With so much going on, I still got bored...

Rating: 5/10 (13 September 2001)

I really liked The Mummy when it came out. It reminded me (and everybody else it seems) as an Indiana Jones film. It was fun and focused, so it was inevitable that a sequel would be put into production. No big deal, the first one was good, second one should be as well, right? Wrong.
Writer/director Stephen Sommers packs this film with so much action that I actually got bored with watching it. He never spends enough time on anything for the viewer to focus on. One explosion, a few semi-funny one-liners, and on to the next scene. Arnold Vosloo as The Mummy is back, but unfortunately, this isn't his movie. Yes, he's in most of it, but I don't actually remember much of him beyond the canyon wave (essentially the sand face from the first film, only with water). This film belongs to the Scorpion King, which brings me to him...
As far as The Rock as the Scorpion King go, what's the big deal? For the few minutes he's in it (and I emphasize few minutes), he's either snarling and fighting, or he's snarling and running, or he's snarling as a very badly computer generated scorpion. I'm wondering if Sommers just ran out of money, or perhaps energy when it came to completing the film, because the effects in the last 15 minutes are really horrible.
There are good parts though. The canine warriors are spectacular, and the little tiny mummy creatures are campy, but hilarious. Plot? Forgetaboutit. There is not plot to speak of. Actually, to be honest, I can't even remember what the plot was to have supposed to involve beyond another little thing-a-ma-jig that would bring the Scorpion King back from the dead, and the reincarnated Anck Su Namun still trying to reunite herself with good 'ole Imhotep. Oh, and Brenden Fraser and Rachel Weisz are now married with a kid (the Action Movie Guide Book says it's better to involve children in those perilous situations for more suspense).
Now, come to find out, Universal is in production on a movie based solely on the Scorpion King. I certainly hope that they find a plot, invest more in some special effects, and let The Rock get his snarl back in practice, because I'm sure the critics are already practicing theirs.
My grade: C-