Review of The Mummy (1999) by Michael Y — 09 Jul 2011

Though far from the same style as Boris Karloff's The Mummy, this remake has a great quality of its own, and still adapts the same fun feeling of classic adventure movies.

3000 years ago an Egyptian priest named Imhotep was put to death and placed with a terrible curse. Now, an American adventurer, a librarian and her brother seek to find the hidden ancient city where Imhotep is buried. They find the city, and Imhotep's tomb, but they don't know what destructive power Imhotep has if he is to be woken from the dead. The Mummy is exciting adventure movie, full of mythical magic and danger. As fun as this movie is, its comedical aspect is a bit flat. But other than that this movie isn't just a cool adventure movie, but it's one that really resembles the classic adventure movies like Indiana Jones, and that comes from the great performances. Brendan Fraser, love him or hate him, does play his role seriously, so his side jokes are a lot funnier. Rachel Weisz has a very classy starlette quality about her in this movie that just screams classic Hollywood. And Arnold Vosloo is very cool as Imhotep.

Stephen Sommers does a pretty great job directing this movie, balancing the fun adventure and creepy thrills very well. Shots are captured wonderfully and in a very classy manner, but can also be creepy too. The movie is filmed quite greatly in its locations and sets. Full of great detail and cinematography. We see shots of Cairo and a big set on inside a creepy and dangerous pyramid that has a lot of great creative detail. Then there's the animation. The CGI effects in this movie are wonderful and creative. I especially like the ones where Imhotep is healing up. And the scarab beatles are scary as hell.

The Mummy has its flaws, but its execution is very entertaining and creative. Its classic action/adventure style and feel is one of the most recent movies to ever get it right, and that's why it is still as entertaining as when it was first released.