A Curse on He Who Violates This Tomb.

Rating: Null/10 (17 July 2011)

The degree to which you'll enjoy this movie depends a lot on how much -- and why -- you like "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Without "Raiders", this movie wouldn't exist. Neither would "Romancing the Stone," "The Jewel of the Nile," and the numerous sequels in the Indiana Jones series.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" was a true original, the brainchild of Stephen Spielberg, based on the silly, action-filled serials of the 1930s and 40s. There can only be one original, and that was it.
As is always the case, the imitations gave us more of what audiences found appealing in the original. Not only more, but much more. Often, too much more.
In "Raiders", the archaeologist hero had to beat the Nazis in finding the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Here, the hero, Frazier, has to beat a bunch of greedy Americans looking for treasure. Frazier is funded by Weisz's library. Unlike Indiana Jones, he has no particular profession. No identity, really, beyond that of the figure who must save the delicious Rachel Weisz when she is strapped down on an altar of rock next to a disgusting mummy who is brought to life.
"Raiders" didn't have CGIs but "The Mummy" certainly does. The mummies march around in cadence, holding shields and swords, a rip off of Ray Harryhausen's skeleton fight from "Jason and the Argonauts." But if you like action, you'll get it here. And some of it revolting enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. Nothing I like better than seeing a man eaten alive by overgrown cockroaches. Frazier jumps around, a pistol in each hand, wearing a 1920s outfit with crossed holsters and boots. ("Raiders" was set in the 30s.) Frazier gapes, she shouts warning, he makes wisecracks with his eyeballs bulging. Weisz has opportunities to look flabbergasted and frightened. Gawd, she's pretty. She has a delightfully wide face, broad nose, scintillating smile, and eyes that belong in a museum.
The thing is, though, the thing that keeps this from being better appreciated than it is, at least by me, is that it's a copy of something else. People sat down and STUDIED "Raiders of the Lost Ark," trying to figure out what it was that made it so successful, so enjoyable -- what it was that raked in all those SHEKELS. For one thing to be "influenced" by something that came earlier is both understandable and inevitable. But for something to be deliberately copied in the pursuit of pelf. To me, that's almost as sphincter-puckering a notion as being eaten alive by giant cockroaches. I guess that's why I never got rich.