The Mummy Returns (2001) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

When Universal closed out the century with a remake of The Mummy, it proved they can still make exciting stories one way or another. And arguably, you can say the say with The Mummy Returns.


PLOT


The 2001 sequel begins in 3067 where Mathayus aka the Scorpion King was defeated in efforts to conquer the world and made a deal with the deity Anubis for an army in exchange for his soul. After getting what he wanted, his soul would be claimed as promised. The story’s present begins in 1933 AD seven years after the defeat of Imhotep. Rick O’Connell and his wife Evelyn Carnahan explore ancient ruins, until their son Alex finds the Bracelet of Anubis, once worn by the Scorpion King. When returning home to London, Alex plays with it and it locks onto his wrist, seeing a vision of Ahm Shere, a desert turned oasis. At the same time, the O’Connell family, including Evy’s brother Jonathan, get attacked by museum curator Baltus Hafez and his cult who intend to resurrect Imhotep to defeat the king and control Anubis’ army. With the company of Meela Nais, a reincarnated Anck-su-namun, they also find the book of the dead in the ruins of Hamunaptra. They abduct Evy to sacrifice her but with the help of the Medjai Ardeth Bay, she is saved. Despite escaping however, Alex gets abducted next and is forced to direct the cult the way to Ahm Shere. With the help of part-time pilot Izzy Buttons (Shaun Parkes), a friend of Rick, the family travel via dirigible and follow the antagonists with clues left behind by Alex. During the journey, Imhotep fully restores the soul of Anck-su-namun into Meela’s body, and doing so allows Evy fully remember her past life as the bracelet’s keeper, Nefertiri. Once the enforcer Lock-Nah discovers Alex has been leaving clues, Imhotep responds by using his power to attack the dirigible. The protagonists safely crashland and move through the jungle of the oasis to look for the boy. Luckily, they do intercept the opposing side and rescue the boy after surviving an attack from Pygmy mummies. In the midst of this, Ardeth kills Lock-Nah. Rick reaches the pyramid in time with his son before he would be cursed to die. Doing so frees him from the bracelet, but it allows Imhotep to take it for himself as he enters the pyramid with Hafez & Anck-su-namun, who spitefully stabs Evy. Inside, Imhotep loses his powers to face the Scorpion King as a mortal. The King has grown to be a ginormous scorpion hybrid and tries killing Rick when tricked by Imhotep to do so. As Ardeth leads a Medjai army to fight a wave of Anubis’ army and Hafez gets killed in the melee, O’Connell reads a hieroglyph that confirms a scepter Jonathan owns is the Spear of Osiris that can kill the King. Alex uses the book of the dead to revive his mom who fights Anck-Su-namun while Jonathan gives Rick the scepter to give the blow that sends evil back to the underworld. As this works, the pyramid starts plummeting and while Evy saves Rick from falling, Anck-su-namun doesn’t do the same for Imhotep who accepts his fate. Ironically, she falls into a pit of scorpions while Izzy saves the O’Connell family in time with his repaired dirigible and Jonathan sweeps a big diamond before the oasis & pyramid destroyed. The film ends with the protagonists safely departing while Adreth salutes them from afar.


THOUGHTS


Having seen the first one and enjoyed deeply, I was for this well made adventure setting to move forward and while I don’t love this more, that doesn’t mean I hate it straight up. While the design of the literal Scorpion King has aged poorly, the rest of the visuals impress me. I mean the main mummies in the first still intimidate me, the Pygmy mummies are hella creepy and a tsunami with a face will always be nightmare fuel for me apart a pit of scorpions or scarabs. Alan Silvestri’s score is well made in boosting the excitement & intensity all at once and Adrian Bubble returning to do cinematography was a good choice because it helped maintain a visceral pace of a feeling to match what the characters are feeling. When I look back, I think this still quite favorable of a film compared to the 2017 reboot because writer/director Stephen Sommers keeps the emphasis going that a great life in life is not power, but true love. If that real feeling ain’t there, you’ll soon realize how powerless you really are. With another solid ensemble, I’m able to pick up on all of that very well. Pro wrestler Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson gives his first theatric performance that would solidify him as the action star people know him for today. Before getting a spin-off film that would better flesh out his backstory, we see firsthand this was a figure that got carried away with the power he was pursuing and got cursed to share it. Arnold Vosloo showed Imhotep this time around as one who assumed going through hell & back would make him invincible until he realized he didn’t have what he sought after first after all. Patricia Velasquez proved that Anck-Su-namun was the one who was more eager to pursue more power than she already had and that made her more dangerous than people saw her as. The fact she did the opposite of what Evy did when it came to saving who she loved, proved the point that greed is easy to be possessed of. Little would we expect Imhotep find content at the last moment of his reincarnation. Alun Armstrong then accurately portrayed Hafez as the simple minded cruel figure for assuming that unleashing demons & mummies would do him any favor until proven wrong in a big comeuppance. And as for Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s Lock-Nah, he proved that loyalty & cruelty don’t always mix either. On the other side of the coin, each member of the O’Connell prove that the bond of family is what makes love stronger than the power one wouldn’t share at all. Brendan Fraser still keeps it going in making Rick his best performance because his determination to protect his family ain’t because of a prophecy, it’s that he knows his life will be off the rails without them. Evy took a chance on him the first time around & she’s the reason he’s still alive, which makes him grateful. And as for his son, Alex represents the blessing he has with his new life and ain’t gonna dare to bare losing him too. The fact he used that as motivation to save the world again is too damn badass to ignore. Rachel Weisz still reminds us that Evy is forever his equal because like Rick, parenthood makes her all the more brave & confident to be a protector to what she cares deeply. She still enjoys the adventure for the fun of it all at this point, but it doesn’t change the fact she’ll be focused with the obstacles she faced and when getting to remember the past life she had, it only motivated her furthermore to keep going until it was over. Visibly, the young Freddie Boath showing off Alex as the best of both worlds in having his dad’s wit and his mom’s intelligence to get through his own familiar threats. If one aspect were missing, it’s hard to know if he were to last as long as he did. I still gotta give a shoutout to John Hannah because although Jonathan is a opportunistic guy for seeking treasure, he still focuses enough to be helpful, which he does when facing Anck-Su-namun long enough before his sister got revived. And for that, he gets rewarded for once with that diamond. Last but not least, Obed Fehr is still likable as Ardeth because he’s able to remain loyal to his allies in helping him as long as he could and standing by them until needed elsewhere. Had he not remained a local in Cairo, the O’Connell family and the rest of the world likely would’ve been screwed. Off of that, I wished he was in the third film. Although The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor proved there was much more ancient evil outside Egypt, it reminds me how good will be right there as well. I have given this movie a fair amount of credit, but there are still too many questionable moments that make me prefer the first film. Like for starters, most of the plot could've been avoided if Rick & Evy didn't bring their son with him. Jonathan can be a babysitter, so I don't see a reason why that didn't happen. And how long has Anck-su-namun been digging in Hamunaptra exactly to get both books? I know she has determination to resurrect Imhotep, but the length of time should be addressed. It's even more impressive they're both intact by the time she has them. Also, Ardeth should've been spotted by Lock-Nah sooner when he doesn't even try hiding his Medjai tattoos. And if he has such a big army, they should've raided the dig site way before they reached Imhotep. It's even a surprise the chest carrying the bracelet did not open on its own until the O'Connell family came back home. It then feels embarrassing that Rick didn't know who Hafez is but his son did just because he's been to the museum more. I do believe Rick is a hero either way, but enforcing the tattoo that never came up before is not gonna be something I'll eat up. Moving on, if Evy resembles Nefertiti, why didn't Imhotep say she resembled her instead of Anck-su-namun? That's terrible retconning if you ask me. And if curtains really can be drawn, she and Imhotep should've not left them open so that they can keep their affair secret. And how long did it take for Lock-Nah to get to a hill in order to kill Horus? I mean it feels too convenient for him to be there when he couldn't have known the group survived the tsunami. I then must point out a big continuity error on how there are no scars or blood loss when Ardeth kills him. Not even Evy bleeds when she gets stabbed and it's weird. And lastly, there was no reason for Alex to throw the bracelet when he could've hidden it instead. Had he done that, Imhotep would've not gotten inside the tomb. Other than that, this is still a decent blast of an adventure flick. In short, The Mummy Returns generally delivers in being a bombastic sequel that took risks whether or not they were worth taking for the sake of raising the stakes. If you dug the first one, I hope you like this as well.