La mummia - Il ritorno

On my day off from work today, I decided to pop in the Mummy Returns for something fun to watch. I hadn't seen it since it was released for homeviewing, so it's been about a year or two. I must say that this movie takes my breath away each time I see it. The Mummy Returns is a roller coaster ride which barely stops during the entire 2+ hours! I love the CGI effects, and how lavish the scenery looks. The movie made me feel as though I was witnessing Ancient Egypt and and the 1930's era in person. So what if things look 'cartoony' during the battling sequences! I think that the battle sequences in Two Towers looked just as much the same. I find that with many fans nowadays, they take things way too seriously. If a movie or TV series is not what they hope for, then they blast it all to hell just because they are whining babies. Take for instance Star Trek Nemesis. That was another really good movie, yet the so called 'fans' ripped it apart piece by piece and then fed it to the dogs. I just wish that the babies would enjoy the movies instead of complaining that a movie isn't good quality. If thats the case they should just go back to their rooms and watch Fargo or the English Patient! Both the Mummy and the Mummy Returns rock as far as action movies go. Get a huge bag of chips a large bottle of pop, sit down with your girlfriend and enjoy two great movies!! Excellent fun!!

The success of "The Mummy" in 1999 surprised everyone, and on the day that it opened, Universal Studios greenlit another sequel. The original (the 1999 one) was a lot of fun because it mixed creepy scares with awesome action and goofy humor. The sequel does more or less the same thing, except that the action sequences come pretty much one after another from beginning to end.

Rick (Brendan Fraser) has married his love from the first film, Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), and the have a son, Alex (Freddy Boath). After finding the bracelet of the mythical Scorpion King, they're attacked by villains who are intent on raising Imhotep from the dead (again) so he can kill the Scorpion King and take over the world. Of course, it's up to Rick and Evelyn to stop them.

All the characters from the first film in the franchise are back, and they slide into their parts easily. Arnold Vosloo gets to do more with his character, and Patricia Velasquez (who has about 10 times as much screen time as she did in the first film) has a lot of fun acting like Jennifer Lopez's alter-ego. There are a few new characters as well, including young Freddie Boath, who is excellent as Alex. His screen appeal rivals Macauley Culkin at his best. Shaun Parkes is a much better source of comic relief than Kevin J. O'Connor (he's consistently funny, and the dialogue between him and Rick or Jonathan is hilarious). Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is suitably creepy as a new villain and Alun Armstrong is suitably kooky as the ringleader.

Stephen Sommers knows how to create an action movie. He creates real characters, not actors who are given different names, and sends them into action scene after action scene. It's a fun and exciting flick, and that's all it tries to be.

This movie is pretty good, it delivers pretty much the same thing we got in the Firs movie. Some characters are more developed and some others more expanded, all the same, some others are reduced and we are introduced to new characters. The plot is good, not as good as the first movie, but still does a good job keeping you interested and entertained the whole time.

The sequel takes place 10 years later, when Rick O'Conell (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) are now married, and have a son, Alex (Freddie Boath). Alex has been kidnaped by the bad guys, including the infamous Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) and his eternal love reincarnated (Patricia Velazques). Now it's just a matter of time for them to find Alex before it's too late for everybody...

The performances are pretty good, almost all of them. Brendan Fraser does a good job once again as the handsome Rick, he is strong, funny, charismatic, what else can you ask? Rachel Weisz role has been developed a lot more, she is no longer the clumsy egyptologist wanna-be, now she runs the British museum and is a mom; and she does a great job with that. John Hannah is also back as the useless Jonathan, this time not as funny as he used to be. Oded Fehr character has been expanded a lot, we get to see him a lot more in this movie. He did a good job as Ardeth. One more time, the winner of this movie is Arnold Vosloo as the villain; his performance was excellent! He manages to express all the emotions without opening his mouth! This guy has great acting skills, too bad not many movie producers/directors have noticed it. The Rock does his movie debut with this movie, he is the Scorpion King, the whole movie turns around him, even though he was in the movie for the first 5 minutes of it. Still he did a good job for his first time. Patricia Velazques was the only one who did a BAAAAD job. Her acting is awful! She is pretty and everything, but she really needs some acting classes.

The music once again is one of the key parts of this movie, it is really good, even though Jerry Goldsmith wasn't in charge of it. The direction is good too, just like in the first movie, and we get to see a lot more of special effects.

