Many drawbacks in the scenario, only the special effects deserve credit.

Rating: 3/10 (18 February 2000)

The major thing that I didn't like in this movie is the way it presents Ancient Egyptians and their civilisation. They present them like people who were worshipping evil and exercising black magic. Totally wrong. Ancient Egyptians were lively people, who believed in Good and loved good life. In fact their whole life was considered as a fight against the forces of darkness and the chaos. They were preserving the bodies of the Pharaohs and other important people, so that they could live in a sense forever.
Of course, the resurrection of a dead to a deadly beast is a potentially very good starting point for a horror/action story/movie. But this is not enough. It is easy to spoil everything if you are careless about the details. And I explain. The city of Hamunaptra is totally fictitious. There was never such a city, and especially a city of the Dead. Priest Imhotep (later the mummy) is the bad, evil guy. But in the Ancient Egyptian history there is a priest Imhotep, who was considered a very wise man and he did many things for the benefit of Egypt (unfortunately, I don't remember right now many details about him). Later, his fame was such that he was even worshipped as a god. Definitely, the choice of the name was awkward. Close to the end of the movie, the Book of the Dead is being used, presented as a secret book of black magic. Although there IS a Book of the Dead, it has nothing to do with the way it is presented in the movie. In fact, the Book of the Dead accompanied every Pharaoh, it has been found and it is a guide for the dead Pharaoh about how he will be judged by the Gods in the other world and other things. It has nothing to do with black magic. Concerning the second book the heroes use, that does not exist even by name. And all these strange names of the Gods, where have they found them? Non of them exists in the Egyptian mythology!
If you don't know anything at all about Ancient Egypt, these things will pass unnoticed. You might even like them! But seriously, if you have read something about Ancient Egypt, then you notice them, and they are very annoying, spoiling much of the fun. The movie refers to another, Hollywood Egypt, not the real one. And since the movie fails to have a realistic background, it fails to entertain (at least it failed with me).
But these are not the only drawbacks of the movie. Brendan Fraser is not convincing as an action hero, Rachel Weisz tries unsuccessfully to be the female and for the rest...
So, to conclude, you might ask if I didn't like anything in this movie at all. Not quite, after all I gave it a 3. The effects were amazing, maybe the only decent thing in this movie. I think that they are the main, if only, making it such a success. Therefore, the only one that deserves full credit, are the Silicon Graphics.