Mindless summer fun, and cheese

Rating: 6/10 (14 May 2001)

Some of the movies that are the most fun to watch are the action adventure films that come out each summer. They cram lots of special effects, fighting, running and everything else that makes a movie vibrate into about 90 minutes.
Unfortunately, that rarely makes these summer flicks *good* movies. Even allowing for the mindlessness of a summer film, I had a hard time with aspects of Mummy 2. I gave it a 6, and only because of the fact it was intended to be a summer film.
First, I don't know what Brendan Fraser is doing, but his portrayal of an action hero in the Indiana Jones tradition is awkward. Fraser bounces back and forth between sentimental husband and savy adventurer, able to snatch snakes and knives out of the air. He even *walks* funny, kind of hunched over, gorilla-like. The sequel (and the original) make great efforts to tell us, through dialogue, that Fraser's character is blunt and more likely to fight and ask questions later than think his way out of a tough situation. And yet this same character is so sensitive to his wife, and so aware of the needs of those around him, that his "action guy" mode seems out of place. He is too smart and too caring to be the fearless hero.
Second, why in the world did this movie create a very cheesy "scorpion king monster" in the finale? That was probably the most fake looking monster, especially the face (which was The Rock's face, sort of), I have seen since that 1982ish movie about Perseus and the Greek gods who manipulated him. You kept expecting this scorpion thing to speak, and we had several close-ups of the enraged face, but all it ever did was roar. And this was supposed to be the latest version of a great warrior bent on taking over the world? He seemed as smart as a rock (no pun intended).
Finally, several actors/roles were all wrong, or at least not done well. Izzy, the dirigible-for-hire guy, was supposed to provide comic relief, I guess. But his delivery and English accent were far too sophisticated to be convincing for the kind of rogue-for-hitre character he played. The character who was curator at the British museum and as well as the person who was bringing Ahotep back from the dead made no sense. What was his motivation? We never saw Ahotep reward anyone except his woman. Why help him?
Still, the movie was loud, fast and mostly fun, even if it made little sense. If you're trying to escape the summer heat, check out a matinee.