At an archaeological dig in the ancient city of Hamunaptra, an American serving in the French Foreign Legion accidentally awakens a mummy who begins to wreck havoc as he searches for the reincarnation of his long-lost love.
In the Far East, Alex O'Connell, the son of famed mummy fighters Rick and Evy O'Connell, unearths the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin -- a shape-shifting entity cursed by a witch centuries ago.
The notorious monster hunter is sent to Transylvania to stop Count Dracula who is using Dr. Frankenstein's research and a werewolf for some sinister purpose.
Director:
Stephen Sommers
Stars:
Hugh Jackman,
Kate Beckinsale,
Richard Roxburgh
A desert warrior rises up against the evil army that is destroying his homeland. He captures the enemy's key sorcerer, takes her deep into the desert and prepares for a final showdown.
Director:
Chuck Russell
Stars:
Dwayne Johnson,
Steven Brand,
Michael Clarke Duncan
Selene, a vampire warrior, is entrenched in a conflict between vampires and werewolves, while falling in love with Michael, a human who is sought by werewolves for unknown reasons.
Director:
Len Wiseman
Stars:
Kate Beckinsale,
Scott Speedman,
Shane Brolly
A special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.
Director:
Paul W.S. Anderson
Stars:
Milla Jovovich,
Michelle Rodriguez,
Ryan McCluskey
Picking up directly from the previous movie, vampire warrior Selene and the half werewolf Michael hunt for clues to reveal the history of their races and the war between them.
Director:
Len Wiseman
Stars:
Kate Beckinsale,
Scott Speedman,
Bill Nighy
Survivors of the Raccoon City catastrophe travel across the Nevada desert, hoping to make it to Alaska. Alice joins the caravan and their fight against the evil Umbrella Corp.
Alice wakes up in Racoon city hospital after the city has been overrun by zombies. Alice must now make it out of the city before a mucilage bomb is dropped on the city.
Director:
Alexander Witt
Stars:
Milla Jovovich,
Sienna Guillory,
Eric Mabius
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.Written by
Film_Fan
Brendan Fraser wanted the O'Connell family to live in an apartment, but they ended up living in a house so that it could be used for the big battle scene. See more »
Goofs
The dirigible is hit by a wall of water in the canyon, from behind.
This implies that they were flying directly away from the kidnapped boy
they are trying to follow. See more »
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.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The end credits feature objects in the background such as embalming cloth and walls with hieroglyphics. Some of the backgrounds relate to the character. When Arnold Vosloo's and Patricia Velasquez's credits appear, a mummy is seen in the background. When The Rock's credit appears, a scorpion crawls in the background. When John Hannah's credits appear, gold statues can be seen in the background (for his obsession of all things gold). See more »
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. See more »
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. See more »
The plot of this film is too complex to set out in any great detail. Suffice it to say that a group of villains, including one of the curators of the British Museum, have revived the corpse of the Ancient Egyptian priest Imhotep, who was put to death for his part in the murder of the Pharaoh, a crime carried out by his wife Anck-su-Namun, who was also Imhotep's lover. The villains are also seeking to use a magic bracelet to revive the Scorpion King (a warrior from another period of Egyptian history who sold his soul to the dark god Anubis in exchange for military success) and his army. The idea is that they will then use Imhotep to kill the Scorpion King, which will give them control of his army, which they will then use to achieve their ambition of world domination. The only people who can thwart their schemes are Rick O'Connell, an American archaeologist, and his beautiful English wife Evelyn, whose young son Alex has stolen the magic bracelet. Evelyn just happens to be the reincarnation of the daughter of the murdered Pharaoh .
You get the general idea. Don't you just love social realism?
Despite the fact that the plot of 'The Mummy Returns' is clearly nonsensical, I rather enjoyed the film. It is set in the 1930s, and it clearly owes much to the 'Indiana Jones' films, also set in that period. Both involve Egyptian archaeology and artefacts with mystical powers. Although this will sound heretical to the army of Spielberg devotees, who have voted 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' to number 17 in your list of the 250 best movies of all time, I have to say that I enjoyed 'The Mummy Returns' at least as much as any of the 'Indiana Jones' series (and considerably more than 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'). The reason is that the film is fast-paced and occasionally witty; the film whisks the viewer from one adventure to another and generates enough excitement to make him or her forget the many absurdities and inconsistencies in the script. The film never makes the mistake of taking itself too seriously, a mistake that can often ruin an adventure film of this nature.
The best thing about this film is that it stars the gorgeous Rachel Weisz. Indeed, it helped to change my ideas about her. I had previously seen Rachel as an attractive, but rather conservative and proper actress, always playing English rose types in art-house movies. 'The Mummy Returns' (I have never seen 'The Mummy') showed that she has a larger range than this and has not only the looks, but also the sex appeal and cinematic presence, to take the lead in Hollywood blockbusters. (Her predecessor as official English Rose, Helena Bonham Carter, has also made a similar move). Brendan Fraser has never really been my favourite actor, but here he did well as Rick, the solid and dependable family man.
