Indiana clone
In 27th century B.C. Egypt, high priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) was caught fooling around with the pharaoh’s mistress, Anck Su Namun (Patricia Velasquez), which resulted in her suicide and the pharaoh’s murder. Imhotep was punished with death via mummification and a curse so powerful that he would become a harbinger of Armageddon someday, if only somebody could excavate his tomb, retrieve his organs stored in jars and read secret passages from the ancient Book of the Dead, not to mention provide him with replacement body parts. Several centuries later, Imhotep’s unholy prayers were finally answered when a clumsy librarian and a bunch of treasure hunters raided his tomb and unwittingly performed all four conditions required for his resurrection.
Circa 1999, Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy was B-graded trash to me, a blatant attempt to capitalise on the ten-year absence of Indiana Jones, thought to have ended with The Last Crusade (Part 3) at the time. Hogging screen time with stars Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser were zero-presence actors playing either unfunny stereotypes or inconsequential meat for the Mummy grinder. Nine years later, I’m compelled to revise my stance and consider it as one of the best examples of pure popcorn pleasure, and a great example of how to ape Spielberg the right way.
Its sense of humour, continuous action sequences, rousing score, cinematography, treasure-hunting hero and pre-World War Two Middle Eastern setting are clearly inspired by Spielberg’s highly revered Indiana Jones series. There is something about that combination of elements that appeal to mainstream moviegoers if done right, and Sommers has done an impeccable job despite some shortcomings.
For one thing, The Mummy felt cluttered by third-tier actors playing first and second-tier roles (Arnold Vosloo, John Hannah, Kevin J. O’Connor, Omid Djalili, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velasquez, etc.), though Fehr (as the honourable Ardeth Bay) and O’Connor (as the Peter Lorre-like Beni) made positive impressions. It could have benefitted from some contributions by senior English thespians like Ian McKellen or Gary Oldman, who complemented the cast of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter sagas rather well. But I was more let down by its terrible CG effects. The CG sequences were too ambitious for the technology they had at the time, requiring close-ups of a CG monster that wasn’t photo-real enough. Its unconvincing sand effects were recently trumped by Spider-man 3’s Sandman sequences.
To the filmmakers’ credit, at least they opted for a playful Harryhausen vibe in the action and effects instead of blindly borrowing Indiana Jones’ realism-based, stunt-heavy set pieces. There’s one good sequence partly inspired by Jason and the Argonaut’s skeleton fight scene, and some simple yet fun-scary parts involving flesh-eating scarabs. Another neat touch was Jerry Goldsmith’s orchestral accompaniment, because the stirring score is more Lawrence of Arabia than Raiders of the Lost Ark. Interestingly, the character of Ardeth Bay is reminiscent of Omar Sharif’s Sherif Ali.
Though it’s still out of Indiana Jones’ league (let’s just pretend Kingdom of the Crystal Skull never happened), The Mummy is still a largely enjoyable movie that was smart enough to avoid fixing everything that wasn’t broke. It easily leads the pack of Indy wannabes, which includes National Treasure, Tomb Raider, Sahara, Hidalgo, The Da Vinci Code and countless direct-to-video crap. And yes, I think it’s heaps better than Crystal Skull. Fire away. - BMF
Directed and screenplay written by Stephen Sommers (Deep Rising, The Jungle Book [1994]) and screen story by Sommers, Lloyd Fonvielle (Cherry 2000, The Bride) and Kevin Jarre (The Devil's Own, Tombstone). Starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J. O'Connor, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velasquez and Erick Avari. Based on the story created by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer, and the screenplay by John L. Balderston for the 1932 version of The Mummy. |
