The Mummy: The Golden Gem I Didn’t Know I Needed

You know those movies that just pass you by but they’re such huge icons in culture, and you know of them and yet have never seen it? That was The Mummy for me. Yes, the Brendan Fraser, early 2000s franchise. Until earlier this week, I had never seen The Mummy, and I’ve yet to see its sequels (though it’s on the docket for very soon). But before doing so, I wanted to put some of my thoughts down on (virtual) paper, because, surprisingly, I had a lot!

Perhaps the least surprising is that this movie is an absolute gem! Filled with action, treasure, mystery, ‘history’ and that touch of ridiculous romance that makes you chuckle but still warms your cold heart (just me?), this movie had it all. Starring Brendan Fraser at his 90s best as Rick O’Connell (wonderfully similar to Firefly’s Malcolm Reynolds), the film follows treasure-hunter Rick as he promises to take a librarian named Evelyn and her hopeful historian academic brother Jonathan to the lost, ancient city of the dead, Hamunaptra. What ensues is a search for treasure that accidentally unleashes a (not-so-dead) dead priest mummy who had been cursed in death and brings a plague to Egypt upon his release—while he also tries to revive his long-lost (and also very dead) love.

Basically, there are a lot of undead skeletons running around. But that also serves as one of the most intriguing parts of the film: it is surprisingly scary. Regardless of the bad CGI and effects, the creators did not hold their punches when it came to gore. From mummifying people while still alive to burying them alive with flesh-eating beetles, The Mummy is as close to a horror film as it can get with a PG-13 rating.

Part of the curse on the dead priest is that he must retrieve his mummified organs to fully regenerate, and in the course of finding them (because of course he does get to them all), not only does he look pretty grim, but he also does some atrocious things to people. Take for example taking the eyes and tongue from a competitor treasure hunter – you didn’t think they would miss out on the opportunity for a race to the treasure did you? Of course there are competitors to Rick O’Connell’s ramshackle crew – and lives. It’s one thing to take organs, but to keep the victims alive? Like I said, they didn’t hold back.

Something, I didn’t know until I began compiling information for this post was that The Mummy is actually a remake of the 1932 Boris Karloff film of the same name. As I haven’t seen the original, I can’t speak to the 1999’s faithfulness to it, but we can all agree that it is undoubtedly better than the 2000-something Tom Cruise remake (yes, ashamedly I have to admit, I saw that without seeing the 1999 one).

However, the biggest surprise was discovering that it’s weirdly feminist! I say weirdly because it is still a 90s action movie, and Evelyn, played by a young Rachel Weiz, is still a damsel in (not so much) distress. Nevertheless, she is the only one with brains in the whole expedition. Set in the 1920s, not only can she read Ancient Egyptian and speak it (not sure this is historically accurate) but is unashamedly a librarian, who still looks feminine and attempts to overcome the patriarchy by becoming a Bembridge scholar though they keep rejecting her application. Perhaps the best line in the movie’s cheesy script is, ‘Take that Bembridge Scholars!’ after Evelyn figures out how to save the world (literally save the world, it was the 90s, I didn’t say the plot wasn’t over-the-top).

In comparison, Evelyn’s brother, Jonathan, played by the wonderful John Hannah, is a bumbling, gambling idiot; the definition of a rich man-boy who never distinguished himself from his family’s money. He is the weak link in the trio that they make, filling the role of the slapstick sidekick rather than his sister, which is refreshing to see when these kinds of movies often centre their premise on the woman being kidnapped. Which, admittedly, did also happen in this movie, but they also would never have been able to escape without Evelyn. So, really, it’s a win.

I went into this film expecting a wild ride of bad CGI (of which there was plenty), cringe-worthy dialogue (also plenty) and an unfortunate depiction of women, but was pleasantly surprised when the glorious Brendan Fraser turns out to be the reward for the intelligent, beautiful Evelyn and not the other way around. All in all, this is a great movie night option if you’re visiting your childhood home but your dad goes out to party with his friends while you have no friends or invites for a night out so you help yourself to the nice bottle of white wine that you would never normally buy for yourself. Or a random Thursday night, whatever floats your boat.

Happy watching!