Does The Mummy Returns Still Hold Up?

Halfway through this marathon already and I only just realized I could’ve called it Mummy Monday. Truly, I am ashamed of myself.

Long ago, when the Scorpion King made a pact with Anubis, he and his army were sealed away to await their reawakening. In 1933, Rick and Evelyn, along with their son Alex, dive beneath an Egyptian ruin, guided by a strange dream that haunts Evelyn. Surprise! It contained an evil magical artifact that evil people want to use to resurrect the evil monster and they kidnap Evelyn to get it. Now Rick and the gang need to launch another rescue and save the world!

So you’re telling me these guys nearly got murdered by an actual world-ending mummy and they still decided to keep raiding Egyptian tombs and opening long forgotten sacred artifacts? And they brought their kid along?! Congratulations to Rick and Evelyn O’Connell for winning both the ‘Worst Parents’ and ‘Worst Archeologists’ awards!

But I guess they’re not as dumb as the guys who decided to resurrect said world-ending mummy so they can see two Egyptian monsters fight like it’s a cheesy crossover.

This is a fine sequel. It takes everything established in the first movie and expands on it. More action, more adventures, more ancient Egyptian monsters! If you loved the first movie, you’ll enjoy this one too.

Although… maybe not as much.

One thing I adored about the first movie was its perfect balance of tone. One minute it was an action-adventure, the next a slasher horror, then back again. It was an even spread that made the movie engaging to watch from beginning to end.

Sadly, this strength is lacking from the sequel. It leans farther from the horror and much more into action adventure. That’s not a bad thing; the movie is still plenty engaging and enjoyable. But without the horror to even things out, the action gets to be a bit exhausting.

My biggest gripe with this movie is, unsurprisingly, Alex. By child actor standards, he isn’t bad. Not good, but it could have been much worse. But having a kid running around, shouting exposition or otherwise freaking out and screaming, is more annoying than entertaining.

In terms of visuals, I could literally copy and paste my praises from the first movie here and call it a day. It’s still beautiful and exciting, the camera work and editing is incredible, the music is gorgeous, and the CGI is, to put it gently, dated. In short: this movie looks good… most of the time.

Once again, Brendan Fraser steals the show as Rick O’Connell. His energy is infectious in every single scene. I’d even argue his performance here is better than the first one; he has more opportunities to show the vulnerable side of Rick, and Fraser took them and ran with it. And the rest of the cast is just as good!

Save for the so-so child performance. And Dwayne Johnson. I love the Rock, don’t get me wrong, but I can never take him seriously, no matter how good the movie.

Especially not when he’s a CGI monster with no dialogue from the actor himself.

Wait, why is he here?

The Mummy Returns is awesome. It may not be as consistent as the first movie, but it’s still a masterclass in action-adventure film making. If you watched the first film and you wanted more, it will scratch your itch satisfactorily.

We’re two for two, lads and lassies! Would that the momentum kept up…

At least we’re not at the reboot yet. I don’t know if I’ll survive that one.