Heh. Indiana Jones meets slapstick and camp. You gotta love it.

Rating: 8/10 (3 June 1999)

The Mummy? If you only saw the previews for it, you'd think it was a SPFX-filled horror flick. If you go to see it, your perceptions will be adjusted to see that it's a SPFX-filled campy comedy-type filled flick *tinged* with horror. Think: Indiana Jones meets, oh, not quite the 3 Stooges, but close. It basically brings back the feeling of the campy Saturday afternoon "horror" flicks - with a lot more humor. Admittedly, some of the scenes were downright creepy - flesh-devouring beetles (that you never really see doing such, it's only 99% implied), ghouls crawling rapidly after the good guys - down the sides of the walls, that sort of thing. But this film is so peppered with 1-liners, staged comedic spills and the like, it's very difficult to take as a pure horror flick - or to stop your lips from splitting open in a hearty belly laugh. Brendan Fraser parodies Indiana Jones wonderfully - with more humor, smugness, and dare I say it, giggly attempts at romance. People might slam his performance, but I'd say it's as solid as Keanu "Huh?" Reeves in "The Matrix" (is that a bad thing to say here? I don't think so.) Rachel Weisz puts on a great performance as the slightly-off-kilter knowledgeable Egyptologist, and has a handful of priceless 1-liners and slapstick scenes in points...and Arnold Vosloo... well...for a pretty minimalist acting job, I thought his screen charisma and presence stood out pretty strongly. I'd second other people's thoughts here in that he looked a lot like Billy Zane in "The Phantom". He did! Able supporting cast, creepy opportunist-turned-darkside's-evil-henchman played aptly by Kevin O'Connor...great scenery, wonderfully designed sets...and did I mention the SPFX yet??? :) It all ends predictably enough, but it's an enjoyable ride - and one that will bring more laughs to your face than you expect. Dunno if it's worth buying on DVD, but plunk down your $X and see this movie - it's a nice piece of lighter fare which could balance out your diet of serious, grimmer stuff (Matrix) or larger-than-life wanna-be legends (Star Wars Ep. 1)...etc. Check it out.