The Mummy (1999) movie review

Here's what you need to know; for countless years men have hunted for Hamunaptra, a lost city of immeasurable riches, and a terrible curse, few men have ever found it, among them is American adventurer Rick O'Connell, who has no intention of going back. However when a librarian and her useless brother show up also looking for the city, he reluctantly decides to take them there. But even he has no idea what they are about to unleash, as buried beneath the sand is an evil beyond death, and beyond their comprehension.
I made no secret in the intro to my review of the new The Mummy that I have a special place in my cold, neglected and cynical heart for this film, though like many films I've grown up loving, where the story starts is a blur. But in my years one thing has never changed, this film, this and a few others, have been in my life at some point, be it on the TV at home, on TV at my old home, on TV in the caravan on holiday, on TV in the kitchen, and sitting on my VHS, then DVD, then Blu ray shelf, always in the back of my life and mind, like a curse. That sounds a bit insane come to think of it, but it's a hard thing to explain, so let's just get to the review, shall we.

The Mummy opens, typically, with a prologue giving us a love story; as an ancient Egyptian priest is mutilated and horrifically mummified alive for his sins against the Gods, how very romantic. In all seriously though, this prologue is entirely what you'd expect, giving you the background of the titular Mummy; Imhotep, and showing off what I'm sure was mind blowing visual effects for the time, a point we'll get back to, but it is a cool prologue none the less, and it seamlessly transitions into the events of the film, which kicks off with a bang with a really cool battle. One that introduces us to one of the film's main characters, the ever badass Rick O'Connell, who spearheads the hunt for the Mummy, and is a pretty cool character. When things aren't going insane, he cracks some of the film's best laughs, and is in general a very entertaining character, and while it's fun to see the badass, reckless American hero he is at first, it's cool to see the really cute relationship he develops with Evie in this film grow, and his reintroduction in the Cairo prison pretty much sums up his character perfectly, he's cool. Speaking of Evie, she serves a dual purpose, being the smartest character in the film, coming up with all the answers, while also being the love interest or Rick, and rather putridly, Imhotep, but she too is funny from time to time, and there is a fish out of water element to her character that's somewhat amusing, as is how hopelessly she falls for Rick, it's both funny and adorable. Then of course you have the funny sidekick character, who in this film is Evie's useless brother Jonathan, and like all funny sidekicks, you'll either like him or hate him, I personally like him, he's completely useless, and is often a nuisance to Rick and Evie, but that's rather the point, and I think he's pretty funny in that regard, and I love how he calls Evie "Old Mum", much like the budding romance with her and Rick, that's just too sweet. Of course you also have a line up of supporting characters, all of whom are better than anything the 2017 remake has to offer; including a prison warden who is in all respects a fat, obnoxious, smelly ball of laughs, a mysterious and menacing secret order let by a guy with face tattoos, and a gaggle of cartoonish American treasure hunters who are serviceably entertaining on their own in their brutishness. Then there's Beni, not much needs to be said about Beni, other than he's about as cowardly a weasel as you can get, he's really pathetic, he is everything Rick is not, and he has some really funny scenes. That just leaves the Mummy; Imhotep, who is awesome, the film does a good job of conveying the power and evil of this creature, even calling him a creature, and when he's on screen, he gets shit done, sometimes it's badass, other times it's terrifying, either way he's a great villain. What's surprising about Imhotep however is how he isn't in the film for a good amount of the runtime, not appearing for a solid hour. This may be a problem for some people, who want to see some Mummy shit, but in a way I kind of like it, since despite being called The Mummy, the film is less about him and more about the band of unlikely heroes out to stop him, and that absence of the Mummy gives the film time to develop those characters, which it uses, effectively raising the peril once the Mummy is woken up. And even when the Mummy's not around, you still have the fun characters and a decently fun treasure hunting adventure, and the film as a whole has a nice pace to it, at no point is it ever really boring; there's always a cute character moment, or some comedy, or a badass action sequence, and unlike the new Mummy, this one actually has a solid ending, with a climactic showdown against Imhotep, and a classic ride into the sunset ending, good stuff.

This film holds up remarkably well for its age, but at some key points, even it can't hide the wrinkles. The opening sequence in Egypt is grand and epic, with some CG backdrops of ancient Egypt which I'm sure looked mind blowing 20 years ago, and they don't look terrible today to be honest, but they do show their age sadly, not enough to ruin the effect, but enough to be noticeable. That's just the scenic CG backdrops though, the rest of the film's visual effects vary from good to terrible. For example the effects on the Mummy minions look decent for their age, if sadly not perfect, and Imhotep himself looks amazing at times, even by today's standards, but then there's effects like the sandstorm, or an effect in the film's prologue I won't spoil, that look utterly terrible now, credit where it's due however, for 1999, this is pretty nice visual effects, and it's impressive how good it still looks. And with this now being an older film, they also used a fair amount of practical effects, which I love seeing, and the film's setting looks really nice, from the vast, sweeping dunes and mountains of the Desert, to the more civilised and modern (for the 1920's) streets of Cairo, down to the creepy and claustrophobic passageways of the lost city, it's just a nice looking film, not to mention how charming the setting is, taking place in the 1920's, it's just fun. Speaking of fun stuff, this film is fun; like I said before, it has very enjoyable characters, but something very commendable it how well the film blends all of its ideas, almost seamlessly throwing in comedy, romance, adventure, action and horror, and somehow having all of these work, it's insane. The romance is really sweet, and the comedy it at times side splitting, but the sense of adventure that's everywhere in this film is so well done, as they sneak around ancient tombs avoiding deadly traps and swarms of man eating bugs. The opening battle in Hamunaptra is a lot of fun, as is the shootout on the boat, and the showdown in Hamunaptra in the film's finale is fantastic, pitting O'Connell and company against an army of the undead, none of the film's action scenes really stand out as below average, they're all a huge amount of fun to watch, and actually better than some action scenes in films today if you ask me. But when the film isn't cute, or funny, or exciting, it goes for scary, which is the hardest one to pull off since what makes something scary is so subjective, but I think the film does a good job, even if this is the weakest element of the film in all likelihood. When the film wants to make Imhotep scary, it does it well, there's a scene in the tombs with one of the Americans, and it's shit like that that I think the film could have used more of, as Imhotep stalks him through the passageways of the city. The CG on Imhotep is easily the least dated in the film, and as I said before, actually looks really good still, and when he's in his CG rotten corpse state, it's suitably creepy to look at, but as the film goes on, and the curse is consummated, he becomes less CG rotten corpse, and in some ways becomes less scary, as his power grows, and he unleashes the plagues of Egypt, which are more spectacular than they are scary, and haven't aged as well as you'd hope, apart from Boils, that actually doesn't use a big GC effect, and makes for a pretty cool scene. Like I said before though, horror is probably the weakest element of the film, taking a backseat to the adventure and the action, while still being an at times a well done piece of this film's cocktail of genres that works way better than it should.

The Mummy is a great film; it's got a superbly enjoyable to watch line up of heroes, and a great villain, and puts them in very entertaining action and adventure scenarios that a lot of fun to watch. The film does an admirable job of playing with a bunch of genres and not being a muddled mess as a result, and is very well paced; keeping its story moving with exciting shootouts and tense crawls through ancient tombs. The horror element is the weakest of its many genres, and some of its visual effects look really bad by modern standards, but some of it still looks really great, and unlike the new Mummy, it has memorable characters, music, and an ending that isn't totally shit. Call me biased, but I love this movie, and it's definitely worth watching.