A well thought-out sequel

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2008)

The original Mummy was a good movie, and it's immediate sequel deserves no less commendation. The characters, plot, and feel of the movie leave you wishing for more at the end, and most of its flaws are minor and easily overlooked in light of the movie as a whole.
The story picks off where the first movie left, only about ten years later. Rick and Evie are married, they have a ten year old son, and they have a manor in England which they share with Evie's brother, Jonathan - but of course, their passion is still Egypt and they're off to explore more tombs with their slightly over-inquisitive son. In this case, Evie has been having visions of the past and it's led her to an ancient bracelet. Alex, being the annoying ten year old, puts on the bracelet and is promptly kidnapped along with Evie by a cult dedicated to the destruction of the Scorpion King, a mythical warlord. Of course, in their efforts, they've decided to resurrect Imhotep, the villain of the first film, and use him to kill the Scorpion King to take control of his army of Anubis warriors.
Rick and Evie are, of course, not about to let this happen, especially not at the expense of their son, and they go on a long journey across Egypt and Africa to recover him. They realize that Evie's visions are from a past life and that she was the daughter of the Pharoah Seti, Nefertiti, who was the sparring rival of Anck-su-namun, lover of the Pharoah, and also the witness to the murder of the Pharoah. With the help of Ardeth Bay, the Med'jai warrior from the first film, they discover that Rick is also a reborn Med'jai warrior destined to bring about the demise of the Scorpion King.
The film has some very high points. Brendan Frasier and Rachel Weisz are excellent actors and have a deep, almost explosive chemistry with each other, and with their on-screen son. Freddie Boath, as Alex, is hilarious, a great fusion of Rick and Evie, figuratively as well as literally. However the one character that I had my eye fixated on was Oded Fehr's Ardeth Bay. Not only is he the first Islamic warrior to be portrayed in a favorable light and leads the first full Islamic army since Lawrence of Arabia that is cast in a good light as well. He's the most emotional (and yet somewhat funny) character, and doesn't cling to the general stereotypes of an Arab that we tend to see in cinema nowadays. Jonathan is hilarious, and we get to see him showcase more than just his humor as he proves his worth in battle. And of course, Arnold Vosloo was fantastic as Imhotep, a villain to (almost) the very end and yet not a one-dimensional monster. His love affair with Anck-su-namun is more completely explored within the film and how it leads his actions is very obviously apparent.
Compared to the first film, though, it feels slightly less like it's designed for its time than the first film, which felt distinctly placeable in the 1920s like advertised. The film still feels stuck in that time instead of a decade later during the stirrings of the Second World War. The cult henchmen also felt a bit bloated and disproportionately stupid even for a film where the good guy is near invincible.
The references to the first film, far from coming off as cheesy, felt well placed and distinctly funny when it needed to be.
Truly a movie worth renting. 8/10