THE MUMMY
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: The 1932 horror classic THE MUMMY may
have been the inspiration for this tongue-in-cheek
adventure romp, but there is little horror here.
This is really more a fantasy adventure with a
supernatural super-villain than a horror film. As
adventure-fantasy films go, this one is not too bad
and Brendan Fraser is a dashing legionnaire turned
mummy fighter. The dish tastes okay, but it was
not what I ordered. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), +1 (-4 to
+4). Some non-spoiler comments about the
historical accuracy of THE MUMMY (1999) follow the
main text.
I am not old enough to have seen the original release of the Boris Karloff THE MUMMY (1932). I caught it on television as I was growing up, and it is a cherished memory. This concept was that mysterious ancient magic was still powerful and you have to respect ancient strange gods and their mysterious curses. There was a real sense of wonder in the great old film and in the idea it was based upon, the idea that there was a degree of truth in the ages-old religion that inspired the great stone enigmas of Egypt. Karl Freund's film, often deemed slow by today's teens, was not actually slow but hypnotic. Its unspoken premise was that the universe was full of possibilities, including nasty ones that Isis and Osiris and Anubis were as powerful as any gods, and they only for now chose to slumber.
Today we live in the age of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and our teens have the answer to all that. They know that in those old movies the reason that people had all that trouble with mystical forces is that they did not know martial arts. If you run into particularly nasty magic from the age of the pyramids, all that is really necessary is that you kick a little harder. All that old awe stuff was stupid. So for this audience a mummy movie needs a lot of action and Indiana Jones style thrills and funny jokes and special effects. That really is what we have gotten.
The new version of THE MUMMY begins with an extended opening sequence showing the origin of the living Mummy told as we tell it in the 1990s. As much as the film in general does, this sequence mixes blessing and curse. There is a beautiful computer animation, if somewhat obviously animation, of an ancient Egyptian city. While somewhat idealized it looks fairly close to being done with a high degree of historical accuracy. This is followed by scenes of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), here a high priest of Osiris fooling around with Pharaoh's wife Ankhesenamun. The latter is dressed in a sort of fishnet outfit. Let us say that historical accuracy is not uniformly distributed. Of course, the lovers are discovered and Pharaoh is roughly as forgiving as one would expect of a living god. Imhotep is sentenced to be mummified alive, to be made immortal, and to suffer an eternity of living death in his tomb in Hamunaptra, a treasure city and sacred burial site.
Flash forward to 1921 and we find American adventurer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) is fighting with French Foreign Legion when he runs across the ruins of what might be the legendary Hamunaptra. >From there the general flow of the plot is obvious and not unlike a hyped-up version of THE MUMMY'S HAND. O'Connell gets involved with Evelyn Carnarvon (Rachel Weisz) the daughter of a famous explorer. Two groups of people end up trying to find the riches of Hamunaptra and a third group is trying to protect the city and its secrets. The secrets include an immortal mummy who when raised needs to collect living organs to adopt into his body and recreate himself whole.
Adrian Biddle's cinematography captures a big adventure feel and spectacle that is unusual for traditionally low-budget mummy films. Here, at least in the early parts of the film there is a good adventuresome look for the film. While Jerry Goldsmith's score is not one of his better works and does not make itself memorable, at least it underscores the action well. There are certain dramatic problems with the film. Some tension is created as the mummy becomes more and more complete by virtue of the organs he steals. But when he is complete, he just looks like Arnold Vosloo again. It is something of a letdown; Vosloo is no Boris Karloff.
This new THE MUMMY is a comedy that does well what current films do well, but it completely fails to do well what 1932 films did well. In short, in spite of the title, this just is not THE MUMMY. On leaving the theater I felt like chanting, "Show me THE MUMMY! Show me THE MUMMY!" This experience rates a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Relevant historical information:
1. The real Imhotep lived around 2980 B.C.E. Imhotep, very probably one of history's great geniuses, was a physician and an architect. He invented step pyramids for the Pharaoh Zoser, leading the way for true pyramids. However, he probably would not also have been a priest of Osiris as the film portrayed him. The real Ankhesenamun lived around 1375 B.C.E and was the wife of Tutankhamun. Naturally Imhotep and Ankhesenamun never met, much less had a great love. The time difference is roughly the same as if it was suggested that Attila the Hun had an illicit affair with Meryl Streep.
2. The descendents of the original Egyptians are portrayed in the film as Moslem; they would much more likely be Coptic Christians.
3. Though unstated, Evelyn's father is clearly intended to be Lord Carnarvon, who in 1923 would be pivotal in Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. Lady Elizabeth Carnarvon's death in 1929 was one of those linked to the supposed curse on Tutankhamun's tomb.
4. Books with pages were invented in China and did not make it to places like Egypt until something like the 4th Century C.E.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1999 Mark R. Leeper
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