The Mummy (1999)

An American serving in the French Foreign Legion on an archaeological dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra accidentally awakens a Mummy.

Director:

Stephen Sommers

Writers:

Stephen Sommers (screen story), Lloyd Fonvielle (screen story),

Stars:

Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brendan Fraser	...	Richard 'Rick' O'Connell
Rachel Weisz	...	Evelyn 'Evy' Carnahan
John Hannah	...	Jonathan 'Jon' Carnahan
Arnold Vosloo	...	High Priest Imhotep
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Beni Gabor
Oded Fehr	...	Ardeth Bay
Jonathan Hyde	...	Dr. Allen Chamberlain
Erick Avari	...	Dr. Terrence Bey
Bernard Fox	...	Captain Winston Havlock
Stephen Dunham	...	Mr. Henderson
Corey Johnson	...	Mr. Daniels
Tuc Watkins	...	Mr. Burns
Omid Djalili	...	Warden Gad Hassan
Aharon Ipalé	...	Pharaoh Seti I
Patricia Velasquez	...	Anck Su Namun

Storyline

An English librarian called Evelyn Carnahan becomes interested in starting an archaeological dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra. She gains the help of Rick O'Connell, after saving him from his death. What Evelyn, her brother Jonathan and Rick are unaware of is that another group of explorers are interested in the same dig. Unfortunately for everyone, this group ends up unleashing a curse which been laid on the dead High Priest Imhotep. Now 'The Mummy' is awake and it's going to take a lot more than guns to send him back from where he came from.

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Plot Keywords:

priest | mistress | mummy | treasure | tomb | 

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Taglines:

Prepare. Beware. Behold.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for pervasive adventure violence and some partial nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Egyptian (Ancient) Arabic

Release Date:

7 May 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

La momia

Filming Locations:

Ait Benhaddou, Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$197,100,000 (Non-US) (13 August 1999)

Gross:

ESP 2,222,069,457 (Spain) (29 June 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Alphaville Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min 115 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The white cat seen in Evelyn's apartment is given no name in the film, but in the movie novelisation the cat's name is revealed to be Cleo.

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Goofs

Both times, when the Arab horsemen are attacking Hamunaptra, the sound of ululation is heard. In the Middle East, this sound is traditionally made by women, and during times of celebration or grieving. It wouldn't be made by attacking men on horseback.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Ardeth Bay: [narrating] Thebes, City of the Living. Crown jewel of Pharaoh Seti the First. Home of Imhotep, Pharaoh's high priest, keeper of the dead. Birthplace of Anck Su Namun, Pharaoh's mistress. No other man was allowed to touch her. But for their love, they were willing to risk life itself.

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Crazy Credits

The Earth in the opening Universal logo flashes and dissolves into the sun.

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Connections

References The Jungle Book (1994)

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Soundtracks

"'Al Nahla Al 'Ali (The Tall Palm Tree)"
Written by Metqal Qemawi Metqal, Yunis Al Hilali
Performed by The Musicians of the Nile
Courtesy of Real World Records Ltd.

User Reviews

Great fun in the vein of "Indiana Jones"...

"The Mummy" is an adventurous yarn in the vein of "Indiana Jones." It's a lot of fun, very charming, and never tries to be more than what it is. What is it? An entertaining summer flick which is not only worth seeing, but perhaps even owning. It's one of those fun movies you can return to over and over again and never grow tired of doing so.

It's hardly a remake of the Universal classic of the same name. It's merely a new way to tell the story with the same basic idea - a murderous mummy is brought back from the dead. This time we have a hero and heroine who must stop him before he takes over the world, or something along the line of world domination.

The hero is Rick (Brendan Fraser), a thief thriving off the very basics out in Egypt circa 1930. Arrested and to be hanged, he is saved by the heroine (Rachel Weisz), who believes he may hold the key to helping them find an ancient Egyptian kingdom buried under the sand, if I recall correctly (though it has been a while since I've seen this). Little does she know what lurks beneath the sand near that old kingdom is none other than the remains of a man who was caught cheating on the king's wife years ago and mummified.

Now, after unearthing the remains of the kingdom, the expedition led by our heroes come upon an ancient "Book of the Dead," which, when read from, brings the ancient mummy back to life. Now he is out to kill, regenerate and bring back his old lover - pretty neat, huh?

I own "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy," a great movie spoofing the classic film. "The Mummy" isn't exactly a spoof but it's very tongue-in-cheek. It knows it isn't an Oscar-winner, it knows it stands nothing against the older film, and so it goes for pulp thrills. I actually believe that this film is a bit classy in execution - compared to many other entertainments floating around nowadays it stands as one of the only films to return to the roots of the pure adventure films like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) so successfully did.

Brendan Fraser is a perfect choice for the lead star. Calm, but with ironic and sarcastic humor; cool, but a strong lead. I wondered what it would have been like if they had casted an actor in his role who would have taken it all more seriously. I bet the results would have been disastrous. Fraser knows that this is all good fun, and he's having a good time playing his role with comedy. Every once and a while you can catch a wink at the screen that lets us know that he knows what he's doing.

2001 brought a sequel to "The Mummy" named, of all things, "The Mummy Returns." I found it just as fun as this film though some critics begged to differ. Summer 2002 brought yet another "Mummy" film, this one a prequel called "The Scorpion King" - it was a following of a co-star of the first sequel. The Mummy was not in it at all. It was a horrible film that wasn't near as fun as this one. So I recommend you see "The Mummy" as soon as humanly possible. After that, see "The Mummy Returns."

Either way, you simply can't go wrong.