…………………………………………………

The Mummy Movie Review

The Mummy is 1999 action adventure film directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser. It’s a very entertaining, perfectly solid blockbuster flick.

………………………………………………….

“I only gamble with my life, never my money“

…………………………………………………..

Adventurer Rick O’Connell, Egyptologist Evelyn and her clumsy brother inadvertently wake up an evil mummy, Imhotep, Pharaoh Seti I’s high priest, during a dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra. One of the highest-grossing films of its year, The Mummy kick-started an entire franchise of films and spin-offs. It’s easy to see why it was so popular as it’s wildly entertaining.

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie that featured big heaps of fun and excitement. There is a classical feel to the proceedings as it had an old-fashioned adventure sensibility dressed in charming period piece clothing. This film is pretty much on par with the Indiana Jones movies as those films are also silly, but even more frenetic. Everybody who is honest with themselves would acknowledge that fact.

Brendan Fraser is fun in the main role. He is badass and some of his lines and facial expressions did make me chuckle. But I was quite taken aback by how small his role is. The cast in this film is quite huge and everybody got their moment to shine, so his character did not get to become fully formed unfortunately. Rachel Weisz as Evelyn was quite charming, but even more could have been done with her character.

…………………………………………………..

Jonathan is a comic relief of sorts that isn’t terribly funny, but is fine nonetheless. I really liked Beni as this Hungarian henchman rascal and I wished that they didn’t kill him off in the end. And of course there is Imhotep, who is a powerful, memorable villain that is cartoony in the right ways. Arnold Vosloo isn’t great here acting-wise, but he was physically imposing and ultimately memorable in his looks.

The bulk of this film is the crew fighting Imhotep off and getting to battle scarab beetles and naturally mummies. Most of those scenes were so well executed that they didn’t become too repetitious. The special effects work on this movie was splendid and it looks terrific for the time, especially the insects and the mummies. Those scenes could have been scarier, but as an adventure story it largely succeeded.

The Mummy doesn’t have the best production design, costumes and directing. It focused on special effects too much and I wished to have seen more real locations. The fantastical elements are familiar, but they worked and I appreciated that they at least tried to develop a story instead of just overwhelming us never-ending action scenes.

…………………………………………………..

The adventurous spirit was high in this one, especially in the pyramids. The beginning was pleasantly sweeping, the ending was reliably climactic, and the highlight was the second act that fired on all cylinders as strong popcorn entertainment. The humor largely was strong with the highlight being the cat gag that made me laugh a couple of times.