Subject: Review: Mummy Returns, The (2001)

From: Jerry Saravia <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 03:11:43 -0000

THE MUMMY RETURNS (2001) 
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia 
November 6th, 2001 

I have been vilified by people on the Internet and offline for my intense
dislike of movies like the remake of "House on Haunted Hill" and the remake of
"The Mummy," not to mention "The Matrix." None of these movies, in my mind,
offered much in the way of story or plot or ideas, though "The Matrix" was far
more ambitious than the other two. The problem is also the depths to which ILM
computer designers will focus on the latest in state-of-the-art special effects
sans story or plot or character definition. Casting  decent actors like Rachel
Weisz and Brendan Fraser in an overproduced mess like "The Mummy Returns" shows
me that Hollywood has gone to sleep and raked in the big bucks. And the
audiences continue to attend.  

"The Mummy Returns" brings back Brendan Fraser as Rick, the resourceful
Egyptologist who is now married to Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), the librarian from the
first film. They also have a curious 8-year-old son (Freddie Boath), who is
adept at using a slingshot. Also along for the ride is the dryly British
brother-in-law Jonathan (John Hannah) who knows how to milk the appropriate quip
when necessary. The story-hanging-on-a-thread involves some evil Egyptologists
who want to bring back the dreaded Im-Ho-Tep (Arnold Vosoloo) to fight the
dreaded Scorpion King (WWF star The Rock) at some sort of ancient pyramid. If I
understood correctly (and I imagine I did not), the destruction of the Scorpion
King is necessary for Im-Ho-Tep to rule the world and begin the second
Armageddon, or something like that. By the end of the film, it turns out that
the Scorpion King is also evil, but I could be wrong. 

Stories like this typically make little sense but somehow they were cohesive in
the Indiana Jones series. In fact, it is no surprise that like its predecessor,
"The Mummy Returns" is a hodgepodge of horror cliches and the Indiana Jones
flicks. Any semblance here of Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee from the old
"Mummy" films is in-name only. Neither Vosoloo nor the Rock elicit much
personality or villainy (I also noticed Vosoloo is photographed only from the
chest up. This does not allow for much in the way of body language). It doesn't
help that Rick's one line about seeing Im-Ho-Tep's resurrection results in the
line, "Two years ago, this would have surprised me." 

Fraser and Weisz seem to going through the motions (and have zilch in terms of
chemistry). Only the 8-year-old son (nicely played by Freddie Boath) and the dry
humor of John Hannah show some inkling of human beings existing in the world of
this movie. Hannah has a classic line when he reacts to a sage's cliched line of
"It is written..." by asking, "Where is it written?" The movie needed more of
Hannah, or maybe he should have replaced the stoic Fraser. 

"The Mummy Returns" is a template for special-effects galore but it is also a
frighteningly inhuman movie where the main characters merely react to the
roaring mummies and shoot them until they evaporate into thin air. The movie is
a recap of the original but with even less emphasis on anyone who is not a
dog-creature. By the end, we feel sympathy for one character, Im-Ho-Tep, as his
reincarnated love refuses to save him. It is leftover evidence from the 90's
when the audience feels more pity for the villains than they do for the heroes.

For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at
http://moviething.com/members/movies/faust/JATMindex.shtml 

E-mail me with any questions, comments or general complaints at
[email-masked] or at [email-masked]

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