Never Convincing or Emotional, but with great effects. **1/2 out of ****

Rating: 6/10 (18 May 1999)

"The Mummy" is a clone of the "Indiana Jones" series that blends adventure with plot twists and first rate suspense. While "The Mummy" does accomplish a thing or two with a neat computer animated "mummy," it just doesn't quite work. It's like the old saying goes that it is one thing to respect something, and it is another to like it. I do respect the filmmakers who were hard at work making this production, but something about it was almost repetitive and never truly convincing.
There is a story here, it often is unfocused and drifts off from a real point of view, but there is a story nonetheless. It follows the adventures of two brothers, a librarian, several researchers who seemingly have no recollection of consequences that evolve from their mistakes, and a couple other side characters that have no purpose in the film but to become a human victim of a non-human creature who will pick his prey one by one when they are separated from the rest of the clan. See the formula we are up against; how can we care about the characters when we have already seen these so many more times before hand.
The director is Stephen Sommers, who obviously prefers to introduce his characters, then start right off with the plot. We know this because his last film, "Deep Rising," also did the same with its story. I don't think this method quite works. It brings forth many unneeded characters, who in turn we know they will be killed in the order where the whimsy ones go first, then the side character whom we do not know their names; the typical horror film formal. "The Mummy" is definitely an improvement over the last movie he directed, but again, just isn't persuasive enough to actually be recommended by myself.
The setup takes too long for Sommers to setup. The narrator explains most of the ritualistic events to us at the beginning rather than show us, which makes it very hard to understand. The characters are well developed, while every one of them was obvious in their motives immediately. There are plenty that die, few that live, and a whole lot of boredom in the first twenty minutes while they are introduced. And lets not forget the overwhelming, vast and good-looking desert in which much of film is shot in. The atmosphere is another great element in this movie, which is eerie and spooky, but never actually terror provoking.
Brendon Frasier was a good goof in "George of the Jungle," "Blast From The Past," and several other comedies he has been in the last few years. However "The Mummy" is supposed to be scary, suspenseful, and shocking, not comic. This is yet another example of an actor with humorous potential putting it to use when he is supposed to be quite serious. Frasier doesn't even come close with hitting the mark here, mimicking Harrison Fords sense of humor from "Indiana Jones," he just does not have what it takes to be a serious actor.
"The Mummy's" mummy was horrific in the most dastardly of ways. It was gruesome, scary and head tuning. I just wish that he looked like a mummy. For by the time this movie is over, the only mummy left to do the killing is a muscular actor in full flesh. Can't they even live up to the title?