The Mummy (1999)

I took a course on ancient Egypt this semester, and upon learning I didn't fail the class despite the painful final, I was eager to watch The Mummy. Because it's rad, and also because I had spent the whole class making references to it when appropriate. Drawing loosely from The Mummy of 1932, the story concerns clumsy and highly educated librarian Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) as she travels to the legendary lost city of Hamunaptra with her thieving brother Jonathan (John Hannah), greasy warden Gad Hassan (Omid Djalili), and ex-con and war vet Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), one of the few people who's actually been there. They run into a group of rowdy Americans who also have a guide in O'Connell's former soldier-in-arms, the cowardly Beni (Kevin J O'Connor).

As both teams explore Hamunaptra's ancient wonders, Evie accidentally awakens Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), former priest of Seti I who was cursed eternally for touching the pharaoh's wife. The mummy becomes more powerful the more he kills, with crazy sand powers and control of the Biblical plagues, and he's hellbent on re-awakening his love by sacrificing Evie. It's up to her, O'Connell, Jonathan, local badass Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr) (a descendant of Seti's palace guards who is dedicated to protecting the world from the mummy's curse), and a whole lot of guns to save the world.

This movie is awesome, and I don't care who knows it. The cast is perfect, from John Hannah's lovable scampiness to Fraser's snarky half-smiles to Weisz's indignant over-intelligence. The opposites-attract relationship between Evie and O'Connell is one of the more believable romances I've seen in an action film, and the endearing chemistry between the three main characters separates The Mummy from a lot of the more standard fare. The script is well-paced and often quite clever, combining thrills with comedy and a dash of gore.

Sure it has its flaws: the CGI is a bit dated, the story is fairly predictable, and it isn't exactly accurate in its discussion of ancient Egypt (for example, Hamunaptra was made up for the movie). But that honestly doesn't matter, because none of them stop it from being an insane amount of fun. It still looks good enough to freak me out, the dialogue and characters are well-written enough to keep me engaged, and there is actually a decent attempt at realism, seen in various details of the excavation of the city. The Mummy is a movie I have loved since middle school, and will continue to love out of habit. It never fails to entertain me, and it helped spark an interest in ancient Egyptian culture, so yay for scholarly pursuits! Also: painted-on costumes.

But most importantly: this movie has inspired the greatest ride in existence at Universal Studios. I have ridden it 50+ times, and no I can't make that up. It even led to the best-ever ride-related goofy photograph. Yeah, I guess I'm best friends with Spider-man.

4.5/5