See the promotional preview, the rest of the film adds little!

Rating: 2/10 (20 August 1999)

As is, sadly, too often the case, the promotional previews of this pic contained practically all that was worth watching. There are some lovely moments, nice effects, good sets, and you've seen all that once you've seen the 'come-on' sequences!
There were special effects- tho' not much of an advance on Harryhausen's classics of nearly 20 years vintage, and there were some nice sets. The story itself is, of course, well known to cinema-goers thanks to the whole sequence of 'Mummy' features produced over half a century ago, but what is depressing is that a re-treaded story got such a tired treatment. Even copying what was done in the past, the atmosphere that was then evoked is entirely dissipated by a lack of vision: the film has no clear direction.
'Half-hearted' is a key phrase for this movie, & 'confused' the key word. There is a half-hearted attempt to be sexy, but not too much (because, presumably, we don't want the teens barring from the cinema). There is a laughable attempt to be scary/shocking which just does not do the business. Talking of 'laughable', the attempts at humour in this are frequent and pitiful: more suited to a costume soap on afternoon TV than a movie anyone would want to see! (Some of the sequences on a boat on the Nile were like someone attempting to do a comedy western on the set of 'Showboat'!)
Money has clearly been spent, some of the scenery and sets are impressive, and there are passages of 5-10 minutes which have much promise. Sadly, that promise is all you get.
What a shame! Here is story so meaty and cinematically promising that I could certainly see why it merited (at least one) re-make. Love, damnation, resurrection, bloodshed, exotic locations and 2 historical time frames offer so many possibilities. So many wasted possibilities. Like 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' a few years before it, 'The Mummy' takes a gothic narrative with enormous possibilities and wastes it. What a pity!
The waste is- arguably- all the greater here because, whereas the early 'mummy' films work very well indeed, there has never yet been a satisfactory and faithful filmic adaptation of Dracula (which always strikes me as really odd, for I have never encountered a book more suited to- almost designed for- cinematic expression).
Don't go see this. Buy a video of one of the original 'mummy' films, use the change to buy popcorn and drink, and have a really enjoyable evening instead!