A decent effort, but somehow lacking...

Rating: Null/10 (20 May 2001)

Everything from the first film was there. Yes, there were the cornball one-liners and banal dialog. Yes, there was the Mummy. Yes, there were some great special effects and stuntwork. And yes, there was the requisite comic relief, this time represented by John Hannah and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Everything that made the first film a work of mindless, popcorn munching, B-movie fun was there.
But somehow, it didn't quite click. The first one was thrilling, funny, and entertaining, albeit in a turn-your-brain-off kind of way. The sequel is... well, it's somewhat thrilling, kind of funny, and I guess moderately entertaining. However, compared to the first, the film lacked a little focus. I presume the filmmakers tried to follow one of the common sequel "formulas"- that is, take everything in the first film and make it 100 times bigger. Make it wall to wall action, and even throw a little bit of globe trotting in. More thrills, more cheesy one liners, more special effects. You think the face in the sandstorm was cool last time? Well, we'll do something like that but even better.
But in the efforts to make the film bigger and better, even less thought was gone into making it than the first film. Some of the action scenes, while thrilling, also seemed a little superfluous and arbitrary, and as a result it lacked a sense of urgency that some of the best scenes in the first film had. And while they were quite well done and entertaining, many of the fight scenes as well as the special effects felt like they were already accomplished in the first movie. (The only notable improvement in the CGI is in the mummy's not-fully-formed stages, which is probably the most underused CGI in the film) The one liners were funny, but were said a little too often with a wink-wink-nudge-nudge that it can go from amusing to somewhat arrogant. And while Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as the black pilot and Freddie Boath as the kid were surprisingly entertaining, I got to be a little annoyed with John Hannah.
This film had all the ingredients of its predecessor, and yet it fell a little short. Was it a horrible movie? No. Did I find it entertaining? Mmmm... I _guess_ so. Just not as much as I'd hoped to be after watching the first film. Would I recommend it? I'm not sure.