The Mummy Returns

I said I would not plump down $10.00 to go see a movie. Especially this one. But, my wife is out of town, I was incredibly bored, and I went with my friend Chris to see a movie. It was a toss up between Spy Kids and The Mummy Returns (and some other terrible films). I chose the last film that we went to see, Enemy at the Gates, so it was his turn. He chose The Mummy Returns.

I did not like the first one all that much. There was some neat work in it, and I especially liked Kevin J. O'Conner... I've loved his work since Lord of Illusions. I thought Brendan Fraser was terrible, I thought Rachel Weisz was annoying, I thought John Hannah was annoying as well, and I thought Arnold Vosloo should have had a larger speaking role... I loved him in Hard Target.

But I guess it's true, people do learn from mistakes.

This is one of those rare occasions where the sequel is better than the original, though I must admit, they couldn't have gotten any worse than The Mummy.

Stephen Sommers has had a spotty career, before The Mummy, in 1999. Terror Eyes, Catch Me If You Can, The Adventures of Huck Finn, The Jungle Book and his sci-fi thriller (which wasn't bad, actually) Deep Rising with Treat Williams and the incredibly beautiful Famke Janssen (along with Kevin J. O'Conner).

He's written the majority of the scripts for those films, and also wrote The Mummy Returns, and co-wrote the upcoming The Scorpion King (a spin-off of Returns, to star "The Rock", Dwayne Johnson, a movie that should make a serious mint...).

Is he a force to be reckoned with? Well, in Hollywood, you're as good as your last film. The Mummy Returns shattered the box-office record for a non-holiday weekend take... and after last night, I can understand why.

The writing was ten (10) times better than the writing from The Mummy. What a huge difference. The characters weren't so cardboard like, the history was well told, the action was fantastic... I was thouroughly entertained.

Brendan Fraser was much better, re-cast as Rick O'Connell. He wasn't as wooden, didn't have all of those terrible "My dick is bigger" lines... he actually acted like a human being. I'm not a huge fan of his earlier work, specifically films like Encino Man, School Ties, With Honors, George of the Jungle... but his other work, like Gods and Monsters, Blast from the Past, even Bedazzled... he's fun to watch.

Rachel Weisz. I hated her in the first film. Her lines were terrible, her acting was annoying, she came off as foppish (if that is a real word). She hasn't been in anything fantastic... her only two real mainstream films were Chain Reaction (which I didn't like anyway) and Enemy at the Gates, which was godawful. But in Returns... well, she was sexy, she was a fighting machine, she pulled the character out of 'annoying' and made her cool.

The same can be said of John Hannah. He was incredibly annoying in Mummy, but this time, he was humorous, energetic and fun to watch. He's been in some other mainstream movies, but roles I don't remember him in, from Resurrection Man, Sliding Doors, The Hurricane, The Intruder... but he redeemed himself with his reprisal role of Jonathan Carnahan, this time.

Arnold Vosloo. His role in Hard Target was one of the best Hit-Men roles I've ever seen. He's been in some other films, some of them very silly, including the two sequels to Sam Raimi's Darkman, II and III, which he played Peyton Westlake/Darkman. He hasn't been in much else, except Brian Yuzna's The Progeny. He did not work between The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, which is a shame... but he's got a project coming up called The Red Phone, something for television. So we shall see.

Vosloo plays Im-Ho-Tep. As in The Mummy, the majority of his role was taken over by a CG mummy who was pretty much a walking fleshy stump. In this film, he had a little more screen time, and he's a pleasure to watch. He's got a great sense of humor about him, but also a great personality for evil. He was very good in both films.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (jesus, come on) played Lock Nah. He's most known for being Simon Adebisi in HBO's Oz series. He played a bad guy in this film, and had a really great dynamic with Freddie Boath, who played Alex O'Connell, the son of Rick and Evie. They had a great dynamic together that proved very funny at times.

Patricia Velazquez is one hot lady. She plays Im-Ho-Tep's love interest in the film, Anck-Su-Namum. Whew, hard to watch. She has some fantastic fight scenes with Rachel Weisz, and the two pull no punches. Patricia was also Anck-Su-Namun in the first film, but did not have a very large role. She did an excellent job in this picture.

Oded Fehr was the typical guy, the guy who guards the castle, or the book, or the stone temple, or whatever, in the first film. He plays Ardeth Bay, the protector. And he, again, was much better in the second film. Not much else to say, except he was in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.

Adrian Biddle was the cinematographer. And this guy has his act together. He's got a fantastic career, his first feature film being Aliens, for god sake. He went on to some other great films, such as The Princess Bride, Willow, Thelma & Louise, 1492, City Slickers II, Judge Dredd, 101 Dalmations, Event Horizon, Holy Man, The Mummy, The World is Not Enough, 102 Dalmations and is filming the upcoming Reign of Fire. I'll be buying this one on DVD. It's worth it. It's a very entertaining story, not as cheesy as the first one, if you can believe that. I would suggest seeing it in the theaters. The sound was just incredible, and the picture was very pretty to watch. Everyone did a bang-up job. And, no, I'm not getting paid to say that.

J.P.