All hail Imhotep

Rating: 8/10 (5 June 2007)

For centuries, greedy adventurers and gold-seekers sought the ancient Egyptian city of Hamunaptra. This hidden metropolis of myth and legend is the rumored resting place of the wealth of the pharaohs. What none of them know is that Hamunaptra is also the housing for the cursed Priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo).
More than 1,000 years before Christ, Imhotep is caught in an affair with the pharaoh's mistress, Anck Su Namun (Patricia Velazquez). Even though Imhotep escapes, Anck Su Namun is not so fortunate. Determined to resurrect her, he and his priests violate her tomb in Hamunaptra but are apprehended before they can finish. In addition to being mummified alive, Imhotep is also condemned with the most terrible of ancient curses. The catch is that if he is ever released, he will become "a plague upon mankind with power over the sand and the glory of invincibility." A secret society maintains vigil over the ruined city in order to keep him sealed in his eternal prison.
Fast forward to 1923 Cairo, where American Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), a former visitor to Hamunaptra, is to be hanged. Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah) discover his past and secure his life in exchange for his escort to the city. Carnahan is not interested in treasure, but instead wishes to unearth the book Aman-Ra. As an Egyptian-speaking librarian, she is drawn not by its solid gold cover, but its historical merit. There is a rival band of Americans guided by O'Connell's old comrade Beni (Kevin J. O'Connor), the frontrunner for weasel of the decade. He carries amulet bearing every major religious symbol and possibly one or two he made up. When he runs into trouble, he holds each one in the air and utters a prayer in that language.
The procession that arrives at Hamunaptra consists of nine named characters. The plot I described above all takes place in the first twenty minutes of film, but nearly an hour goes by before the mummy makes its appearance. The premise of the movie is all about rules and more rules, but the writers avoid audience confusion by taking painstaking care to establish them, as well as using repetition to solidify them in our minds. My second viewing revealed even more connections that I missed the first time. It is imperative that the viewer be educated in this film, and the writers' skill gives the Hamunaptra set an uncanny life. When Imhotep arrives, the viewer is prepared but not impatient.
There is also a nice marriage of mood and function. O'Connell is the type of hero with eyes in the back of his head, and the movie correctly treats his action scenes with an appropriate level of absurdity. Director Stephen Sommers does a fine job achieving the right tone from the script, which he also wrote. The movie is not short on creative yet droll devices for the heroes to survive, including a moment of genius when Jonathan pretends to join a crowd chanting Imhotep's name. There is also a running gag on how far the mummy's jaw can open.
The all-important special effects are exquisite and still look strikingly good eight years later. One particularly impressive effect is a face-bearing sandstorm that is chasing an airplane. The gunner relentlessly fires the mounted gun into the storm creating a snake of miniature sand explosions. Vosloo spends most of the film as some combination of Imhotep's sinewy skeleton and revived skin and flesh. The skeleton has a wide range of facial expressions and looks realistic when it moves. At one point a scarab crawls out of a hole in his neck and into his jaw, and he eats it. There is also the appearance of some of the Biblical plagues, although I think the biblical hailstorm was falling ice, not basketball sized meteorites. "The Mummy" is at its core an action movie, and ultimately lives or dies by it, so quality special effects are essential.
The stunts are as well, and the delivery does not disappoint. Several of them are good enough wow even the most experienced action fan, especially during a scuffle with the crumbly stone soldiers.
The cast was mainly comprised of accomplished stage actors. All fill their assignments well, Weisz in particular. Vosloo does not speak a single syllable in English, but still impresses. All elements come together to take a complex world of rules and make it bona fide entertainment, so "The Mummy" ranks as an eight out of ten.