The Mummy Returns
Directed by Stephen Sommers.
Starring Brendan Frazer, Rachel Weisz and Freddie Boath.
After you’ve spent five hours dissertating with your friends on the respective merits of Red, White and Blue and other pompous French crap, why not unwind with a good old belly laugh at your local megacinema? The Mummy has indeed returned, bigger, better and more hilarious than before.
Ten years after their first adventure, Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn O’Connell (Rachael Weisz) are now married with a son (Freddie Boath). The boy accidentally gets his wrist locked in the bracelet of eternal something-or-other. This causes all kinds of trouble, as Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), the original Mummy, has been resurrected from “hibernation” at the Museum, to join his rather more attractive other half Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velasquez) in a quest to conquer the universe together forever. All they need is to get the bracelet, insert it into the statue of eternal somethingorother, and kill the Scorpion King — played by WWF big boy The Rock (no lack of acting experience there) — who is also bursting to be resurrected. Poor Rick and team have to bundle these villains back into the grave before they destroy the universe. It’s completely ridiculous, but hey! If you liked the first installment, you’ll love this: there’s the same cast of goodies, actors that by now just seem to go so well together. The goofy one (John Hannah); the serious one (Oded Fehr); the female one; call it a cliché. I call it a time-honoured formula for success. And I think this stands alongside Jewel of the Nile and … almost … next to Raiders as one of the great action-comedy-romance movies of all time. And in 2002 there’s apparently going to be a prequel (that tainted word), also starring The Rock. In summary, you’d have to be pretty boring and pompous not to enjoy this one… Yeah yeah and I can hear you muttering something about “excludes most of the film-choosing night attendees”. Just be thankful we chose the occasional raucous 50s British comedy… fumble, bumble, oh bother I dropped my toupee on my snuff-box…
The Pebble
