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 equels are, by their very nature, never as "good as
the original." The biggest reason for this is because the sequel can't
surprise you (the audience) when everything has been explained/done/shown in the
original. One school of thought on how to overcome this (negative) expectation
is to, instead of surprising the audience, just give it what it wants, except in
larger doses!
"The Mummy Returns," the sequel to "The
Mummy," brings back all the major players, including Brendan Fraser as
dashing hero Rick O'Connell and Rachel Weisz as spunky archaeologist Evie. The
original's director (and franchise creator) Stephen Sommers returns as director
and this time, sole writer. Comedy sidekick John Hannah also comes back as
Evie's bumbling brother, still bumbling aplenty between sequels, it seems.
The film opens 10 years later, with O'Connell and Evie
married and, along with their 10-year old son Alex (Freddie Boath), are now
full-time professional, er, grave robbers. (They actually give most of their
findings to a museum in London, but it's still grave robbing...isn't it?)
Trouble arises when a group of secret society (how many of them are there,
anyway?) awakens the Mummy and once more our intrepid heroes must save the day
-- and this time, it's personal! Really, it is. The bad guys kidnap Alex.
Even though "Returns" is almost identical in feel
and look to the original, there is a noticeable lack of "newness" to
the adventures. (As expected, natch.) Writer/director Sommers has elected to
flood the screen with one action sequence after another, with non-action moments
seeming to exist only to set up the next action sequence. This result in the
audience feeling stuffed. Imagine if someone shoved one hamburger down your
throat and was already prepping the next one before you've even swallowed down
the first, or second, or third... Even if hamburger was your favorite food in
the whole world, it would still be too much, in too short of a time.
Sommers has written in more weight to the O'Connell and
Evie characters, both of who discovers they are fatefully linked to the mummy's
past. This, and the revelation that O'Connell is some kind of "warrior of
God", feels not only unnecessary, but a little forced. There were already
plenty of reasons for O'Connell and Evie to pursue the mummy in order to stop it
a second time -- that whole save the world thing, plus the abduction of their
kid. No further motivation was needed.
Despite all of its faults, "Returns" is still a
good adventure film that still manages to be funny. I also liked how the
relationship between O'Connell and Evie has progressed, and the two seems to be
glowing from parenthood and their newfound joy of, er, grave robbing,
family-style. (Or is that glowing a result of increased pay raises for the
respective actors? Just a thought.) The return of Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay (how
cool is that name?), the Egyptian warrior, was also a welcome treat.
After being spun off into "The
Scorpion King," "The Mummy" franchise looks as if it's made
its last save-the-world effort. There has been no mention of a fourth
installment, although anything is possible especially considering the mammoth
box office take of "Returns" and its prequel, "The
Scorpion King." And as we all know, nothing gets Hollywood's attention
more than a buffo box office.
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