Deep within a shadowy chamber in the British Museum of London, an ancient force of terror is about to be reborn.
It is 1933, the year of the scorpion. Eight years have passed since dashing legionnaire Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and fearless Egyptologist Evelyn Carnarvon (Rachel Weisz) fought for their lives against a 3000-year-old enemy name Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo).
Rick and Evelyn are married now and have settled in London where they are raising their son Alex (Freddie Boath). When a chain of events finds the corpse of Imhotep resurrected in the British Museum, the mummy Imhotep walks the Earth once more, determined to fulfil his quest for immortality. But another force has also been set loose in the world... one born of the darkest rituals of ancient Egyptian mysticism and even more powerful than Imhotep. When these two forces clash, the fate of the world will hang in the balance, sending the O'Connells on a desperate race to save the world from unspeakable evil and rescue their son before it is too late.
Special Agent Matti
Woo hoo!
The mummy returns is one of the few sequels in the history of film that is actually as good as the original.
All the same characters come back but all of them are slightly different: they've grown and changed from their previous incarnation (no pun intended). Rick is still a dashing daredevil but he's also a loving dad. Evie is still slightly blonde but she's now in touch with a deeply spiritual part of herself. Jonathan is still a kak but he gets to share his lines with Alex, who is exactly the boy you'd expect from the loins of Rick and Evie, but has discovered a new sense of meaning in the role of favourite gay uncle (er... that's gay in the "happy" sense, although Jonathan does behave in a way that many "happy and more" men pursue in more modern times).
The special effects are generations beyond what was available for the first film and Stephen treads not lightly in this exciting domain. ["Treads not lightly in this exciting domain?" What medication are you on today? - Director of Intelligence] Wild hordes of canine warriors fighting legions of Arab cavalry, glorious ancient Egyptian cityscapes, undead pygmies attacking terrified soldiers in the jungles of the Nile, mystical tsunamis, carnivorous scarabs... you name it, it's there. Cool. In a tribute to the folk at Industrial Light and Magic, I tell you that almost every scene is real even though you know it's not. The only trouble is matching actual people with other stuff. When the people are full size on the screen the magic is shattered and the illusion is discovered. That's a fault of technology. One day it will be better.
Meanwhile, Oded is as hot and sexy as he ever was. If you've read my review of Dune, Oded is what I had in mind for the fremen - with a little bit less of the water fat, of course.
Watch The mummy returns and you'll have a hoot. It really is an action movie worth seeing!
M (Supernatural themes, medium level violence)
129 minutes (2:09 hours)
Film: 17 October 2001
DVD retail: 7 September 2005
