Tons and tons of action, but it's not that fun.

Rating: Null/10 (1 December 2002)

5 out of 10
Stephen Sommers' The Mummy was easily the most effortlessly enjoyable action/adventure since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. So it's with high hopes that I approached the sequel, which is unfortunately a basic overdone retread of the original, with little thought toward plot, character, and most importantly, it lacks the infectious sense of fun the original had.
The surviving cast returns, so you can expect more one-liners from Brendan Fraser, who still makes a convincing action hero, but has very little to do here other than slug it out from one action scene after another. Speaking of action, I don't think I've seen an adventure film packed with so many gunfights, chases, and gargantuan battle sequences. That's sure to please some viewers, but the action is seriously hampered by Sommers occasional attempt to ape The Matrix (slow motion) and completely, blatantly defy the laws of physics (Fraser outruns the sun!). The last forty minutes are horrendously silly (let's count down: there's a melodramatic death scene made twice as bad with reincarnation, a Matrix-style fight scene, and a big battle with a CGI Scorpion King and Anubis warriors that looks pretty ridiculous). Decent rental fare, I suppose, but it pales to the original and any of the Indiana Jones movies.