The Mummy Returns (2001)

The Mummy Returns (2001)

6/10

Starring

Brendan Fraser

Rachael Weisz

John Hannah

Directed by Stephen Sommers

Unlike the first movie in Brendan Fraser and Universal’s The Mummy franchise, this movie has way too much happening at the beginning. We see that our couple, the now-married O’Connells (Evie and Rick), have a son named Alex.
Alex is a bit of a troublemaker—wild and adventurous—but his behaviors are too unrealistic to pass for an eight-year-old character. On top of that, we have a new set of people hunting for something tied to Imhotep. Who are these people, and how did they end up in this mix?
The answers are given to you about thirty minutes into the movie, and by that time, you’ll wish the writers had done a better job arranging things.

That said, seeing the trio again (Rick, Evie, and Jonathan) flanked by the leader of the Medjai from the first movie was fun, and the movie delivered enough of that fun to keep you glued. Imhotep isn’t the only bad guy around this time—we have a new guy in town, The Scorpion King (played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson).

Well, this tale starts with an introduction to the new guy, who tries to take over the world. In 3067 BC, the Scorpion King and his army failed a world conquest campaign and were exiled to the desert of Ahm Shere, where his men died.
The Scorpion King then traded his soul to Anubis for the power to defeat his enemies. He gets the army of Anubis, gets his revenge, and then his soul is claimed by Anubis. A cult wanting to take control of the Scorpion King’s army resurrects Imhotep with the help of the reincarnation of his old lover, Anck-su-namun, so that Imhotep can kill the Scorpion King and command his army.

To find the Scorpion King, they must first find the Bracelet of Anubis, which is on the arm of Alex O’Connell.

The CGI in the first movie wasn’t great, but it wasn’t much of a problem since the first movie had a lot going on, and the blend of CGI with live action was manageable. Here, the CGI wasn’t great, and the blend was awful. Much better CGI was used in the third installment, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008).
The acting in this movie wasn’t groundbreaking like in the first film—I didn’t get that crisp, exciting feel I got from watching the first movie play out.

In the end, this movie was still fun to watch, and a third and final movie in the franchise was made, with Maria Bello replacing Rachel Weisz as Evie O’Connell. After that, Universal rebooted the franchise with The Mummy (2017), starring Tom Cruise.