The Mummy Returns – Uncut
Owing to the overwhelming success of the first film (The Mummy) the money men were probably scrambling for their cheque books to fund a sequel within minutes of it hitting the cinema. All the old cast and crew members came back into the fold, as well as a few new ones and they set about making a bigger, better and more action packed Mummy film called (rather predictably) Mummy Returns.
However whilst it is most certainly bigger, and it has more action I would not say that it is actually better than the original movie that spawned it. In fact, whilst I mostly enjoyed the film, I have to admit that I felt a little disappointed come the credits and had felt that they had overloaded the film with a lot of faff; and barring some minor differences they basically told the first story again just with more special effects and in new locations.
The story this time is this. 9 years after the events of the original Mummy film, Meela Nais (Patricia Velasquez) who is the naked, gold girl in the first film and a reincarnation of Anck Su-Namun, along with Baltus Hafez (Alun Armstrong) is trying to bring Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) back to life again. They are also after the bracelet of Anubis which thousands of years earlier was given to Mathayus the Scorpion King (The Rock) after his army was defeated and he pleaded with the god Anubis to give him an army to defeat his enemies. Anubis granted him his wish but then took him for eternity and the dog warrior army that he was given was sent back to the sands. Imhotep wants this army so he can rule the world…again.
Of course this where the O’Connells come in. Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) now have a son, Alex (Freddie Boath) and are exploring a site in Egypt where Evelyn is having flashbacks, these flashbacks take her back to Egyptian times and she believes that she actually lived in those times too, a theory which is made more believable as she is able to navigate traps and get through locked doors with ease. They find the bracelet of Anubis and take it home to London where their son makes the mistake of putting the bracelet on. He is kidnapped by the gang (for want of a better word) that is affiliated with Meela and Baltus as well as the by-now re-resurrected Imhotep and the race is on to find the oasis of amn khe and the tomb of the Scorpion King.
Ill get the bad stuff out of the way first. There were three main things that irked me with this movie. The first was the “henchmen” dressed in their red garb, the whole thing about a large gang of dudes that run around at someone elses will really just gets on my nerves, it is a bit like all those “employees” in James Bond films where you think “Do really that many people want to see the end of the world?”. Perhaps it is just me, but when I see this in any film, nine times out of ten it makes the film come across as cheap because we know that they are there as faceless victims of the events that happen around them.
The second thing was the balloon, the whole balloon thing I thought was abysmal, it looked crap, you could tell it was all CGI when they were “flying” and when it crashed where exactly did all that gas come from in order to re-float it? And I agree with Roger Eberts summarisation that "no good movie has ever featured a hot-air balloon”. I think it was just either an incredibly lazy way for them to get from A to B or they or that the writer/director wanted to insert some wow moments into the film but this for me was “wow that’s so crap” rather than “wow look how good that is”.
Lastly, although I concede that this just maybe me being picky, but just how many CGI faces into walls of sand/water do you need? It was done in the first movie and it was done several times in this movie to the point where it was common place. Also talking about done in the first movie there will be several times when you will feel that the story is lifted directly from the first film only in a grander scale, and you would be right as at several points I felt that I was looking at the Mummy rather than The Mummy Returns.
You may think from that relatively scathing blast that I did not enjoy the film. But that is not the case (well accept for the balloon bits). I loved the way that they flashbacked to Egypt in order to enhance the story, those bits were very impressive. I think actually here that a special mention needs to be made for Aharon Ipalé who plays Pharaoh Seti I in both films. I really felt that he looked the part of a Pharaoh, and if I ever get to make a film that incorporates one, ill be sure to get him for the role. I also felt that the catacombs and tunnels of the tombs that they find themselves in are extremely atmospheric and well detailed as are all the locations really (again accept for the balloon scenes).
But I suppose that the most impressive bit was the army of Anubis, even if some of the CGI is flaky once they meet in battle, these seven foot warriors really put some fear into you as they charge towards the waiting Medjai (whose numbers shown on screen during the battle seem to fluctuate from 50,000 to 150).
Acting wise everything is pretty much the same as in the first film Brendan Fraser (Rick O’Connell) is the tall dashing adventurer type with his regular little quips of humour, whereas Evelyn seems a much more confident, sure person from the timid librarian that we were used too. Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr) has a bigger role in this film too. I like his character, he is noble and tough, and he is someone you would definitely want on your side.
