THE AISLE SEAT - "THE MUMMY"
by Mike McGranaghan
I grew up on monster movies. Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman - I loved all these characters. So it was with great excitement that I walked into The Mummy, a pseudo-remake of the classic horror thriller. How refreshing, I thought, to see the return of a vintage horror creation, one who doesn't carry a knife and stalk teenagers in the woods.
Brendan Fraser stars as Rick O'Connell, an adventurer who finds the way to a supposedly "lost" Egyptian city called Hamunaptra. It was in this city that a high priest named Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) was mummified after he had an affair with the pharaoh's mistress. Rick discovers a strange object whose purpose he cannot determine (anyone who knows anything about horror movies will immediately identify this as the key that will open Imhotep's sarcophagus).
Through a series of events too complex to relate here, Rick teams up with a meek librarian (Rachel Weisz) and her doofus brother (John Hannah) to return to Hamunaptra. They go seeking various artifacts, including a so-called "book of the dead." Needless to say, they wake up the title character by trying out that key, and he begins unleashing a series of plaques upon the city. There are several bug attacks (particularly gruesome), swarms of bees, sandstorms, and a whole lot more. The mummy also is intent on capturing the librarian as part of a sinister ritual he wants to carry out. What makes him truly ominous (and hard to fight) is that he is capable of disappearing in a cloud of sand dust, which provides one of the most incredible special effects in the film.
This new version of The Mummy is by no means a scare classic, but it is certainly fun for a couple of reasons. First, the film doesn't take itself too seriously. There are a lot of laughs and clever little gags that let you know the filmmakers are approaching this tongue-in-cheek (although, to be honest, the movie is sometimes a little too silly). The pace seems to have been inspired as much by Saturday morning serials (the kind that influenced the Indiana Jones movies) as by the original version of the film. Although the action is plentiful, there are moments when the movie seems to be winking at the audience.
Which is not to say it doesn't try to scare you. The second - and more important - factor for the success of The Mummy is the way cutting-egde special effects are used to create some genuine chills. When Imhotep appears with his face half decayed and covered with bugs...well, I actually shivered. And every time someone was attacked by those little bug creatures (they crawl under the skin), I developed a serious case of the "icks." Additionally, the film has several "jump" scenes in which something unexpected pops out of the screen. There are numerous other moments where the computer-generated effects really grab you.
It's easy for actors to get lost amid such technology, but Brendan Fraser brings an easy charm and authentic heroism to the role. He's terrific - smart and likable enough not to get swallowed by the effects. Although none of the human characters are developed very well, Fraser (and, to a lesser extent, Hannah) are able to create memorable on-screen personas that compensate for the one-dimensional quality of their roles. Rachel Weisz (an actress whose work I've liked in the past) is stuck in the typically thankless woman's role, forced to be dragged around by the men and nearly sacrificed by the bad guy. Couldn't they have updated the story enough to give the heroine at least half a brain?
I suppose such questions are largely irrelevant, since the selling point of the movie is the creature himself. And what a creature it is! Writer/director Stephen Sommers (Deep Rising) and his effects team have created a scary, unnerving mummy (credit also goes to Vosloo, an intimidating-looking actor who takes the part and runs with it). This is a more visual mummy than was used in the original - a creeping, oozing mass of rotted flesh, as opposed to a bandaged man. It works in a big, popcorn movie kind of way. The Mummy is a rip-roaring blast of early-summer fun.
(
out of four)
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