The Special Effects Make The Mummy Memorable And Enjoyable

The Mummy is a remake of the 1932 motion picture of the same name. Admittedly, I have not seen the original film, and doubt I will be able to. I haven't been able to find a copy of it anywhere in my city. The only thing I can imagine is that the 1932 version is infinitely superior in every way, from acting right down to special effects. Yes, even the special effects. The film begins in 1719 B.C., when Egyptians ruled their land with the kind of authority Bill Clinton only wishes he could attain. Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) is the High Priest of Osiris, and the righthand man of Pharaoh. Unfortunately, Imhotep is also in love with Pharaoh's mistress, the hauntingly beautiful Anck-su-namun (Patricia Velasquez). This forbidden love leads to Pharaoh's death, and the subsequent execution of Anck-su-namun. Imhotep is caught and becomes the first and only man to ever suffer what many archaeologists believe to be the worst curse ever performed. His body is wrapped in bandages, his tongue is cut off, and he is buried alive to be eaten by Scarab beetles. He is to remain there until someone reads from the Book of the Dead. And being a film about a mummy, we know someone will.

That someone is Evelyn Carnarvon (Rachel Weisz), a librarian hoping to one day become a full-fledged archaeologist. The year is 1923. Over three thousand years have passed since the mummification of Imhotep, and Evelyn has desperately been searching the whereabouts of the rumored Book of Amun Ra. She has yet to find it. One fateful day, her more successful (but obviously more demented) brother Jonathan (John Hannah) brings her an artifact he stole from a prisoner in an Egyptian jail. This artifact contains a map to the lost city Hamunaptra, which is rumored to contain all the riches and wealth of the Egyptians. She travels to visit this prisoner, who claims to have actually found Hamunaptra. His name is Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), an archaeologist who lost his entire team after finding the mythical city. Eve begs for his release, and finally gets it when she offers the warden twenty-five percent of the findings.

Rounding out the cast is the brother-sister tandem of Jonathan and Evelyn (Josh Hannah and Rachel Weisz, respectively), and Beni (Jonathan Hyde) as the cowardly, sadistic sidekick. Each of these three characters is just as enjoyable as The Mummy and Rick O’Connell. Indeed, they all bring a welcome variety to the cast, providing appropriate measures of humor and conflict at just the right times. But of course, rising to the fore is Evelyn, who becomes the love interest for O’Connell. Her character isn’t the typical damsel in distress so often seen in these kinds of films. She’s more like Marion Ravenwood (Raiders of the Lost Ark) than Willie Scott (The Temple of Doom). In fact, it’s possible to consider her character as prominently as the Mummy or O’Connell.

As for the story, it’s wonderfully paced, hitting all the right beats – beginning with a well-scripted prologue and moving through action sequences, exposition, and montages at just the right times to keep viewers engaged all the way through the film. Of course, stories about mummies are almost always compelling, so long as they are told properly. But The Mummy does indeed tell a proper story, adding in the right mixture of realism and fantasy to create a plausible narrative. It tells the tale of a group of treasure hunters who inadvertently awaken a thousands of years old monster and have to find some way to undo their handiwork before the world is destroyed.

Part of what makes the film so particularly memorable and enjoyable are its special effects. At the time, The Mummy was fairly cutting edge in its use of CGI to render the Mummy, the sandstorms, scarabs and all manner of plagues including the meteor shower. What’s most impressive about the movie is that, nearly a decade later, the film still looks good. This proves that the CGI was integrated in such a way as to enhance the film. Otherwise, cutting edge 1999 would look downright embarrassing by the time 2009 rolled around. The Mummy not only avoids that pitfall, it manages to create a look and style that perfectly complements its story.

Sommers' very own tailor made script shows that people should not buy books on 'How to Write your Screenplay in 21 Days' or 'How to Make a Movie that Sells' on a matter of principle. Sommers tries and fails at juggling Adventure, Romance, Comedy, Action, and Horror around all at once. In the desperate attempt to keep the balls from hitting him on the head, he ends up placing one-liners right next to screams of terror as a flesh-eating... BEETLE?... devours someone from the inside. Also we get to see Rachel Weisz go from sub-zero to just plain zero as she 'warms up' to Brendan Fraser.

This is a film at which I took my own advice. My advice: always get a head start on an angry mob. Hence, I watched the last thirty seconds from the back of the theatre.

As promised by the preview for The Mummy, the special effects are good. They are not, however, anything compared to what we normally see in the pre-summer gameshow. And, when I say special effects are good, you know what that normally means... It did also live up to its tagline, but not in the way intended. Let me tell you, personally, BEWARE OF THE MUMMY.