This is very much a 'family values' thriller, like 'True Lies' or 'The River Wild', in which mum, dad and the kid all play their part in thwarting the bad guys. This phenomenon perhaps marks a change in the way in which women are seen by the film industry. At one time, leading actresses often disliked being cast as a mother, even of young children, as it was seen as a sign that their career as a leading lady was over and that henceforward they only had 'character' roles to look forward to. Rachel Weisz, however, plays a mother both here and in her next film, 'About a Boy', without her career suffering any harm.
Of the other characters, there was an amusing cameo from John Hannah as Jonathan, Evelyn's cowardly and avaricious brother. The villains do not really stand out , with the exception of Patricia Velasquez as the reincarnated Anck-su-Namun, a villainess almost as sexy as the heroine. (Her duel with Rachel Weisz will probably strike most male viewers as the film's most memorable scene). The sense of menace overhanging the heroes comes more from the film's computer-generated effects. One thing I did not like was the Scorpion King, in the early scenes a human being but in the later ones a rather ridiculous and unconvincing half-man half-scorpion monster like something from a cheap B-movie.
In a way, the film could be seen as a modern-day B-movie; an updated large-scale big-budget version of those old Saturday morning quickies. Much the same thing, however, could be said of many of Spielberg's films (and not just Indiana Jones). 'The Mummy Returns' may be nonsense, but at least it is entertaining nonsense. 6/10
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The plot of this film is too complex to set out in any great detail. Suffice it to say that a group of villains, including one of the curators of the British Museum, have revived the corpse of the Ancient Egyptian priest Imhotep, who was put to death for his part in the murder of the Pharaoh, a crime carried out by his wife Anck-su-Namun, who was also Imhotep's lover. The villains are also seeking to use a magic bracelet to revive the Scorpion King (a warrior from another period of Egyptian history who sold his soul to the dark god Anubis in exchange for military success) and his army. The idea is that they will then use Imhotep to kill the Scorpion King, which will give them control of his army, which they will then use to achieve their ambition of world domination. The only people who can thwart their schemes are Rick O'Connell, an American archaeologist, and his beautiful English wife Evelyn, whose young son Alex has stolen the magic bracelet. Evelyn just happens to be the reincarnation of the daughter of the murdered Pharaoh .
You get the general idea. Don't you just love social realism?
Despite the fact that the plot of 'The Mummy Returns' is clearly nonsensical, I rather enjoyed the film. It is set in the 1930s, and it clearly owes much to the 'Indiana Jones' films, also set in that period. Both involve Egyptian archaeology and artefacts with mystical powers. Although this will sound heretical to the army of Spielberg devotees, who have voted 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' to number 17 in your list of the 250 best movies of all time, I have to say that I enjoyed 'The Mummy Returns' at least as much as any of the 'Indiana Jones' series (and considerably more than 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'). The reason is that the film is fast-paced and occasionally witty; the film whisks the viewer from one adventure to another and generates enough excitement to make him or her forget the many absurdities and inconsistencies in the script. The film never makes the mistake of taking itself too seriously, a mistake that can often ruin an adventure film of this nature.
The best thing about this film is that it stars the gorgeous Rachel Weisz. Indeed, it helped to change my ideas about her. I had previously seen Rachel as an attractive, but rather conservative and proper actress, always playing English rose types in art-house movies. 'The Mummy Returns' (I have never seen 'The Mummy') showed that she has a larger range than this and has not only the looks, but also the sex appeal and cinematic presence, to take the lead in Hollywood blockbusters. (Her predecessor as official English Rose, Helena Bonham Carter, has also made a similar move). Brendan Fraser has never really been my favourite actor, but here he did well as Rick, the solid and dependable family man.
This is very much a 'family values' thriller, like 'True Lies' or 'The River Wild', in which mum, dad and the kid all play their part in thwarting the bad guys. This phenomenon perhaps marks a change in the way in which women are seen by the film industry. At one time, leading actresses often disliked being cast as a mother, even of young children, as it was seen as a sign that their career as a leading lady was over and that henceforward they only had 'character' roles to look forward to. Rachel Weisz, however, plays a mother both here and in her next film, 'About a Boy', without her career suffering any harm.
Of the other characters, there was an amusing cameo from John Hannah as Jonathan, Evelyn's cowardly and avaricious brother. The villains do not really stand out , with the exception of Patricia Velasquez as the reincarnated Anck-su-Namun, a villainess almost as sexy as the heroine. (Her duel with Rachel Weisz will probably strike most male viewers as the film's most memorable scene). The sense of menace overhanging the heroes comes more from the film's computer-generated effects. One thing I did not like was the Scorpion King, in the early scenes a human being but in the later ones a rather ridiculous and unconvincing half-man half-scorpion monster like something from a cheap B-movie.
In a way, the film could be seen as a modern-day B-movie; an updated large-scale big-budget version of those old Saturday morning quickies. Much the same thing, however, could be said of many of Spielberg's films (and not just Indiana Jones). 'The Mummy Returns' may be nonsense, but at least it is entertaining nonsense. 6/10