The Mummy Returns **** (2001, Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Dwayne Johnson, Freddie Boath, Oded Fehr) – Classic Movie Review 1120

The bandages are off in 2001 for a return bout between, in the red corner, dashing adventurer Brendan Fraser, and, in the blue corner, his 3000-year-old evil nemesis The Mummy Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), who’s scarily been unwrapped in London’s British Museum.

Happily, the entire cast and crew return for this sterling sequel to The Mummy, which virtually repeats the trick of the 1999 smash hit (which took $414million worldwide). There’s more of exactly the same, set eight years on, with Brendan Fraser’s Rick O’Connell and Rachel Weisz’s Evelyn (Evey) now an old married couple with a feisty son called Alex (Freddie Boath), and a new deadly enemy to contend with – The Scorpion King.

This is the role that rightly turned wrestling star The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson, into a movie star. He was deservedly rewarded with his own film The Scorpion King in 2002.

Writer-director Stephen Sommers’s fantastic film bursts at the seams with non-stop action, breathtaking scenery and brilliant special effects that are even more scalding this time, with whole armies of monsters leaping across the screen. The slight downside is the film’s held back by too much screen time for the O’Connells’ son Alex, which dumbs things down a bit. But, otherwise, it’s more amazing adventure stuff.

Also in the cast are John Hannah back as Evey’s brother Jonathan, Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay, Patricia Velasquez as Meela / Anck-Su-Namun, Alun Armstrong as Mr Hafez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Lock-Nah and Shaun Parkes as Izzy.

This one took $433million worldwide, very similar to the original. The score is this time composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri, replacing Jerry Goldsmith, The Mummy’s composer.

There was a seven-year wait till the sequel: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). The franchise is to be rebooted in 2017 with Tom Cruise starring.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 1120 derekwinnert.com