Imhotep is at it again. No Boris Karloff
shuffling his way up behind a stuttering,
stupefied scholar this time, but rather raunchy
3-D gooey skeleton that badly needs a supply of
fresh flesh. He begins his physical
Texts for Photo copyrights:
The Mummy
® 1999 Universal Pictures International
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regeneration once he's supplied himself with a
new tongue and set of eyes (courtesy of one
member from the visiting crew that pays no heed
to ancient curses) and starts making his merry
way about the temple tunnels.
The story line has changed with time
(i.e. written and directed this time around by
Stephen Sommers), but has managed to draw upon
many of the familiar "mummy" traditions.
Once upon a time (1719 B.C., to be exact), the
Pharaoh's mistress, Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia
Velasquez) and a smiling, lusty high priest
named Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) were doing the
deed behind the ruler's back. Once caught,
Anck-Su-Namun was condemned to death. She
accepted this terrible fate, mostly because she
knew Imhotep had a secret recipe to bring her
back to life. This, not surprisingly, involves
performing an unholy act, something to which he
has never been averse. While administering to
her body (certainly a one-minded man), he was
attacked by guards before managing to get her
spirit back into her carcass. Once set upon,
his tongue is cut out (The tongs used on the
tongue bring back shades of Christopher Lee)
Now his unholy act has become an unspeakable
one. His punishment doesn't end here, however.
He is mummified alive (with a curse upon him
that will keep him alive forever) and buried
with giant blue scarab beetles that feed upon
human flesh. (When it's dinner time in Egypt,
who's gonna' worry about worms?) There's only
one little problem that wasn't given sufficient
thought by the other priests. While he remains
buried underground, his strengths will increase
tremendously. So much so, that should he ever
be released, the ten plagues will be unleashed
over the land and the end of mankind as we know
it (and he knew it) will follow.
Let's face it, some guys'll do anything for the
right girl.
That's the background (which, nevertheless, we
all get a chance to view in encapsulated form).
Now for the action. Legionnaire Rick O'Connell
(Brendan Fraser, sporting an Indiana Jones-like
attitude) has to save the day in 1923 as he
battles the mysterious cult of Bedouin forces
protecting mankind from unknown forces of evil
and, eventually, and eventually fights off the
forces of evil too. The secret warrior-
guardians are led by the handsome, but death-
dealing Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr). The greedy,
untrustworthy weasel beside Rick during the
initial sequence, is Beni (Kevin J. O'Connor).
As they both fight to save their skins on the
plains of Hamunaptra, legendary City of the
Dead, Ben takes flight and leaves Rick to fend
for himself.
Sometime later, Rick is residing in a less-
than-four-star desert prison when Jonathan
(John Hannah), a money hungry upper-class
English playboy, stumbles upon him (,though no
one seems to stops and wonder how). Jonathan's
sister, Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), a ditsy, but
attractive Egyptologist, upon discovering
Rick's knowledge of the location where her
long-sought-for Hamunaptra lies, bargains his
way to freedom. Rick is now pledged to join
Rachel and her brother in their search for the
golden book of mysteries. Besides, Rick, who
may hide it with his less than debonair
attitude, is beginning to develop a liking for
Evelyn with her intelligent, but hopeless ways.
Let's face it, some guys'll do anything for the
right girl.
There's also a group of American scavengers on
the trail who will, ultimately, serve as first
sacrifices. No Rambos these. Laughing at
ancient curses, as is the wont of modern
Americans, little do they expect the exhausting
encounters that will confront them once the
bane of Egyptian kings has been released from
his plight. Every encounter just seems to suck
the energy out of them.
Now, this is where the fun really begins:
Imhotep not only returns after thirty-seven
centuries wanting the girl he left behind, but
also craving absolute power and more deluge
than even Noah could imagine. Immy turns out
to be the kind of guy who, if you saw him on a
desert in the middle of a sandstorm, you'd want
to ask him, "Haven't I seen your face somewhere
before?" From the smile wears, you can tell
that he's hiding more in his book of tricks
than a cellarful of kebabs.
Imhotep seems to be having a merry old time,
picking himself up, dusting himself off, and
starting all over again. Bullets may not phase
him and punches may not daze him, but he seems
to be having trouble with the felines once
again. There are moments, others may comment,
when it pays to be a cat lover.
Yes, Universal Pictures still, thankfully,
takes time out now and again to give us the
kind of thrills they constantly used to scare
us with back in the days of black and white.
Industrial Light and Magic has supplied the
numerous stunning special FX (under the
supervision of John Berton) alongside make-up
FX supervisor Nick Dudman, including big bad
bugs, stretchable mouths, regenerating skin,
super sandstorms and almost anything else that
turns up. (Once cannot help reflecting upon
the endless hours spent by Ray Harryhausen in
order to achieve skeleton battles in early FX
masterpieces like "The Seventh Voyage of
Sinbad" and "Jason and the Argonauts" while
watching some of the impressive computer
animation work done here. Thanks again, Ray,
for inspiring so many.) Chris Corbould,
special FX supervisor for the entire movie,
remarks, "The CGI elements in The Mummy are
pretty paramount. There were so many visual
effects required by the story that would be
impossible for us to achieve, and ILM was
creating things we couldn't create. Normally
in a film, visual effects would be enhancing
something that we were doing, but in The Mummy
we were enhancing their work."
Director Sommers has been ultra-clever in
assembling his tech backup. They're all
acquainted with the dark side of the cinema and
include DP Adrian Biddle ("Aliens"), production
designer Allan Cameron ("Starship Troopers"),
editor Bob Ducsay ("Deep Rising"), and costume
designer John Bloomfield ("Waterworld"). Let
us also not forget the contribution of Jerry
Goldsmith's score to the atmosphere. Although
the film is lots of fun, the die-hard horror
lover will discover, somewhat to his dismay,
that it spends a good portion of the time being
a swashbuckling-romantic-comedy instead of
concentrating on sending spine-chilling thrills
or terrifying tinglers toward the audience.
This approach was the personal decision of
writer/director Sommers as well as his
producers. Pity. Especially for Mr. Fraser,
who, although he is perfection, could have
added an even bigger notch to his impressive
belt of performances by showing us how he does
gothic. Maybe next time. Ms. Weisz is
hindered considerably, on the other hand, by
the sexist rendering of her character as
written into the script for achieving comedic
value. (It almost makes one pause for
consideration when Ardeth Bay cries out "Save
the girl. Kill the creature.") Kevin J. O'
Conner is flawless in his performance of Beni,
the creep who makes your skin crawl (, yet
always remaining comedic, even to the end).
Tannah leaves, anyone?
© 1994-2006 The Green Hartnett
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