The Mummy (1999) Review

Well worth the rewatch

The Mummy (1999): 9 out of 10: French Foreign Legion veteran (Brendan Fraser) is hired by an aspiring Egyptologist (Rachel Weisz) and her brother (John Hannah) to guide them to the legendary where the Book of Life awaits as well as a rumored curse.

Off to the questions.

So is this better than Tom Cruise’s The Mummy? Good lord, yes. Heck, this is better than all but the first Indiana Jones films.

It has been a while since you last saw the movie. What struck you?

I had forgotten how bizarrely violent the film is. How it got a PG-13 rating is beyond me. It has a very light-hearted tone and very little actual blood per se, but people are getting their eyes and tongues ripped out while others are having bugs dig into their skin and burrow into their brains.

Any disappointments?

Well, the CGI special effects (particularly the bugs) have aged poorly.

How is Brendan Fraser?

He is so good in this; it is mystifying how he struggled to move beyond this franchise. He tried with Journey to the Center of the Earth, but that film was more interested in some pretty lame 3D effects than actually entertaining an audience over the age of 8. But that wasn’t his fault. Still, he was never given another genuine chance at a tent pole. If he was around ten years later, I could easily see him in a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. (Or even DC, he would make a pretty fine Booster Gold).

So a fun time for the whole family?

Yes. But honestly, it will scare the daylights out of little kids. It is also before the entire inclusion thing, so those sensitive to representation and appropriation may burst into flames during the screening.

Better than you remember it?

Yes, it still holds up, and it is better than I remember. A massive hit at the time, I think it is often forgotten when we talk about iconic films from that era. Well worth the rewatch.