*** (out of ****)
Starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, and Oded Fehr.
Directed & co-written by Stephen Sommers.
1996 PG13.
“The Mummy” is a prime example of what a light action/comedy/fantasy should be. It has the perfect tone for its subject matter, that is, it only takes itself seriously when it absolutely must, and the rest of the time is just good, silly fun. The story moves quickly and makes sense in a crazy movie kind of way; the good guys are clear-cut, likable, say something funny at regular intervals, and are most importantly flawed human beings; the bad guys are reprehensible but stylish; and something blows up every few minutes. “The Mummy” addresses no moral or philosophical issues and isn’t a great or classic adventure like “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but it’s fun.
Like “Raiders” our story takes us to an exotic location between World Wars. In this case, it’s Egypt, but a Hollywood Egypt that probably bears about as much resemblance to the real Egypt as my house does. But that doesn’t matter because taking “The Mummy” seriously will only hinder your enjoyment of it (let’s refer to that as The First Rule of Watching Silly Adventure Movies). Two competing groups of archaeologists are trying to find the Lost City of . . . of . . . of well I can’t spell it but it doesn’t really matter either. Consult the First Rule. Guiding the Good Group of archaeologists is Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell. Rick is a scoundrel with a soft spot for an archaeologist played by Rachel Weisz, who saved his life earlier in the film. He has lots of guns and uses them to solve most of his problems. They find this Lost City and whoops they wake up Imhotep, who murdered a pharaoh a few thousand years ago and was horribly executed as a result. Somehow executing him means that he can be resurrected and have all sorts of demonic powers. The movie is foggy here but, once again, consult the First Rule. What does matter is that the flashbacks to his betrayal and execution are told so well.
The real Imhotep was an architect in ancient Egypt. I guess the filmmakers just liked his name.
Imhotep comes back to life and has a few things on his mind: put his body back together, because right now he’s looking pretty bad, what with the decay and mummification and all; then resurrect his dead girlfriend; then take over the world. Because the Bad Group of archaeologists awakened him, he must consume their flesh to become whole again, and because he likes the look of Rachel Weisz, he must use her body to resurrect his dead, mummified girlfriend. So the chase begins.
Rick is joined in his quest to protect Weisz and save the world by various sidekicks. The funniest is John Hannah (the show-stealing Scotsman in “Sliding Doors”) as Weisz’s brother Jonathan, who is an even bigger scoundrel than Rick but a harmless coward at the same time. The most interesting is Oded Fehr as a Muslim warrior who is part of sect that has been guarding the tomb of Imhotep since time immemorial. Fehr may not say anything profound but the look in his eyes and his withdrawn, detached attitude suggests that his approach to all this craziness is the most philosophical, as if he sees his place in the cosmos a little better than everyone else. These three men are good foils for one another, because Fehr provides the knowledge that Fraser needs for charging into the action, while Hannah maintains the movie’s silly tone by making the same dopey observations the audience would make if they were funnier.
At Imhotep’s command are lots of zombies and resurrected mummies for Fraser, Fehr, and Hannah to shoot, smash, stab, and drop heavy things on. The special effects are technically stunning and their ability to interact quickly and smoothly with the live actors is groundbreaking. But for all their technical superiority, they don’t quite match the ghosts at the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for sheer terror. The fight scenes are breathtaking, not just because of their technical complexity, but because the audience has come to care about the protagonists. Hannah and Weisz bicker as grown siblings do, Fraser’s scoundrel and Weisz’s straight-laced English girl are appropriately nasty and attracted to one another, and Fehr stands apart from all of them with his code of honor, even while Hannah pokes fun at him. We like these people, silly and shallow as they are.
We know that Imhotep isn’t going to take over the world and Rick is going to save the girl and the day, but that doesn’t keep “The Mummy” from being any less fun. For pure entertainment, this may not be on par with Indiana Jones, but it’s awful close, and there’s no shame in being beaten by the best.
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