Arnold Vosloo is back as Imhotep (the Mummy) and again he makes this role his own even if some of the actions and facial expressions he makes are straight from the first film, the CGI used to make the Mummy, especially at his most decomposed is visually much better than from the first film too, I guess special effects come a long way in 2 years.
Patricia Velasquez is back as Anck Su-Namun and Meela Nais. Her role has expanded greatly from the first movie, something that was hinted upon on the commentary of the Mummy. Meela is a reincarnation of Su-Namun although without her soul, Imhotep performs a ritual along the way which gives her the soul of Anck Su-Namun so they can rekindle their love. I think her role, although valid is more for eye candy, especially as we saw her more or less naked in the original film, the whole story behind her being there is flawed really as once the ritual is performed, her behaviour does not really change from before, and I would have though that having the soul of Anck Su-Namun would have made her character do things in a different way, although perhaps I’m wrong!
We also have Alex, the child. Kids can either make (Sixth Sense) or break (Phantom Menace) a film and I think that Freddie Boath did well in this, he never really stole the limelight away from the main actors and yet he had his moments where he dropped a few funnies, a good performance from him I think. And lastly we have The Rock (The Scorpion King). Well he isn’t really in the film much except at the beginning and the end and even there the in the end it is CGI; he is there merely as a vessel for the story and the film makers probably need a big, tough guy for a role and he was looking to break into movies, so a match made in heaven really. His appearance in this obviously spawned the Scorpion King movie. But that of course is another review.
If you have the Mummy on DVD then your will probably already have the Mummy returns and they are good companions, although I cannot help thinking that the first one was better and that the adage “less is more” would have been a valid one here. The film is enjoyable to watch however although it does have a fair few plots holes and flaws.
Picture:
Whilst I didn’t think that the image was as good as the first Mummy film, the picture quality was still really good, the sun baked desert with yellows and browns through to the darker cold colours of the night shots in London were all well done with no damage or dirt on visible at all on my setup.
Audio:
There is either a 2.0 Stereo or a 5.1 Dolby Surround mix, I listed to the 5.1 surround mix and found it to be mainly front speaker orientated, there were some sounds that emanated from the rears but not much, saying that the dialogue was clear and other loud noises never really felt that they were overwhelming the spoken word.
Bonus Material:
The Mummy of the Dragon Emperor sneak peak:
A quick look at the up and coming Mummy movie which is obviously one of the reasons for the re-release of the films, we see an extended trailer as well as a quick chat with some of the actors and crew, the film actually looks pretty good and seems to have the same mixture of adventure and humour as the previous films, although no Rachel Weisz this time.
Unearthing the revenge of the mummy:
This is basically an advertisement for the rollercoaster at universal theme park. The ride looks pretty good but as an extra it is pretty pointless.
An Army to rule the world pt 2:
A 6 minute short on the creatures found on the new movie, talking mainly about the Anubis Dog Warriors and the Pygmy creatures in the jungle. Not much detail is really given with the extra being too short to impart much information.
Unravelling the legacy of the Mummy:
A 7 and a half minute look into the history of mummy movies including going back and briefly looking at the 1932 Mummy film
Storyboards:
This movie to storyboard comparison literally has the storyboard below the scene in the film that it relates to, it maybe of interest to someone, but not me.
Out-takes (Aka gag Reel):
This was quite amusing and something that was not on the Mummy disk, a collection of gaffs made on set whilst making the film, always worth a chuckle.
Visual & Special Effects Formation:
John Berton one of the special effects guys talks through the special effects used throughout the film, we see some of the tricks used in order to maych special effects with camera moves, quite interesting.
Set-up
Commentary with Writer/Director Stephen Sommers and Exec Producer/Editor Bob Ducsey:
As far as commentaries go this one is pretty entertaining as you would expect from the role these guys had in making the film, it is full of snippets of information that enhances the film And makes it more interesting. Well worth a listen.
Overall:
The Mummy Returns is a good action film and despite it flaws is worthy of a purchase. I think that if you watched the Mummy and the Mummy returns you would find that the first film is the better off the two. As for purchasing this particular release (the un-cut version) I am not so sure. If you already own the collectors edition for example it isn’t worth the double dip, and if you don’t already own it and are looking to purchase it then I would go for the 2 disk version which has more extras for around the same price.