Watchable, and enjoyable, almost throughout.

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2001)

I saw The Mummy, and enjoyed it somewhat, and when I needed something to watch tonight I settled on the sequel. I don't recall the original well enough to compare them very closely, but I can say that I did enjoy the sequel. Not all that terribly much, but I would recommend it.
For about the first hour, the film is a wonderful action comedy. The characters, dialogue, and action were all working for me. Then at about the halfway mark things start slowing down in the film, and when the action picks up at the end for a conclusion (That features no less than 3 simulatneous battles going on at any one time), it feels anti-climactic, hardly exciting, and ripe with action film cliches.
Some of the stuff, like the interaction between the characters of the film first (I especially liked Jonathan, once more a worthless but humorous sidekick) works very nicely. Others, like the good portion of screen time spent on a bizarre dirigible, including a chase scene that mirrors one from the original film, don't. Most of the best stuff comes early in the film, and I found by the end I was losing interest.
Part of the problem could be that the film is really exciting from the start, and practically doesn't let up for the first hour. After that, I was sufficiently thrilled, I almost didn't need more, so when the conclusion came, I didn't have any energy left to invest in it.
Those who are going to see The Rock in this film, be warned. He appears for only about 5 minutes in the film. I don't quite understand how he got so much money and billing for a part that seemed like a cameo to me. Imhotep, the Mummy from the first film, returns (Hence the title) but is pretty underused.
I would marginally recommend the film, especially to fans of the first, but I would not go in expecting anything more than a summer action film that presents a lot of special effects, perhaps too many for its own good.