The Mummy Returns (2001)

The mummified body of Imhotep is shipped to a museum in London, where he once again wakes and begins his campaign of rage and terror.

Director:

Stephen Sommers

Writer:

Stephen Sommers

Stars:

Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah

6 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brendan Fraser	...	Rick O'Connell
Rachel Weisz	...	Evelyn Carnahan / Nefertiri
John Hannah	...	Jonathan
Arnold Vosloo	...	Imhotep
Oded Fehr	...	Ardeth Bay
Patricia Velasquez	...	Meela / Anck-Su-Namun
Freddie Boath	...	Alex
Alun Armstrong	...	Mr. Hafez
Dwayne Johnson	...	The Scorpion King (as The Rock)
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	...	Lock-Nah
Shaun Parkes	...	Izzy
Bruce Byron	...	Red
Joe Dixon	...	Jacques
Tom Fisher	...	Spivey
Aharon Ipalé	...	Pharaoh

Storyline

Many years ago, in Ancient Egypt, the Scorpion King led a menacing army, but when he sold his soul to Anubis, he was erased from history. Now he is only a myth...or is he? Rick and Evelyn O'Connell are still discovering new artifacts, along with their 8 year old son Alex. They discover the Bracelet of Anubis. But someone else is after the bracelet. High Priest Imhotep has been brought back from the dead once again and wants the bracelet, to control the Scorpion King's army. That's not the only problem. Imhotep now has Alex and with the bracelet attached to him, doesn't have long to live.

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Plot Keywords:

mummy character | good versus evil | evil woman | villain | villainess | 

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Taglines:

The most powerful force on earth is about to be unleashed by the two people who should know better.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for adventure action and violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

4 May 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Mummy 2

Filming Locations:

Bloomsbury, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$98,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$68,139,035, 6 May 2001, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$202,019,785

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$433,013,274

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures,Alphaville Films,Imhotep Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The day after The Mummy (1999) opened, the studio asked Stephen Sommers to make a sequel.

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Goofs

Evelyn appears to be wearing modern, seamless, nylon pantyhose.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Ardeth Bay: [narrating] 5,000 years ago, a fierce warrior known as the Scorpion King led a great army on a campaign to conquer the known world.

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits at all, save the Universal logo, so the title of the film, "The Mummy Returns" does not appear until well into the end credits.

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Alternate Versions

The sequence where Ardeth Bay and Rick are fighting to get Evy back(when Imhotep arises) was originally longer. The MPAA deemed the gun battle too long and gave the film an "R" rating, not because of blood or deaths, but because of excessive gunfire (!). According to director Stephen Sommers and editor Bob Ducsay, they say that the scene was significantly longer, but shortened to ensure a "PG-13" rating.

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Connections

References Hercules (1997)

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Soundtracks

Forever May Not Be Long Enough
Written by Glen Ballard and Edward Kowalczyk (as Ed Kowalczyk)
Performed by Live
Courtesy of Radioactive Records, J.V.

User Reviews

Better than some would make out...

When The Mummy hit theatres in 1999, critics everywhere panned it as being a poor man's Indiana Jones. While the two movies are about as similar as Dr. No is to GoldenEye (thankfully), I suppose comparisons between one non-stop adventure film and other are inevitable. In the end, what really counts when determining a film's quality is the level to which it can entertain. And if there is one thing The Mummy did well, it was entertain. Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and Arnold Vosloo were very well chosen for their roles.

The Mummy Returns is easy to see as being another sequel churned out to satiate the greedy money-machine that Hollywood has become, but it has a few things working for it. One thing that is immediately obvious is that the sequel was very much intended to be a film that could be enjoyed without ever having seen the original. The only references to the previous film are done to fill in the narrative gaps about who Imhotep is, and why he is the way he is. The addition of The Scorpion King was an interesting effort to give the film a new antagonist, but the lack of screentime didn't work well in this tangent's favour. Another tangent that could have been better developed was the rivalry between Imhotep's girlfriend and whatever her name was. Imhotep originally mistook Rachel Weisz's character for being his girlfriend reincarnated, so the use of a woman who looks exactly like her while creating this new tangent needed to be developed differently.

Most people won't give a damn about complex story tangents and will want to know if this film is entertaining. And it is entertaining, alright. There is barely a dull moment in the film's substantial running length, and Oded Fehr does a bang-up job of providing a Mad-Max-cum-Indiana-Jones hero. I want to know where they get those groovy costumes and tattoos from, they look quite nice. Anyway, when all is said and done, this is an eight out of ten film. A few badly constructed story details here and there, but some extremely entertaining action sequences make up for them. Don't listen to the nay-sayers. This is matinee-style material at its (almost) best. Get the DVD when it comes out, it will at least tide you over until George Lucas gets his head out of his proverbial and realises that the VHS era is well and truly over.