The Mummy (1999)

By Devaron (23/07/2024)

Hello and welcome to this wondrous website's first film review, this site is not just a jovial place for light-hearted banter but rather a portal into the nature of the human psyche and therefore this review must lead the way. To therefore meet that expectation in this review I will thus take you on a journey, seeing the sights and insights of several different periods of time, From last Sunday to the late 90s, from there to the early 20th century, then to the 19th dynasty of Egypt and back to the early 2000s.

Sunday 7th of July 2024: I made the Journey to my local biggest town, to meet my cinema companion 'M.S' as well as attend said cinema, a local venue sparsely attended and known colloquially as 'Cineworld'. M.S had travelled much further than I (Across the country) and to celebrate his arrival back in his homeland, we did our usual ritual of shops and then had a hasty luncheon in 'KFC' (Kentucky Fried Chicken), I had a rather tasty selection of pieces, wings and a small zinger (a type of burger rather than a funny joke, albeit jokes were had). Post-Chicken we arrived at the venue, after purchasing our tickets from the machine, we made our way to the screen (2) and took our seats, a bit far for my taste but the seats were comfortable and lent back, a surprising innovation. The ads of course were the usual corporate capitalist reels and lasted around 20 minutes, ending with the title card announcing the film "The Mummy" 1999.

This is a part of the cinema's 1999 two months A selection of films from 1999 including The Matrix, American Pie, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and The Sixth Sense. Whilst the year 1999 had many looming concerns, particularly y2k, hope was renewed with the 25th of June release of The Mummy. The film was released on the same day as Glastonbury in the UK, the NBA final and the first and third weddings of Jean Claude Van Damme and Rupert Murdoch. The mummy at the time seemed like a breath of fresh air for a tired genre of action & adventure period pieces - the 90s equivalent of superhero films, with many praising its charm and labelling it as a pivotal blockbuster of the 90s. However, the film itself is a remake of a much older classic horror film similarly titled 'The Mummy' released in 1932. Both mummy films share a vaguely similar initial plot with the 1999 version going into a bit more detail. The initial plot is a Romeo and Juliette-style love story in which two star-crossed lovers cannot be successfully happy together, yet instead of warring families, the lady in the tale "Anck-su-namun", is married to the pharaoh Seti 1st (more like Helen and Menelaus) and Romeo or "Imhotep" is a high priest and master of necromancy. After discovering their affair the pair murder the pharaoh and when caught by the pharaoh's guard Anck-su-namun commits suicide and Imhotep gets to work resurrecting her until the same guard stops him in the city of the dead, his cult receives the collective punishment of being tortured and mummified alive with him receiving the bonus of being sealed into a tomb with a curse.

This is where the two stories separate, what follows in the Universal Monster classic is a more drawn-out scary thriller whilst the 1999 Mummy has its leading man Brendan Fraser do his best Indiana Jones impression and get to work saving the day two pistols at a time, in what is a genuinely fun film, I especially enjoyed Brendan Frasers first scene, the initial big battle scene (Battle of Hamunaptra) at the start of the film as it managed to set the tone effectively, and demonstrate instances of what's to come, a good blend of action, comedy and horror, through a large scale epic battle that is not often seen in films today. While this film was very good it unfortunately spawned two sequels, which I have watched but not recently enough to review, although I do recall the awful CGI Dwayne Johnson scorpion from the 2nd film in the trilogy 'The Mummy Returns 2001' and remember enjoying the third 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor 2008' as a kid. It also spawned a pretty mediocre reboot with Tom Cruise in 2017 which was meant to create a marvel style Classic Monsters universe but flopped so hard (worst rated out of all 'Mummy' films) that the idea was scrapped and largely put on the back burner. However the legacy of Brendan Fraser's mummy does live on, and it lives very well. Universal while perhaps not being super wise with their sequels in the franchise did make an excellent rollercoaster "Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride"

It's an enclosed or 'darkride' roller coaster at Universal Studios Florida, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Universal Studios Singapore. Its theming is fantastic and it boasts linear induction motors (LIMs) that propel riders to a thrilling top speed of 40 mph (64 km/h) in mere seconds. It was predominantly manufactured by Premier Rides, and the attractions feature innovative track switches installed by Dynamic Structures. The immersive theming at each location was brought to life by Universal Creative and ITEC Entertainment Corporation. While replacing the very popular "Kongfrontation" at Orlando and "ET adventure" at Hollywood both opening in 2004 they offer very good replacements. At Orlando, the ride begins in the tomb of Imhotep, has awesome effects, good animatronics and a fakeout ending which is great too and also features the voices and faces of many of the cast such as Brendan Fraser as Himself/Rick O'Connell, Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep, Michael Lawson as Reggie and Rachel Weisz as Evelyn O'Connell. Whilst already providing ample legacy as an attraction, in Universal Studios Orlando's fated new park "Epic Universe" there is going to be a "Dark Universe" land based on their catalogue of classic monsters and it will no doubt feature The Mummy and it will be interesting to see where and how universal does take this nearly 100-year-old IP next.

In conclusion and back to the present, the Film was good, the ride was better

Ancient curse revived,

Fraser's charm, thrilling dark ride,

Mummy's tale survives.

3.5/5

Keep ya popcorn buttered!

Devaron