The Mummy Returns
| The Mummy Returns | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for The Mummy Returns | |
| Directed by | Stephen Sommers |
| Written by | Stephen Sommers |
| Produced by | Sean Daniel James Jacks |
| Starring | Brendan Fraser Rachel Weisz Arnold Vosloo John Hannah Patricia Velásquez The Rock Oded Fehr |
| Cinematography | Adrian Biddle |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri Theme: Jerry Goldsmith |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
Release dates | United States: May 4, 2001 United Kingdom: May 18, 2001 |
Running time | 130 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $98,000,000 (est.) |
| Box office | Domestic: $202,019,785 Worldwide: $433,013,274 |
The Mummy Returns is a 2001 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Oded Fehr, and Arnold Vosloo. The film acts as the sequel to the 1999 film The Mummy, which took place in 1921, and is set 12 years later, in 1933. Filming took place in London, Morocco, and Jordan. The film is Rated PG-13 for adventure action and violence.
The Mummy Returns also had a 2002 spin-off The Scorpion King, which is set 5,000 years prior and focuses on The Scorpion King, who is introduced in The Mummy Returns and played by Dwayne Johnson. The 2008 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the third film in the series.
Plot
In the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes in 3067 BC, a warrior known only as the Scorpion King leads his army to conquer the city. However, the Scorpion King loses this decisive battle and is forced to retreat into the desert of Ahm Shere with what is left of his army. His soldiers die one by one from the desert's heat, and soon only the Scorpion King is left alive. Dying, he swears an oath to the god of death, Anubis, and the Scorpion King's soul is exchanged for his life and the power to defeat his enemies. After eating a black scorpion, a great oasis is formed around him, and he returns to Thebes with the Army of Anubis (a numberless legion of demonic jackal-headed warriors) to exact his revenge. The Scorpion King's new army easily overpowers their enemies, slaughtering everyone in its walls. As soon as he completes his conquest, his soul is taken by Anubis.
About 5000 years later, in 1933 Evy and Rick O'Connell are exploring another pyramid nine years after their previous adventure. During their archaeological dig, Evy and Rick find another chest containing the Bracelet of Anubis. Back in London, their son Alex puts the bracelet on, providing him with directions to the oasis of Ahm Shere. However, it also begins a countdown of seven days, when it ends, the Scorpion King, and his army, will reawaken. Alex is captured by an unholy Egyptian cult who have resurrected Imhotep: their purpose for doing so is to use Imhotep's power to defeat the Scorpion King, which would give him command of the Army of Anubis, with which he could conquer the world. The cult, led by local museum curator Baltus Hafez, includes the psychopathic warrior Lock-Nah, and Meela Nais, the reincarnation of Imhotep's love Anck-su-namun, in order to lead him to the oasis. However, the O'Connells set out to rescue Alex, accompanied by Ardeth Bay, the Medjai warrior from the previous film, and Evy's hopeless brother, Jonathan.
The instructions are given to Alex in stages, and he leaves clues to the next location for his parents to find; however, they do not have long, as Alex learns that if he does not reach the temple of the Scorpion King in seven days after donning the bracelet, it will suck the life out of him. Rick finds Izzy, an airship pilot from his past adventures who aids them in tracking down the kidnappers. Each time the group learn the next location of their journey, Ardeth sends the location in a message to a growing army of Medjai, intended to stop the army of Anubis as it awakens. As they head off to thwart Imhotep, the O'Connells learn of their connections to Imhotep and the Scorpion King himself: in a past life, Evy was Nefertiti, daughter of Seti I and protector of the Bracelet of Anubis. Rick is a Medjai, trusted to protect Evelyn. Together with their son Alex, who is the path to Ahm Shere, they make up the 3 sides of a pyramid. When the bracelet reaches the temple, it will awaken the Scorpion King who will seek to reclaim his grasp on the world with the aid of the army of Anubis. In the meantime, Imhotep presents Meela a vision of her past life as Anck-su-namun, which expels her own soul and replaces it with that of his lover of old, restoring her completely.
As the two groups arrive at the oasis where the Scorpion King's temple lies, the cultists are attacked by mummified pygmies and ambushed by Rick, Evy, Jonathan, and Ardeth Bey. The cultists are all killed with the exception of Hafez, their leader. Rick saves Alex from Lock-Nah, who has been trying to kill him through most of the journey: Lock-Nah is then killed by Ardeth, who leaves the group to take leadership of the Medjai army. Rick must then run with Alex to the temple before the sun strikes it and Alex dies. They make it into the pyramid in the nick of time, and Alex is able to remove the bracelet. However, when Jonathan and Evy catch up, Anck-su-namun walks into the pyramid courtyard with Imhotep and stabs Evy to death. Hafez takes the bracelet and descends into the pyramid and unleashes the Army of Anubis, who engage the Medjai in battle.
Imhotep reaches the Scorpion King's lair, but his powers are stripped from him by Anubis, who wishes him to fight the King as a mortal. Despite his new disadvantage, Imhotep is able to summon the Scorpion King. He and Rick engage is a furious battle, eventually leaving the two opponents equally matched. The Scorpion King finally enters the chamber. His soul has been restored to his physical body, albeit he is now in the form of a deadly massive centauroid scorpion monster. Imhotep feigns allegiance to the King, who then focuses his wrath on Rick, killing Hafez in the process. Meanwhile, Jonathan distracts Anck-su-namun while Alex (who learned ancient Egyptian from his mother) finds the Book of the Dead and revives his mother, who attacks and engages in a battle with Anck-su-namun. At the same time, Ardeth and the remains of the Medjai army defeat the Anubis warriors; however, they discover that the Anubis forces cannot be killed and come charging back across the dunes towards them. Outnumbered and with no hope of victory, the Medjai prepare to fight to the end.