This movie is good, i really enjoyed it, I liked the first one better though, but that's just me. You might like this one better, so YOU MUST SEE THIS ONE! **** out of *****

If you've seen the trailer for this movie, you're probably expecting fast paced adventure, non-stop action and a special effects extravaganza with just enough story to keep it all interesting. And if that's what you're hoping for, you certainly won't be disappointed; because that's exactly what you get in `The Mummy Returns,' written and directed by Stephen Sommers. The story begins in Egypt, where Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his wife, Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) discover an ancient bracelet that had once belonged to a warrior known as `The Scorpion King (The Rock),' who, back in the day, had sold his soul to the god, Anubis, for control of his armies and domination of the world. Now, it seems, The Scorpion King's resurrection is imminent, and if he succeeds and once again raises the armies of Anubis, he could very well take over or destroy the world. Followers of Im-Ho-Tep (Arnold Vosloo), however, who are privy to this information as well, decide to resurrect their dark leader so that he can face The Scorpion King, defeat him, take control of Anubis' armies and conquer the world himself, putting them in control. But the key to the whole plan lies with who has control of the bracelet at the time of The Scorpion King's resurrection. And the O'Connells have taken it back home with them to London.

So the adventure begins in earnest, moving from Egypt to London, then back again to Egypt. Along the way, there's plenty of mummies, fighting, and bugs, but very few surprises, except for one scene near the end when something quite unexpected happens. The story itself gets somewhat lost in the muddle, but it doesn't really matter; plot is fairly insignificant in a movie like this, as long as it maintains at least a thread of credibility and can give the action some context. And that it does, so all is well and it allows you to get on with what this movie is really all about, which-- simply put-- is having a good time.

With shades of `Indiana Jones' and `Star Wars' abounding, the real success of this movie lies in the fact that it never pretends to be anything other than what it is or what it was meant to be, and that is an entertaining, fun movie. It's visually explosive, from the sweeping, desert vistas of the converging, battling armies, to the mummies and assorted demons and creatures generously sprinkled throughout. And the hand-to-hand combat scenes between Evelyn and Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velazquez) are especially thrilling. The one element of the film that doesn't seem to work too well has to do with a particular mode of transportation to which the O'Connells must resort upon their return to Egypt, and which ultimately plays a significant part in the outcome of the whole adventure. It's something that seemingly would have been more appropriate in `The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' or `Peter Pan.'

As far as the performances, suffice to say that the actors involved all do their jobs well; after all, in a movie like this you're not going to find anyone struggling with `The Method.' Fraser strikes a handsome, heroic pose-- call him a poor man's Indiana Jones-- and Weisz is becoming as Evelyn. Most importantly, they all walk the walk and talk the talk, and Sommers keeps them on track and wisely avoids allowing any lapses into `camp' or tongue-in-cheek character interpretations, which makes this a solid, fun-filled, action-adventure movie that is what it is.

The supporting cast includes John Hannah (providing some comic relief as Jonathan Carnahan), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lock Nah), Freddie Boath (Alex O'Connell) and Obed Fehr (Ardeth Bay). As with most sequels, you'll get more out of `The Mummy Returns' if you've seen the original, which had more of a story and, of course, would give you the background of the characters. But even on it's own and taken at face value, this movie is a feast for the senses, and just a lot of good fun. Just don't go in expecting anything more than what the trailer promises; if you can do that, chances are you're going to enjoy the movie and have a good time. I rate this one 7/10.

The Mummy Returns is maybe a step above the first one. The action is non-stop, and it does manage, for the most part, to rouse the audience, or at least me. The good guys are likable. Brendan Fraser is where he belongs. Rachel Weisz is beautiful. John Hannah amuses as Jonathan, and Freddie Boath manages not to annoy as Alex, the kid. He's pretty good as a smart-mouthed brat. The bad guys are, for the most part, fun to hate. Im-Ho-Tep is a good villain. Maybe he isn't given enough to do here, but he's still cool. Patricia Valazquez is a real stunner as his love interst, Anck-Su-Namun. She's probably the best thing about the film. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was good as Lock Nah, the main henchman. Perhaps the weakest part of the film is the Rock as the Scorpion King. The narration during the film's prologue is not nearly as good as it would be if we were watching the story develop. The Scorpion King is basically a boring character. His computer-animated doppleganger at the film's climax is neat, but it would have been better if there were some feelings towards that character.

People who know their action flicks will notice that the Mummy Returns steals about every action scene from every action movie made in the past 20 years, quoting movies like Aliens, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park 2 (why? that movie was terrible), and especially Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, with which, if you remember, The Mummy I was competing with in the box office successfully in May of 1999. They don't try to hide any of it. They even make a jest at Spielberg with a shadow against the moon from ET and Amblin Entertainment. It's all in good fun. You shouldn't be too angry at the sloppy script. If you are going to be angry, the shoddy computer animation should be your target. Still, it's not bad.