What a waste!

Rating: 2/10 (9 May 1999)

The 1999 version of 'The Mummy' was a big waste of time, effort, and money. Sure, the effects were first rate. The location, the costumes, the cast -- no problem there. But did they have to settle for a sitcom-level story?
The absolute cheapest element of film making is the story, and with only some (virtually free) story changes, this movie could have been great. The writer-director, Steven Sommers, chose instead to copy only the most overblown and childish aspects of Spielberg's work and let the story come afterwards, if at all.
Example: At one point the heroes, pursued by evil minions, wreck their yellow roadster and escape down a manhole. In the next scene, they're zooming away in the re-incarnated roadster. The Mummy himself couldn't work that quickly.
But worse were the mugging, the predictability, the one-liners, and the endless rain of bullets. Brendan Fraser even adjusts a mirror by shooting at it from across a room. No, I'm not kidding.
Remember the previews? They showed only serious action/adventure; that's what I expected to see. As you can imagine, my hopes were dashed, wrapped, desiccated, and entombed. Don't share that fate! This is one movie to miss.