Rick sees a series of hieroglyphics on the walls, and realizes that Ardeth was telling the truth earlier, and he now accepts that the strange mark on his right hand indicates he is a Medjai. From the hieroglyphics, Rick also learns how to kill the Scorpion King; a scepter that Jonathan has been carrying throughout the film is the Spear of Osiris, which is the only weapon that can kill the Scorpion King. Although Jonathan throws the spear and Imhotep nearly delivers the blow himself, the Scorpion King is finally killed by Rick, who orders him (and his army) back to the underworld. With his death, the Army of Anubis, about to slaughter the Medjai, crumble into sand.
Rick and Imhotep race to escape the collapsing temple, as a chasm presumably leading to the underworld appears, complete with souls lining its sides reaching out for them. Rick and Imhotep fall in, but cling onto the edges of the opening. Evelyn enters the room, despite Rick's shouting for her to save herself, and risks her life to save her husband. Imhotep, however, cries for Anck-su-namun to save him, but she cowardly flees. Shocked and heartbroken, Imhotep realizes his true love, whom he cheated death twice to be with, has now betrayed him, in contrast to Rick and Evelyn. He gives Rick and Evelyn a sad, envious smile before willingly casting himself into the chasm to be dragged by the souls back to the afterlife; meanwhile, as she flees, Anck-su-namun accidentally falls into a pit of scorpions where she is eaten alive. Rick and Evelyn escape with Alex and Jonathan and meet up with Izzy's airship which arrives just before the oasis is destroyed. They escape unharmed and with a massive diamond that Jonathan pulls from the top of the pyramid. The film ends with the group setting off into the sunset, with a grateful Ardeth bidding them farewell from afar and Jonathan and Izzy arguing over who should keep the diamond. Evelyn asks Rick if he wants to know what Heaven looks like... Rick and Evelyn kiss passionately.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Brendan Fraser | Richard "Rick" O'Connell |
| Rachel Weisz | Evelyn "Evy" Carnahan-O'Connell Princess Nefertiti |
| John Hannah | Jonathan Carnahan |
| Arnold Vosloo | High Priest Imhotep |
| Oded Fehr | Ardeth Bay |
| The Rock | The Scorpion King |
| Freddie Boath | Alexander "Alex" O'Connell |
| Patricia Velásquez | Meela Nais Anck-su-namun |
| Alun Armstrong | Baltus Hafez |
| Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje | Lock-Nah |
| Shaun Parkes | Izzy Buttons |
| Bruce Byron | Red |
| Jon Yarum | Icy |
| Joe Dixon | Jacques |
| Tom Fisher | Spivey |
| Aharon Ipalé | Pharaoh Seti I |
Reception
The film was a box office hit in 2001, becoming an even bigger blockbuster than the first movie. Previously, Stephen Sommers directed Deep Rising, The Jungle Book, as well as The Mummy. His next film was Van Helsing in 2004.
Critical reaction was mixed. The Mummy Returns currently holds a 47% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 131 reviews.[1] Metacritic reported, based on 31 reviews, an average rating of 48 out of 100.[2]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars (out of four), saying that "The mistake of The Mummy Returns is to abandon the characters, and to use the plot only as a clothesline for special effects and action sequences."[3] James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film two and a half stars (out of four), calling it "hollow, lightweight entertainment—not unpleasant, but far from the summer's definitive action/adventure flick.[4]
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review, praising its "constant plot turns, cheeky sensibility and omnipresent action sequences."[5] Todd McCarthy of Variety praised "the nonstop action of the final hour," saying that it "bursts with visual goodies."[6]
Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal gave the film a negative review, saying that it "has all of the clank but none of the swank of the previous version."[2] Charles Taylor of Salon.com was also not impressed, calling The Mummy Returns "everything the first Mummy was fun for not being."[7]
Box office
The Mummy Returns proved to be even more successful than the first installment; on its opening day the film earned $24,134,667. The films total gross at the box office stands at $433,013,274 (Domestically $202,019,785, foreign:$230,993,489)[8]
Video game
The Mummy Returns video game was released on the Playstation 2 on October 4th, 2001 and Game Boy Color on May 11th, 2001. On the Playstation 2 version, the player can choose to play as Rick, with the game ending similar to the movie, or Imhotep, with him taking control of Anubis's army.
References
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes. "The Mummy Returns".
- ^ a b Metacritic. "The Mummy Returns".
- ^ Review by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
- ^ Review by James Berardinelli, ReelViews
- ^ Review by Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
- ^ Review by Todd McCarthy, Variety
- ^ Review by Charles Taylor, Salon.com
- ^ The Mummy Returns (2001)
External links
- Official site
- The Mummy Returns at IMDb
- The Mummy Returns at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Mummy Returns at Metacritic
- The Mummy Returns at Box Office Mojo
- Online petition to release Maria Bello and Rob Cohen from The Mummy Franchise.
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