No Soul

Rating: Null/10 (26 May 2001)

Spoilers herein.
My disappointment in this film was profound.
Most films are ordinary, and being ordinary are about other films. In this case, the precedent is Indiana Jones which added a comic book perspective to the well-established genre of mummy curse films. The key elements (from both Lucas and Spielberg) were chases and humor. The kernel of the idea comes from an enterprising reporter who formed a cosmic revenge story around the discovery of Tutankamen's undisturbed tomb in the 1922s.
That tomb (as all such tombs) cursed the disturbers (`death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the king') and Lord Carnarvon, the first man to enter did indeed perish soon after of a strange malady. There are even fresh arguments concerning mold spores. 11 others also died mysteriously. Around that curse were resurrected cosmic battles about the powers of gods and the nature of the afterlife. (A near contemporary, Akhenaton, lost the battle but won the war on this matter as a tribe of semites later left Egypt and founded the one-god, belief-of-the-book, modern-heaven religion that now permeates the west.) Comic book versions followed.
This is great stuff around which one can spin a popular tale of terror from the afterlife. To Indiana, the first Sommers Mummy movie added some novel computer work, which still amazes us. But the core notion of reach from the afterlife was relatively preserved. Here, the same team used the theory of more to produce a mess, preserving nothing.
We still have massive computer graphics, and for a year or two more, we will still marvel. But the underlying structure has no soul, it has inexplicably been tossed, leaving us without a footing for our thrills.
Simple stuff: Fraser has a greater comedic range than celebrity franchise Harrison Ford, but humor is rare here.
Instead of one good guy, we have a whole extended family, plus the `good arab.' The chief guy - we discover - is destined to save the world (as designated by a tattoo). The chief girl is the reincarnated good girl (so she can play both the good daughter and good mom). Its confusing whether the kid is special - tapped by fate - or just stumbles on the bracelet.
Instead of one bad guy, we have: the scheming museum curator (and his unexplained sect); the reincarnated (in body only - whatever that means) bad girl; the bad mummy priest; the more powerful scorpion warrior-king who himself is a hireling of someone we don't meet; the black guy who has some special role; the moriarty gang; and the pygmy demons.
Instead of one magic, we have the 12 tribes of Magi (clearly related to the magic of the word); the magic of the books; the magic of the spear, bracelet, diamond (which will factor in the sequel); the magic of the scorpion curse; the magic ofthe mummy's curse. But despite all this magic, everything revolves around fights with knives. How quaint.
Instead of one vision of the underworld, it is: a parking place for demons to be recalled from, sort of a suspended animation zone; or a Dante-like place of eternal torture. Neither is particularly Egyptian.
Which brings me to the sense of place. Many of the sets are lush. We are supposed to feel the sense of (in turn) ratty Egypt; lux London; spectacular desert + train; ancient magical Egypt. Think now - were they successful with any location? Did you get any feel of magic, like say even `Stargate' conveyed? Were you awed by the visions the bracelet produced?
Worse: the horror was all mouth horror. You know, Disney is accused of his humor (the stuff he wrote) being mostly butt humor. Check out all the `scares' here - they are all open mouths. Does this lack imagination? Worse yet, here we have two pernicious stereotypes of American blacks: the feral, muscular buck (`I's gonna keel you') and the goldtoothed stepinfetchit (`don't shoot me in the butt.') Wasn't anybody checking behind this guy?
So no soul. Only two moments of camera art: flashes on Fraser when entering the pyramid, and 20 seconds of stop-blur on Bey during the battle (against a supposedly invincible demon army).
The only touch of class was with the closing credits.