Soul-sucking Sommers

Rating: 4/10 (8 May 2004)

You'd think it would be impossible for Stephen Sommers to sink lower than the cinematic abomination that was The Mummy Returns, but somehow, he's done it - this endless barrage of phony CGI effects is a tough slog to get through. The effects (particularly the animation of Dracula's brides and the werewolves) are atrocious, but the shockingly poor animation of Mr Hyde at the beginning made the Hyde from League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen seem like Gollum. This basically comes off as a poor mans League, right down to Richard Roxburgh prancing about as a hammy villian. Hugh Jackman is okay, but less charismatic than usual - and Kate Beckinsale is wasted in a role that again requires her to do little more than pout and look pretty (that's pretty much all she did in Pearl Harbor and Underworld). But it's really Sommers who should take the blame for this - relying too much CGI and ridiculous action scenes that never seem remotely real (especially the carriage chase scene) that you really don't care. I'm all for a good, dumb, tongue-in-cheek blockbuster (the first Mummy was one of the best in recent years) but I really hope that this isn't where this type of film is going - movies that are little more than souless video games.