Raiders of the Lost Mummy? (The Mummy Returns (DVD))

Member Name: pythons

Product:	The Mummy Returns (DVD)
Date:	18/05/01 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Action, Action, Action

Disadvantages: Bland, Bland, Bland

The Mummy Returns in the follow up for the original 1999 movie the Mummy. Once again directed by Stephen Sommers it is set nine years on from the first movie and this time the story continues.

The paragraph below contains certain SPOILERS regarding the first movie (The Mummy, 1999)!

In the original film we saw Brenden Fraser as Rick O'Connell a French legion soldier working at an archaeological dig in the ancient and secret city of Hamunaptra (City of the Dead). He finds himself locked up and on death row when he is found by Evelyn 'Evie' Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah) they agree to pay for his freedom and in return he will lead them to the ancient and in many peoples opinion mythical city of Hamunaptra. As the story progresses they find themselves in various scrapes on their search for ancient relics and treasure and accidentally awaken the High Priest Imhotep who was mummified and buried alive thousands of years before and cursed. If he was ever to wake he would wreak vengeance on the world. As the story progresses the Mummy gets more and more powerful and the movie ends in a dramatic showdown with the protagonists managing to put the Mummy back into his sleep, never to be awoken again..... Well cue The Mummy Returns!

END OF SPOILERS!


The Mummy Returns reunites many members of the original story only this time our two lead characters (Rick and Evie) are married with an eight year old Son Alex. They have moved on from the original story and now have a home in London but are still keen explorers searching for ancient relics in Egypt. Meanwhile the Corpse of the High Priest Imhotep is discovered in Egypt and shipped to London's history museum and resurrection by an Egyptian cult who wish to act as the Mummy's servant, Imhotep walks once more and once again is on a quest for immortality. At the same time a chain of events following the O'Connells latest d
iscovery a gold bracelet once worn by an ancient warrior named the Scorpion King awakens another power an ancient curse of the darkest kind, maybe even more powerful than Imhotep himself. These two forces must not meet as the results could mean the end of the world. So once again the O'Connells must trek across the world to Egypt to save the world and more importantly their kidnapped son.

The Mummy Returns is certainly a bigger movie than the first, it has more special effects and a far more complex storyline. I felt the characters were far more developed in this movie and they had far more purpose and motive than in the first movie. The cast is very good and there is the odd cameo appearance, you'll have to look out for a fleeting role by Donna Air, with a somewhat different accent to her usual dulcet tones. The acting is pretty good all-round but there are no real Oscar winning performances. I was a little disappointed with the Rocks performance too. He was not in it for very long at all and when he was he did virtually nothing. I had heard that there is going to be a movie or spin off series called the Scorpion King, but I really don't know why as his performance was nothing out of the ordinary (as much as I hoped it would be amazing!).

There is plenty of action sequences to keep viewers happy, but there are also some interesting scenes of interaction and romance. There is also plenty of one liners and visual humour.
The soundtrack and movie score are far more atmospheric and fitting than the first movie. There are lots of loud Indiana Jones style scores during actions scenes, as well as atmospheric background noises to build the tension and then there is the romantic music when the scene calls for it.

However for all it's good points this film didn't do it for me. To be honest I found it quite boring. The action sequences were all a little bland and it's all very similar to the first movie. Altho
ugh developed the characters still weren't particularly interesting, I know this is a light-hearted movie but it is still a little too cheesy and the characters just seems top accept the situations they are in. Their is no real emotion. The son Alex (played by Freddie Boath) is pretty good, but the dialogue was far more like a cheeky Kevin McCallister with him back chatting his captors. As a special note I would have to say this is the most talented eight year old sand castle maker in the world! IF you watch you know what I mean.

To me this movie is an inferior Raiders of the Lost Ark clone. It has the action and adventure, but it is always a little too far fetched. I had heard this before I saw it but I imagined that this was people going in with the wrong idea of the movie. But I have to agree.

At the end of the day I am sure there are people who will enjoy this movie, kids especially. But for me it just doesn't do it. in fact I would say that the first movie was a better movie.
It's worth seeing and I'm sure it will do well because it is the summers first real blockbuster and it has been marketed well, but if I never see this movie again I will be quite happy. Once was enough!

5/10

Summary: