The Mummy Returns

(2001)
Thank God George Lucas is busy with that whole Star Wars thing he's working on. Because, you see, about twenty years ago, he and this Spielberg guy made Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was a damn fine film, and then they made a couple more, which were pretty good films too. But then they sort of stopped, and some young gun named Steven Sommers made a nice little film two years ago called The Mummy and it was a lot like Raiders in a lot of ways. But chances are good that if Lucas and Spielberg and some guy named Ford weren't busy and had kept making Raiders films, we never would have gotten The Mummy. There would have been no need for it. Now, not ever having The Mummy would have been a loss. It's a nice, fun, entertaining film. Not ever having The Mummy Returns, however, that would have been a huge loss. Even given my gift for hyperbole, I can honestly say without hesitation that this movie has everything. That I look for in films, anyway. Romance, action, humor, great villains, a huge plot, an epic scale, gorgeous scenery... you get the idea. Everything. Sommers has said that he didn't just want to do a sequel that was a retread of the first film, and man, did he avoid that completely. Mummy Returns manages to do what few sequels even really attempt; to recreate the first film, but on a bigger and better scale. The whole focus of Returns is larger; we're given two villains and an epic that stretches across five thousand years of history. All of the characters we enjoyed in the first film return, none of them are slighted in the least, and we are also presented with five or six new engaging ones as well. The story picks up several years after the original Mummy (they keep saying ten, but if you watch the first film closely, you'll realize it's only seven. Oops!) when adventurer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and librarian-turned-tomb-raider Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), now married and with precocious young child Alex (Freddie Boath) accidentally set off a chain of events that will culminate not only with their darling boy's death, but in the resurrection of yet another ancient Egyptian baddie, the Scorpion King (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson). Trouble is, others have realized that the O'Connells have disturbed some longslumbering curse/prophecy, and they want in on the action. The evil faction is led by a ruthless bad girl, Meela (Patricia Velasquez), who is a dead ringer for the Mummy's long-lost girlfriend, Anck-Su-Namun. She and her henchmen (who are garbed similarly to the Thugee cultists in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) decide they want to be the ones who unlock the Scorpion King's secrets rather than the O'Connells, so they initiate a complex plan to raise ol' Imhotep himself (Arnold Vosloo, reprising his role from the first film) so he can aid them in their dastardly

mission. Fortunately for Rick and family, there is also a good faction, led by coolas-hell Medjai warrior Ardath Bay (Oded Fehr, reprising his role as well). Bay gets in on the action early and is given the usual expository duties. The plot is bigger; you have multiple factions and multiple concerns. There's a lot going on and it's tossed at you pretty quickly, but in a rare display of skill, the exposition never feels like exposition. There's a lot of background to cover, but it is all done seamlessly, woven into dialogue or flashbacks in a very free-flowing way. And the story gets rolling very quickly, from a gunfight in an Egyptian tomb the O'Connells are plundering to a huge scuffle at Casa O'Connell back in England. There's rarely a chance to catch one's breath in the first forty-five minutes or so, and it's not until our intrepid adventurers are headed back to Egypt to attempt to prevent the return of the Scorpion King that we get a few minutes to relax. The action sequences are all stunners. There's a fight with four mummybodyguards on a double-decker bus that is absolutely amazing, masterfully shot and paced. The movie features several clever chases and confrontations (I don't want to give too much away), with the added treat that not only is Evelyn able to hold her own in a fight, but so is bad girl Meela. With all the guys running around hacking and slashing, it's nice that the women not only get equal play, but also get a stunning fight sequence of their own that is as graceful as it is powerful. Everyone hits their notes perfectly in this film. Granted, it isn't Shakespeare, but even with all the action and running around, there's still time for both emotional moments and humor; the latter was an important element in the first film and has been wonderfully retained here. Fraser's O'Connell still tosses off the wisecracks, and his chemistry with Weisz is better than before. Evelyn has matured from wellmeaning ditz to a hero all her own (which was nice to see), and is still as engaging as she was in the first film, if not moreso. Newcomer Boath rarely overdoes the hyper-intelligent kid act, and little Alex gets some very funny scenes (particularly amusing is his antagonistic relationship with his glowering jailer, Lock Nah [Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje]). Returning comic relief Jonathan (John Hannah), Evelyn's lessthan-heroic brother, gets his share of humorous and heroic moments as well. And of course Arnold Vosloo's Imhotep is creepy and frightening and yet somehow attractive; Vosloo manages the mixture almost effortlessly. I was especially impressed by Patricia Velasquez. Little more than a sexy set-piece in the first film, she gets the task of having to play both Meela and Anck-SuNamun, who are similar but different enough that it's extra work. She has a screen presence and a fine sense of menace that complements Vosloo excellently. I wouldn't be surprised to see her getting more roles after this. I also particularly enjoyed Oded Fehr's mystical warrior, Ardath Bay, but then I'm partial to anything remotely resembling a Jedi Knight, and that's Fehr's job here. He is the one who guides Rick and by extension us through the more magical areas of the story, and he always does so taking himself completely seriously. He helps to ground us when we are confronted by things like savage pygmy mummies or hordes of Anubis-like dog soldiers.

There are countless little touches in this film, tiny details that with such a huge cast and scope you might think they would miss. But they make all the difference. In the sequence where Imhotep is being raised, the spell spills over, and every mummy in the museum starts to resuscitate (I loved the one banging with futility on the inside of his glass display case). The evil grunts who serve Meela used silver-blue rounded cars that more than vaguely resemble the scarabs from the first film. In the bus fight, when Ardath blows an attacking mummy in half, the top half continues to come after him, swinging along the pedestrian hand-holds to gain purchase. And in the creepy, exhilarating, suspenseful, and funny sequence with the pygmy mummies, one little goober mummy actually takes the time to make sure his enemies sink into the quicksand by dancing on their shoulders and heads. Again, they are little touches, but they display a level of craft that most films of this ilk simply don't have. The Mummy Returns fires the first salvo of the summer of 2001, and in doing so raises the bar almost impossibly high on a summer rife with expectation. There are a few oversteps in the film -- there's a lot of coincidental reincarnation, and there's a dirigible that frankly requires an extra-large dose of belief suspension -- but by and large this is a movie that satisfies on every level. You couldn't design a better summer film if you sat down and tried. I can't remember the last time I saw a film that so exceeded expectation on every level. It even compares favorably with the last movie I saw in the theaters -- and that was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I didn't go see anything for three months after that, because what could compare, really? But I chose the perfect film to break that drought with. Go. Go soon before people can spoil it for you. Really, it's a hell of a film. It's really rare that I feel a movie has everything, but doggone it, this one does. May 5, 2001