After the surprisingly good Universal Monsters remake “The Mummy” (1999), “The Mummy Returns” (2001) isn’t wildly different in any particular area, yet it stands as an example of what not to do in a sequel. Most of these principles should’ve already been known, but writer-director Stephen Sommers accidentally provides a refresher course on how to jump the shark.
Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are still very appealing as archeologists Rick and Evy. Unfortunately for us, now they have a kid (Freddie Boath as Alex), who would’ve been in “Episode I’s” Anakin Skywalker casting sessions if a tad older. This encourages Sommers’ emphasis on a jokey tone. Because almost every line is a quip – some funny, most bland like “I hate mummies!” – there’s little sense of peril.
That’s exacerbated by the CGI. Sooooo much CGI. When people picture the overuse of huge, neatly aligned sub-video-game CGI armies, they are possibly picturing “The Mummy Returns.” Yes, there’s significant CGI in the first one, but it doesn’t take over. Here, it does, and by the end we’re watching an animated film with live actors here and there.
“The Mummy Returns” (2001)
Director: Stephen Sommers
Writer: Stephen Sommers
Stars: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah
But even then, an actor might be cross-bred with CGI. This is the case with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the Scorpion King, as Hollywood makes its “fetch”-like pitch to make The Rock happen. Unquestionably, he did, but no star power comes through in his movie debut. After an opening monolog that truly features the wrestler-turned-actor, his likeness is just pasted onto a giant scorpion creature at the end.
Mummy not-so-dearest
The story is harder to follow than the first film’s, not for any benefit. A group of bad-guy tomb raiders resurrects Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), and unless I missed something, his girlfriend Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velasquez, much better as a model than as an actor) has been resurrected off screen.
Peppered-in exposition explains these mummies are sometimes mortal, sometimes not; sometimes with a soul, sometimes not (it’s unclear why that matters) – and that the tomb raiders need the Scorpion King resurrected, but only for the sake of getting use of his magical army, so they intend to kill him. Whew. It’s hard to care.
Furthering the confusion, Evy has dreams and visions of the past, and eventually it’s clear she is in the shoes of the pharaoh’s daughter. So I guess she’s sort of a spiritual reincarnation of her? It’s confusing because in the first movie, Evy was in the shoes of Anck-Su-Namun. But now they randomly are deadly rivals.
Granted, it does lead to a neat sai fight between the two leading women. But, aside from having that too-clean yet appealing set design in the tombs and tunnels (before the movie goes full animation), every good thing about this sequel is fleeting.
Although “The Mummy Returns” isn’t horrifyingly hard to watch, it is sleep inducing because a sense of fun never coalesces, even though almost every line of dialog strains for it. The franchise continued for one more Fraser movie (but Weisz and Sommers bowed out) and five (!) “Scorpion King” movies, even though there isn’t an iota of interesting characterization about the villain here. As for me, I think I’ll call it a wrap.