He does return, and he brings nothing new with him

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2009)

More of the same. For anyone wondering, no, I don't like Indiana Jones either(though I've barely watched any; I do believe that I'd enjoy it, and I can't say that for this). You know, I really wish I could say something nice about Sommers. No, honestly. For as cathartic as it can be to unleash a verbal smack-down in these reviews, it is nothing compared to how satisfying it is to point to what a certain film-maker does that sets them apart from the rest. Be it an uncompromising vision, perfectionism, or, heck, simpler things such as them always making the viewer laugh, or being dependable to provide exciting pictures. But I can find no such thing about him. Well, to be accurate, nothing that is *positive*. The numerous holes that this(the *second flick*) creates in the continuity are one of the signs that he expects the audience to just ignore all of the inconsistencies, to not question the fiction we are served. While there are a couple of things that are kinda cool, and the occasional second here and there of the non-stop action that doesn't suck, everything is still ridiculously over the top. Can he please limit his crap to focusing on only one catastrophe at a time? The effects continue to be the real attraction(and they're already outdated), albeit this has less of people standing around to admire the aesthetic value of the source of the immediate danger that they are in. I don't know why they chose to cut corners with several of the FX, instead of figuring out a different way to do the sequence(it would be less obvious). Bits in this mirror the first, only here, it makes even less sense. Rick himself has a line about how convenient the plot is. Every character is obnoxious, and this adds an intolerable kid. I repeat the question: Who are we meant to care about? Emotion is invariably phoned in, mainly because of the tone. A handful of these performers can act, elsewhere... it is not a myth, I have seen it. A couple of them may make an effort here. Oded Fehr remains my favorite thing about these. The Rock has so little to do that you can barely be disappointed; it is worth noting, however, that, in this, his face often seems to indicate that the desert exudes an incredibly rank odor. Oh, wait, sorry... that's him trying to look bad-ass. This is powerfully unfunny, and a few moments are disgusting. When did Imhotep develop outright telekinesis? And why on Earth does he only use it sometimes? There is mild, if potentially disturbing, violence in this. Well, the mummies do, to an extent and every now and again, actually have the appearance they're supposed to. And this provides hot chicks(including showing them briefly half-naked) for us straight males to gawk at. I mean, I've never noticed before that Weisz is that sexy. Maybe this is the only time she's had cleavage so much in the space of two hours, and her legs featured prominently in as frequent shots as here. In ways(not all), this is not as awful as the original. I recommend this to any fans of that, and/or of cheesy adventure movies in general. 6/10