Review of The Mummy Returns (2001) by Peter G — 05 Apr 2012

While The Mummy Returns may not be as original as the first, it's still an incredibly satisfying sequel. I only realized until the middle of the movie that the Mummy series is a lot like Indiana Jones but with mummies- and that's a very good thing.

I also liked the portrayal of Imhotep. This time around, he can levitate people and objects at will and when he has his mask on, his voice has a deep but distorted tone to it, sort of like Darth Vader.

He seems to be more of a god-like figure, and I think he's a lot cooler than he was in the first Mummy. Better acting here as well, particularly from Brenan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. There's a lot more drama and the actors weave through the tears and emotion seamlessly.

The sequel also paid homage to the first Mummy with the domino pillars (mirroring the domino book shelves from the first) and Imohtep's water wall (mirroring the wall of sand from the first). Unfortunately, this sequel is pretty flawed as well.

The son of Rick and Evy is quite annoying and a lot of the lines are still cheesy. One thing that made the first such a classic was characters like Beni and the Warden. Due to their deaths, they obviously couldn't be included in the sequel.

However we do have a new funny character, Lock-Nah. He's the black guy that escorts the kid around. Whenever the kid asks him for something, he either makes a funny high-pitched sound or mutters something in Arabic.

I thought the parallel story about the Medjai and Evy's descendant was kind of dumb. They definitely could have replaced that with a better subplot. While The Mummy Returns does not have the same comedic flare that side characters provided from the first or the mysterious and creepy origins of the mummy himself, it's still an equally entertaining movie.