Loosely adapted from the classic 1932 horror film starring Boris Karloff, The Mummy is set in Egypt, where over 3,000 years ago the high priest Imhotep (played by Arnold Vosloo) was given the all-important assignment of preparing the recently dead for their journey into the afterlife. However, Imhotep made one terrible mistake - he became smitten with Anck-Su-Namun, the mistress of the Pharaoh himself. Driven mad by jealousy and love, Imhotep murdered the Pharaoh, and his punishment was to be buried alive and suffer the torment of an eternal life in his wretched tomb. In 1925, a band of adventurers seeking fame and fortune - led by Rick O'Connel (Brendan Fraser), an American expatriate who has joined the foreign legion, and Evelyn Carnarvon (Rachel Weisz), an amateur archeologist - find a previously unknown burial site in Egypt. The team starts to dig, hoping to find lost riches, but instead they disturb the tomb of Imhotep, and soon the cursed priest rises from his grave to wreck vengeance on humanity. The Mummy was written and directed by Stephen Sommers, whose previous cinematic journeys into the past include The Jungle Book and The Adventures Of Huck Finn. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Review
More an uneasy amalgam of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Terminator 2 (1991) than an homage to Boris Karloff and Karl Freund, this big-budget, end-of-the-century Mummy nonetheless delivers the genre's requisite thrills.The film plods somewhat in its opening act, but as soon as writer- director Stephen Sommers and company establish their threadbare premise, the action is swift and unrelenting. And you can forget the bandages with this Mummy: Sommers forgoes atmosphere and suspense in favor of CGI special effects and gross-out horror. Better yet, hero Brendan Fraser brings a bright, self-mocking element to the somewhat ludicrous proceedings, making the gory shocks all the more surprising. The film's Achilles' heel is an undercurrent of mean-spiritedness towards Middle Easterners and women; the latter is evident in the central character of Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), a bumbling archaeologist whose ineptitude is used to further the plot and add ostensible comic relief. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
Tony Reading - Art Director, Cliff Robinson - Art Director, Peter Russell - Art Director, Giles Masters - Art Director, Ros Hubbard - Casting, John Hubbard - Casting, Patricia Carr - Co-producer, John Bloomfield - Costume Designer, Stephen Sommers - Director, Greg Michael - Second Unit Director, Bob Ducsay - Editor, Kevin Jarre - Executive Producer, Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Allan Cameron - Production Designer, Adrian Biddle - Cinematographer, Sean Daniel - Producer, James Jacks - Producer, Peter Howitt - Set Designer, Cinesite - Special Effects, Chris Munro - Sound/Sound Designer, Leslie Shatz - Sound/Sound Designer, Chris Carpenter - Sound/Sound Designer, Rick Kline - Sound/Sound Designer, Simon Crane - Stunts Coordinator, Chris Corbould - Special Effects Supervisor, Lloyd Fonvielle - Screen Story, Kevin Jarre - Screen Story, Stephen Sommers - Screen Story, James Jacks - Screen Story, Stephen Sommers - Screenwriter, Harvey Harrison - Second Unit Director Of Photography, Evan Jacobs - Visual Effects
