Review of The Mummy (1999) by Filipeneto — 20 Feb 2018

In this film, placed in the twenties, an American with a mysterious past will help a British librarian in love with Ancient Egypt to explore an Egyptian ruin, but they end up waking up a mummy that threaten to destroy the world. Few people know that this film is the remake of a classic horror film of 1932, with Boris Karloff in the role of the mummy. The film is directed by Stephen Sommers, who also wrote the script along with Lloyd Fonvielle. It has the participation of Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Arnold Vosloo.

The mummies and their curses are part of movie horror paraphernalia since the dawn of cinema, but were eventually pushed aside for decades. This film, though not of terror but of adventure, made a redemption of these elements and brought again the mummies to the cinema. And there are hundreds of them. The film is excellent, it's very fun, has no dead moments and makes an intelligent use of the mysteries of Egyptian civilization to thicken the suspense in the plot, that is lightened by several moments of humor. The performance of the cast was also very good and the soundtrack, although not particularly surprising or memorable, do very well her role. The special effects and makeup deserves a special positive mention, as well as computerization and digital resources, because they knew perfectly how to enrich the film without dominating the attentions.

This film is funny, smart without becoming inaccessible to the general public, and has suspense and some strong scenes, without being too strong for kids. So, it's a great family film, suitable for almost all ages and to see in almost any situation.