Review of The Mummy (1999) by William T — 14 Apr 2013

Every time I go to my grandparent's house one of two movies is always on TV, The Godfather and The Mummy. Two very different movies but let's talk about The Mummy. An ancient, evil, mummy comes back to life to revive his dead girlfriend while terrorizing Brendan Fraser and Rachael Weisz, I'm ok with that. The Mummy is an entertaining experience and goes down as one of my favorite movies as a kid.

In the beginning there is a prologue showing Prince Imhotep and Anck Su Namun and their forbidden love story in the ancient city Hamunaptra. It is really interesting and the visuals of ancient Egypt and the story really sucked me in. I love a good prologue and the opening scenes to this movie were strong. Characters were introduced well with their first impressions. Imhotep is a clever villain. O'Connell is the level headed, strong, leader. Jonathan is the witty idiot who provides comedic relief, and Evy is the beautiful genius. The characters are cliché but for the goal of the movie it works. The plot is basic, acting is ok, and the special effects/action scenes are above average. The Mummy, for 1999 was a good movie but it is easily forgotten.

Brendan Frasier plays Rick O'Connell and this is the best performance of his career, and that really isn't saying much. He is the standard superhuman who can do anything. He is smart, strong, handsome, and everything somebody wants in a hero. He wasn't a mindless action star because this isn't an action movie, thank god, so he has character development and is way different from the beginning compared to the end. He has his one-liners, he has his witty comments and funny moments, and sometimes they work really well, and sometimes it's painful to watch. When he first sees the mummy he freaks, says something stupid, shoots it in the face, and runs. That didn't work whatsoever. It was a typical one-liner that makes the hand smack the forehead. Then there is a moment where he yells at another mummy and it is his battle cry. The mummies respond and the look on his face was great before he runs away. I loved it, I laughed and it worked.

Halfway into the movie we leave the desert and move to Cairo. This is where I expected the movie to slow down and become really boring, but it didn't. I loved most scenes in Egypt with the bugs that eat people and the digging in then tombs. That is all interesting to me and I almost wanted to go back. In Cairo, the movie gets really good because Imhotep needs to regenerate and seeing him slowly become human again, and by human I mean having skin and not a decaying corpus, was really cool and scary. The visuals of the 1/2 man 1/2 mummy were really cool. I love the visual of a bug crawling across his face and it crawls into a hole in his cheek and Imhotep just bites down and eats the bug, brilliant.

For the entire movie I was waiting for when I would get taken out of the experience and would be turned off, and that was the plane scene with Winston. He was a pointless character with a meaningless plot point. I know why he was in the movie and it does make sense but I just hate it. The whole scene with the giant sandstorm was just so stupid. I watched it just loathing it and wanting it to end as soon as possible. Then it just ends in the worst way possible. I won't spoil but if this scene was cut out the movie would have been no different.

For my favorite character it is a split between Beni and Jonathan. Beni is the weasel who works with the devil to save his own life. He even admits it. "It is better to be at the right hand of the devil then in his path." Every time I saw him I was waiting for somebody to kill him. There is no way he can possibly live and I was waiting for the bullet to the head, or the sword in the stomach, or even the mummy tearing him to shreds. Needless to say his character is very entertaining; we feel emotion towards him and is the wildcard in the movie. Jonathan is just straight up funny. He is dumb but had flashes of brilliance. He is kind of a sidekick but I enjoy seeing him on screen and his charisma adds a nice charm to the movie. This isn't a good movie without Jonathan or Beni in it.

Overall, The Mummy is a good movie. It isn't a classic, but it isn't awful either. I liked the movie and every time it's on I will watch it. I can hop in at any point and have fun watching it. There is really nothing special about it, positive or negative. The CGI and special effects weren't groundbreaking. The acting won't win any awards, it's just a fun movie to watch and enjoy it for what it is. As for a grade, it's tough. It isn't good enough for an Honorable Mention, but isn't bad enough for an A For Effort. It is somewhere in the middle. I know, The Mummy gets the WillyT Recommendation. I recommend this movie to anybody who wants a decent movie to watch with friends and enjoy the story and action. Don't expect the best movie ever but don't expect garbage either. Just expect The Mummy.