Review of The Mummy (1999) by Peter F — 30 Aug 2011

I'm not sure why a lot of people hate this adaptation of The Mummy story. In the more recent "Mummy" trilogy, it's far and beyond the best, and even in comparison with most contemporary films it stands apart as a legitimately fun blockbuster with real imagination and an appreciation for the Universal monster-flick methods of filmmaking. It's surprisingly well-paced and edited, and walks the line between fun and being too over-the-top and cheesy quite well. My only real complaint is that not once do you really feel any real sense of danger for the characters except for an ending scene that hearkens back to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where the heroes desperately attempt to escape an enclosed room as the impregnable stone door and only exit rapidly closes. As a movie that deliberately tries to re-capture the Universal Monsters era of horror, a distinct lack of horror is a little jarring.

Otherwise it's a fun movie that works extremely well and still holds up remarkably well, though I attribute that primarily to the digital effects being used almost exclusively to depict non-human elements such as reanimated corpses and insects, allowing for a complete avoidance of the uncanny valley. And despite my reservations about Brendan Frasier, he actually fits the role of charismatic anti-hero quite well.