Classic Adventure Film

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2020)

It's a massive shame how underappreciated the Mummy is, considering the amount of aspects it balances and gets right. It only has a 60% on RT and only seems to have a small following, despite being an excellent action, adventure and monster films. I rewatched it recently, and only confirmed prior thoughts of greatness. Here some of the pros/takeaways I have:
-The setting is perfectly realized: the movie does an incredible of taking the viewer to 1920s Egypt, a setting rarely used in film. The beautiful desert shots, egyptian-like score and specific period set pieces contribute and enhance the film in many ways. It's often just a joy to look at and listen to the film.
-It does a fantastic job with it's creatures/mythology. The story blends aspects of Egyptian mythology/history seamlessly, as it showcases various locations, gods, objects and characters. It is a lot easier to get into the movie with the excellent world design created here.
-The story is fresh and exciting.
-The actors/characters are excellent. The Mummy has an almost entirely unknown cast (Rachel Weisz being the only actor/actress to star in critically-applauded films) and yet nearly every performance in the film works in its own way. The two massive standouts are John Hannah as Jonathan, honestly in my opinion one of the best comic-relief side characters in movie history, and Arnold Vosloo as the Imhotep, an excellent villain with the perfect amount of humanity. Brendan Fraser is an excellent lead, Rachel Weisz is solid, and even most of the minor characters contribute to the film.