Name: Film Review: The Mummy Returns (2001)
Item: The Mummy Returns
Rating: 50
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org

The Mummy, 1999 period adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers (and extremely loose remake of eponymous 1932 horror classic, became a hit so massive making the sequel inevitable. This came two years later with The Mummy Returns, film again written and directed by Sommers.

The plot begins in 1933, ten years after the events depicted in the first film. American adventurer Rick O’Connell (played by Brendan Fraser) and British Egyptologist Evelyn Carnahan (played by Rachel Weisz) have defeated Imhotep (played by Arnold Vosloo), ancient Egyptian priest and save the world from his evil plans. They are now married, live in London and have ten-year old son Alex (played by Freddie Boath). Unfortunately, Imhotep is again resurrected and his followers abduct Alex. O’Connells are helped by Evelyn’s brother Jonathan (played by John Hannah) and when the trio come to Egypt in search of Alex, assistance is also provided by their old friend Ardeth Bey (played by Oded Fehr). Quest for Imhotep and his followers gets complicated because another person for distant Egyptian past is also resurrected – Scorpion King (played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), mighty warrior who sold his soul to Anubis.

American critics were much less favourable to The Mummy Returns than to The Mummy, although there isn’t actually much difference between two films. Both are rather shallow, but entertaining adventure films that depend on period setting, some humour and plenty of non-stop action. Thanks to the great success of the first film, Sommers had much larger budget at his disposal, which was spent mostly on CGI resulting in even more spectacular scenes than in The Mummy. Sommers also brought almost entire cast from the previous film. His script makes plot and characterisation subservient for the need for action scenes, which are mostly effective and audience almost don’t feel that the film has running time of over two hours. The cast seems quite relaxed, apparently aware that stereotypical and already established characters don’t have to be played with extra effort. Possible exception might be Patricia Velasquez, who was mostly eye candy in previous film, and who this time has somewhat meatier role that allows her to show little bit more of the acting ability. The Mummy Returns is unambitious film that serves its purposed by providing everything fans of the previous film liked. Like the original, it became the big box office hit and almost immediately spawned the spin-off The Scorpion King that would be first in a new film series and launch Dwayne Johnson’s career. The Mummy Returns received a sequel Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in 2008 with slightly different cast; its underwhelming box office led to the series being rebooted in 2017 with The Mummy starring Tom Cruise.

RATING: 5/10 (++)