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Intro:
Brendan Fraser week continues with the film that probably introduced everyone to
Brendan. The Mummy joined a new Star Wars movie and The Matrix in a pretty big
theatrical release summer, and carved itself a pretty sizable piece of the pie.
Review:
Plot stuff first. Rick O’Connell is a member of the foreign legion, and he and his
division are chased in to some ancient Egyptian ruins. Things get a little crazy
and the enemy flees. They were the smart ones. . .
Rick is captured and later freed by Evelyn Carnahan, an archaeologist, and her brother
Jonathan, a treasure hunter. Rick’s legion discovered the lost city of Hamunaptra, the
city of the dead. Another member of the legion, Beni, is leading a group of American’s
towards the same goal, a solid gold book and untold treasures. The two teams reach
Hamunaptra and awaken something that shouldn’t be, unleashing a terrible horror upon
the Earth.
Imhotep, a priest who was cursed for sleeping with the Pharaoh’s wife, has become the
living dead. He requires some time to bring himself back to his full powers. Once he
is strong he will be nearly invincible, unleashing plagues and devastation across the
world. It’s up to Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan to stop him with the ancient Egyptian
book of the Dead.
Just to get it out of the way, there is actually a Book of the Dead. It’s called the
Papyrus of Ani. I actually had a copy on my hard disc before my last format, and you’ll
probably find it by Googling. It won’t allow you to raise the dead or curse your
enemies though; it’s a book of prayers. Sorry to burst that particular bubble. I
have no idea if the book of the Living is real or not.
I’m biased when it comes to this film, as I love Egypt. And this has it in spades. I’ve
never been, will someday, but as far as I’m concerned that’s what Egypt looks like. Right
down to the plagues of locusts.
The summer of 1999 was a surprising one. For a start, the new Star Wars movie wasn’t all
that good. The Matrix came out of nowhere and blew everyone's mind. And for some reason
George of the Jungle was actually a pretty decent Indiana Jones. Indy is all over this,
if you mix in a little bit more Han Solo. If this film had been made 20 years earlier
it would have been Harrison Ford, or at least Tom Selleck, in the role of Rick. The
Mummy wouldn’t have come out as good though.
Talking of pretty (I’ll get back to the effects later), where did Rachel Weisz come from?
Well, Britain but I hadn’t seen her before. I have a thing for girls with glasses; I
don’t know what it is. Guess it’s my geek genes kicking in. Anyway, even though she is
a pretty face (though possibly not classically in some of this movie) she also puts in
a good performance as someone who’s a bit more than just a scream queen.
And what about my fellow countryman, John Hannah? Most everyone would recognize him from
Four Weddings and a Funeral. He has a bit less to work with here, flexing his comic
muscles as a greedy Scotsman. Typecasting that, much like everyone else in this movie,
he fits perfectly.
And now that Mummy. This is the movie that ILM did to take a break from The Phantom
Menace. My breaks are a lot less productive. The man wrapped in bandages shuffling along
the ground is out the window here. While I don’t like my zombies to be fast and bouncy,
I have no problem with my mummies being like that. And ILM likes to play with the holes
in his face to. The man behind the CGI, Arnold Vosloo, was on set everyday to mark out
Imhotep’s movements, so that gave Lucas’ boys a bit of a break, but the model work
itself is very detailed with accurate muscles and bones. You know that torso they
have in Biology classes that bits fall out of and no one can put back together? Take
a couple of those bits out and cover it in dust and you have the Mummy.
They also show of their particle effects here. I think the software used for the wave
of sand and possibly even the plague of locusts gave us the water in The Perfect Storm.
Conclusion:
The $76 million that went in to this movie shows up on screen, instead of in star pockets.
That’s a good thing. Not that I grudge people their paychecks or anything. The attention
to details for what is essentially a horror/action movie is amazing. The Mummy story
itself was a strange choice for a big budget summer movie. The original had men in bandages
stumbling around and slowly trying to catch screaming blondes.
This revision (not really a remake) is a lot more accurate than most movies of its kind
would bother to be. All the places mentioned in the film actually exist, or existed. Imhotep
was a real third dynasty priest who was chief architect on the step pyramid, and was made
a deity. Not exactly a curse, but at least they got his job right. Obviously some liberties
were taken with the Book of the Dead, but most horrors have done that. And there’s no book
of the living.
Also, apart from the priest himself most of the others didn’t exist. And that isn’t Egyptian
they are speaking. But do you notice something? The only way I can find a problem with this
movie is to nit pick. I hate doing that. So you know what, I’ll stop. And I’ll give it a
slightly higher score than most would expect. Mainly because the Mummy is afraid of cats,
and any smart movie makes cats the hero. ALL HAIL BAST!
MacGyver Rating: 4 Planets, 4 and a quarter if we can do that.
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