Could Use Tighter Wrapping

Rating: 6/10 (18 June 2001)

`The Mummy Returns' brings back most, but not all the elements that made `The Mummy' such a hoot; i.e., exotic locales, larger than life characters, genuine humor and breakneck action. However, suspense, which was not a hot commodity even in the first `Mummy' is TOTALLY absent here.
Fortunately, all of the surviving principals are back. However, Beni (Kevin J. O'Connor), the weasel, is sorely missed, and not altogether satisfactorily replaced. Worse, there are TOO many villains, none of whom are given adequate screen time. One would certainly wish for more of a contribution by Arnold Vosloo (the mummy). Rachel Weisz looks incredibly fetching. However, her ego must have gotten the best of her. Can you imagine ANYONE explore insect-infested ruins wearing a Wonderbra and supermodel makeup? Rachel probably couldn't stand how everyone (at least every male) stood up to take notice at Patricia Valazquez first appearance in `The Mummy,' wearing makeup and very little else. Here Valazquez's most prominent assets are kept discretely tucked in her blouse (at least in the `contemporary' sequences), and she wears no makeup (a decision I am sure was dictated by Weisz). Weisz needn't have worried. Inept acting is a turnoff, and Valazquez is laughable in her key contemporary scene with Vosloo.
The movie jumps into the action portion of the plot way too quickly, which results in the brief lulls intended to build suspense building tedium instead. The movie also promises us `The Rock,' who appears only in the flashbacks. Instead, the `contemporary' climax gives us a phony-looking computer generated scorpion with `The Rock's' features.
Even with all its shortcomings, `The Mummy Returns' is one heck of a ride, a worthy, if slightly inferior successor to `The Mummy.'