A summer sequel spectacle that exceeds the original!

Rating: 5/10 (5 May 2001)

Brendan Fraser is the only thing wrong with this movie. He still hasn't learned to act, but someone at least learned how to handle him. Give him short and simple lines and let the action support him. Fraser would do well to emulate another top box office non-actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger and learn to make light of himself. Think True Lies. Has Arnold ever been better?
Everything else is fantastic. This film is infinitely better than The Mummy. There is more story, more drama, more action, more special effects, more of everything.
This time out, evil Archaeologists stage a battle between Imhotep (Vosloo) and the Scorpion King (The Rock) to gain control over the armies of Annubis. Along the way, we get deeper into the story of Anck-su-Namun and Imhotep. A new story line develops that ties Fraser and his new wife, Evie (Rachel Weisz), closer to the ill-fated couple than they could have imagined. John Hannah, who returns as Evie's hapless brother, and Freddie Boath as her and Fraser's son, add comic relief galore. Arnold Vosloo is once again fabulous, and I'd love to see him get more good roles. Patricia Velazquez returns as the other half of the star-crossed lovers, Anck-su-Namun.
The movie succeeds at tying the two stories together, and using the first film to raise the stakes. The much touted Scorpion King role is a bit of a letdown, but the spinoff is already being filmed, without, unfortunately the majority of this cast. I always thought that The Mummy might have been as good as the Indiana Jones films if Fraser could act. This movie deals with that problem, and earns its place as a peer with the Indiana Jones trilogy in movie history. It does everything well. Even the credits are the best I've ever seen, and the ending song is tasty.
A summer sequel spectacle that exceeds the original!