Raiders of the Undead

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 2002)

In ancient Egypt high priest Imhotep is having an affair with Anck-su-namun, the mistress of his Pharaoh Seti. When discovered Anck-su-namun kills Seti but both she and Imhotep are captured. Anck-su-namnun kills herself but Imhotep is caught and mummified alive. In 1923 adventurer takes Egyptologist Evelyn and her brother Jonathon to the city of the dead. While searching for the Book of the Living they accidentally release Imhotep who plans to bring Anck-su-namun back to life and to rule the world from beyond the grave.
This is very much of a mix between Sam Rami's Evil Dead and Raiders of the lost ark - Raiders of the Undead, if you will. However it never reaches the level of those. The plot is so full of holes that even when played tongue in cheek it's still hard to swallow. The film moves very fast through a large number of action scenes and you never really get the chance to notice the holes until it's finished. The action scenes are well handled and the special effects are really impressive.
Fraser is not a great action hero - he's a great actor, but here he just has to be a wise-cracking hero. Weisz is pretty dire, she doesn't have much to do and takes her role way too seriously. Hannah deserves to have better roles, but at least he knows to mess around for the whole film. Vosloo is good and the support cast are OK.
Although the film's all a bit loud, but it's good fun throughout and there's much to enjoy. Overall it's just another Hollywood blockbuster - loud, brash and clumsy, as long as you don't expect anything more then you won't be disappointed.