY RETURNS is a beautiful-looking film. The effects aren't what you'd call realistic, but they look super cool! The charging army of Anubis is a perfect example. The entire film is pure eye candy all the way.

Alas, now for some more cons. One of the things I hate most about this movie is the treatment of Im-Ho-Tep. No longer a powerful figure, his inclusion to the story seems purely due to the fact that it's a mummy movie, though it's far less focused on him. In the first film, Im-Ho-Tep was a spectacular villain, menacing and intimidating. Now, of course, that's all left behind in favor of a stupid love story between him and the reincarnated princess (Patricia Velasquez, proving to be one of the worst actors alive today). Arnold Vosloo seems to realize how low his character has stooped, and he shows it in his performance.

Moving on, two words: The Rock. I . . . . . HATE . . . . . . The Rock! He's such a terrible actor. I have yet to see THE RUNDOWN, however, and I heard he does pretty well in that. Regardless, he just plain sucks here, coming off as unintentially funny instead of cool. Or menacing. Or whatever it is he's supposed to come off as. Whatever it is, he fails miserably.

I may be jumping around a bit in this review, but I just thought of another good thing in THE MUMMY RETURNS. That is the final confrontation between Rick O'Connell (Brendan Frasier) and Im-Ho-Tep. It's a spectaculer fight. Just consider all that's happened between these characters in the first film and how much they truly hate eachother. The dramatic tension and build-up, even the use of slow-motion, is fantastic. That is, all up until that darned CGI Scorpion King comes on (PS2, anyone?).

And now for the main reason all my friends and I like to watch this movie: finding and pointing out all the other movies THE MUMMY RETURNS copies. It sound lame, but it's really fun! We came up with all kinds of stuff: STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES (no duh), THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, E.T., THE GOONIES, you name it! You might try playing it as a game, with a point given to the person who finds and names the movie that has been copied. Our list reached something like 27, one time. You have to be creative, then!

CONCLUSION: Go out right now and buy the awesome soundtrack. Whatever you do just don't buy the actual movie; it's not worth the price (well, maybe it is for 5 bucks on VHS). Rather, plan a night with your friends once ever six months or so, rent THE MUMMY RETURNS, and try out that game I mentioned. ; )