The
Mummy Returns suffers from an acute case of sequelitis. It has a
larger budget than the original and uses it for an abundance of
special effects, and it tries too hard to be more than the original
in every regard. They should have spent more money on the writers.
The
movie starts off with a little history lesson about The Scorpion
King (The Rock) which is needed since its an entirely new storyline.
Seems that The Scorpion King was a mighty warrior some 5000 years
ago who wanted to conquer the world in a bad way. Well, after waging
war for 7 years, he lost, but he didn't give up. In a last ditch
effort to save his hide he made a deal with a god for his soul if
he could only defeat his enemies. Obviously, the deal was made or
the movie would have ended right after the opening credits. Anyway,
he won but lost his soul and gets to come back every 5000 years
for another conquering spree.
Cut
to 1935, 10 years after the first movie. Brendan
Fraser is back as Rick O'Connell and he is now married to Evelyn
(Rachel Weisz) and they have a son, Alex. Circumstances work out
so that they gain possession of The Scorpion Kings bracelet which
has some pretty nifty powers. I'm really not giving anything away
here, this all happens in the very first part of the movie, and
I'm actually leaving some stuff out.
The
plot is a little convoluted. Imhotep gets to come back to whoop
some ass in a plot to kill the Scorpion King and take over his army,
then use them to rule the world. The writers really worked too hard
on this stuff and made it all seem quite silly when it didn't have
to. Did you think Indiana Jones was silly? Didn't think so. Also,
you know exactly how the movie will end within the first 20 minutes,
and just in case you didn't pick up on the clue, they shove it in
your face no less than 10 times throughout the movie. Sheesh, it's
foreshadowing to the nth degree!
Yet
I give the movie 3 stars for some pretty decent special effects,
and some good fighting scenes. I didn't hate it, I just didn't like
it very much. It squeaked by with that three star rating and even
though The Mummy also got 3 stars,
it was a much better movie.
posted 05-05-2001 03:02 AM
They went for comic book campy here and with the new pint sized co-star it certainly appears they wanna appeal to the kiddies. This would also explain the thin plot. I'm guessing they've got some lunchboxes and action figures to sell.
The Rock was also totally wasted here. I cant totally go off here and list all of my complaints without spoiling the end of the movie. But suffice to say they failed to capture his charisma....or even make a feeble attempt at doing so.
Maybe it's just me, but while he was out in front of all of his troops just prior to entering battle, I thought he should've tilted his head back and took a good whiff of what he was cooking while the troops chanted SCORPY! SCORPY! SCORPY! SCORPY!
posted 05-11-2001 04:09 PM
I actually liked the movie. I wasn't going in thinking it was an oscar caliber picture, I just wanted to see some action, and that's what I got. Did anyone after seeing the commercials really think there would be a good, complex plot? Also, Rachel Weisz was way hotter in this one than the last one, and the chick the mummy hangs out with isn't that bad either.
posted 05-17-2001 11:38 PM
Well, this movie stank plain and simple. The effects were cheap looking and plastic, the acting was horrible and scenery chewing to the max, the plot was utter nonsense, and overall it makes the first "Mummy" look like the Oscar caliber material mentioned above. I don't expect Masterpiece Theater when I go to see an action movie .... but I don't expect a complete waste of my time either. This movie was impossible to follow and laughably simplistic simultaneously, which I guess is some kind of an accomplishment. Oh well, there's always "Pearl Harbor" (though I have heard the romantic stuff really bites in that one -- but what do you expect, this is the guy who did "Armageddon").
posted 05-25-2001 04:46 PM
I think everyone is reading into the movie way too much. Just sit back and watch the movie...stop being so critical, movies are meant to be enjoyable (and this one rocked) you don't have to look for all of the aspects of a "great movie" for it to be a good movie. This movie was awesome, it was fun to watch I was entertained. all those other dumb@$$es don't know what their talking about. Go see it.
posted 05-25-2001 10:25 PM
mmmmmmm... When i sat down to watch this film, I thought it might be ok. But I knew from the start that it was not going to be as good as the first. The Special effects were bad, real bad. The acting was ok, but not brillant. The story was pretty bad also, and tried to use some of the old jokes from the first one. The thing with sequels is that most of them never do better than the first and I belive that the directors know that but just continue on making them! The Mummy returns isn't going to be the best film in the world, but some scenes are good.
quote:Originally posted by username: I think everyone is reading into the movie way too much. Just sit back and watch the movie...stop being so critical, movies are meant to be enjoyable (and this one rocked) you don't have to look for all of the aspects of a "great movie" for it to be a good movie. This movie was awesome, it was fun to watch I was entertained. all those other dumb@$$es don't know what their talking about. Go see it.
I totally agree just kick back and enjoy the movie and the special effects! This movie kicked A$$!!!!!! I can't wait to see the prequel next summer!
posted 06-05-2001 01:06 PM
For me, one of the best things about the first movie was the cast of characters. They were likeable; they had clever dialogue; and they were well defined. This sequel, however, really went out of its way to give the cast some really mediocre dialogue as well as completely screw around with some of the defined bounds for the characters.
Rachel Weisz' character, for instance, in the first move was the bubbly & fiesty bookworm archeologist. Here in the sequel, however, her character makes an extreme shift that, even in a movie fantasy environment, is just too far-fetched for me.
I think the movie still rates 3 stars, but it's a very very *weak* 3 stars.
The
movie starts off with a little history lesson about The Scorpion
King (The Rock) which is needed since its an entirely new storyline.
Seems that The Scorpion King was a mighty warrior some 5000 years
ago who wanted to conquer the world in a bad way. Well, after waging
war for 7 years, he lost, but he didn't give up. In a last ditch
effort to save his hide he made a deal with a god for his soul if
he could only defeat his enemies. Obviously, the deal was made or
the movie would have ended right after the opening credits. Anyway,
he won but lost his soul and gets to come back every 5000 years
for another conquering spree.
posted 05-04-2001 11:12 PM
