The Mummy Returns poster & wallpaper

Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah

Another legend. Another monster. Another quest for the world! The Scorpion King. A legendary warrior who sold his soul to Anubis was erased from record in the ancient kingdom. His existence was lost t...( read more  read more... )o the sands, preserved only in mythology. But there is truth to the myth. In the desert of Ahm Shere, in a golden pyramid, sleeps the Scorpion King. And he, or whomsoever may kill him, may command the demonic and undefeatable Army of Anubis! Ten years after the cursed high-priest Imhotep was resurrected and defeated by Rick O'Connell and Evelyn and Jonathon Carnahan, he is resurrected once again by a mysterious woman Meela armed with the knowledge of centuries! Together, Imhotep and Meela have one goal: Defeat the Scorpion King and use his army to destroy mankind! Meanwhile, Rick and his wife, Evelyn, are busy raising their son, Alex. On the Egyptian New Year, Evie begins having dreams about ancient Egypt, which lead her straight to the Bracelet of Anubis. Meela's henchmem come for it, but Ardeth Bey appears as well. Ardeth explains the legend, the mythos, and the problem. Now it becomes a race against time to get to Ahm Shere. Will Rick defeat the Scorpion King and send the Army back to the underworld? Or will Imhotep do so and rule the world? Or worse... Is the Scorpion King so powerful that he cannot be defeated, and he himself will raise the Army for global victory?

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69% liked it

527,935 ratings

Critics

48% liked it

134 critics

PG-13, 2 hrs. 20 min.

Directed by: Stephen Sommers

Release Date: May 4, 2001

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DVD Release Date: October 2, 2001

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Stats: 24,887 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (24,887)

  • magnum32004
    October 31, 2007
    magnum32004
    Escapist entertainment from start to finish. It's the fun of "Indiana Jones" mixed with the frights of Universal Studios' Monsters.
  • SirPant
    September 18, 2009
    SirPant
    Erm, it?s a complete copy of the first film, nearly down to every frame! Not a very good one at that! Rubbish and lazy!
  • allan913
    December 17, 2008
    allan913
    Spectacular and unforgettable. The entire gang is back and better than ever continuing to shine with their irrisitable chemistry. Brendan Frasier, Rachel Weiz, John Hannah and Oded Fehr are teriffic once again. A full-throttle good time that you cannot get enough of. Absolutely h...( read more)ilarious and action-packed. Just as fantastic as the first film. Loaded with more amasing action, teriffic humor and great speacial effects. A rollar-coaster that you cant help but get on. An awsome and incrediably fun ride. A frequently thrilling and jaw-dropping adventure that dazzels on the screen with breathtaking excitment. It's a real adventure classic. A sequel that stands to be as good as the first film.
  • susanriley
    October 31, 2008
    susanriley
    Re-watched this movie recently and I have to say it's a good time. Some of the CG leaves a lot to be desired (specifically the Rock as Scorpion King) but overall pretty good.
  • PvtCaboose91
    September 8, 2008
    PvtCaboose91
    "Go to hell and take your friends with you!"


    The seminal rule of sequels to a blockbuster declares that everything must be bigger: bigger special effects, more action, and grander locations. Sequels are the beloved of Hollywood studios who look forward to an easy box

    ...( read more) office hit. For audience, however, the prospect is often less attractive. Some films shouldn't have sequels. Every once in a while, though, sequels can be worthwhile. Looking at the Indiana Jones franchise, the sequels exist simply to place the central character in a different adventure. Such is also the case with The Mummy Returns.

    The film is an excuse to reunite a majority of the original cast for another adventure. However, at times the film is a severe case of déjà vu and it's impossible to shake off the sense of "been there, done that". What made the Indiana Jones franchise so interesting is the originality with each new episode. When it comes to The Mummy Returns, Sommers is just too lazy to develop an entirely new adventure. It's obvious he wants to disguise this laziness as making clever, subtle references to the first film. But it makes things only more predictable.

    There are also countless inconsistencies that plague the script. The characters featured in The Mummy charmed their way to our hearts by means of charming dialogue. Unfortunately, though, The Mummy Returns relies entirely on our willingness to follow the same characters. There's no room for them to grow...no solid character development...instead we're tossed right into a lacklustre display of rehashed set-pieces, humdrum visual effects, and an excess of action made up entirely of climaxes. At the end of the day, so many things are thrown at the viewer that it all ends up mattering quite little. Then, as if adding insult to injury, the immensely-hyped appearance of wrestling star The Rock is dreary beyond all conception. The Rock (a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson), playing The Scorpion King, appears only for a few minutes during the film's early moments, and he returns as a completely computer-generated entity during the finale. As a half-man and half-scorpion creature, The Rock looks like he's part of a Z-Grade video game. The CGI is truly awful.

    Anyway, The Mummy Returns is set many years following the first film. Rick O'Connell (Fraser) and Evelyn (Weisz) are now very happily married with precocious young son Alex (Boath) to accompany them during their archaeological adventures. Rick and Evelyn investigate the legend of The Scorpion King who's said to exist in myth and legend. Apparently every few thousand years The Scorpion King will rise again with his army and will rule the world. His unbeatable army is available to him or whosoever can defeat him. At the beginning of the Egyptian New Year, rival archaeologists unearth and resurrect Imhotep (Vosloo). The resurrected Imhotep and his reincarnated love (Velasquez) plan to travel to the tomb of The Scorpion King to awaken him. Imhotep then plans to defeat The Scorpion King and gain control of his army. With this army he will rule the world. Naturally, only Rick O'Connell and his comrades have the ability to prevent the instigation of Imhotep's plan.

    A central fault in the storyline is the extraordinarily conventional world domination sub-plot. It's incredibly clichéd and has no place in an adventure film such as this. The script also abuses the amount of convenience typically allowed for a blockbuster film. The character of Rick O'Connell is cemented too ridiculously into the back-story of the film. He's destined to become one of the religious warriors in the league of Oded Fehr's Ardeth Bey. Watching him battling mummies with an arsenal of weaponry is really cool, but it's cheap and contrived for him to suddenly become an integral part of the film's mythology. Evelyn also begins having visions and flashbacks of her past life. Apparently she's a reincarnation of the daughter of the Pharaoh from many thousands of years ago. Once again, this is too convenient and exists as an excuse for the ancient puzzles to be easily deciphered. Why did these flashbacks never occur during the events of the first film? It's just lame.

    At times the film tends to insult the intelligence of its audience as well. The internal logic makes no sense whatsoever. Like how the hell do the Egyptians obtain Japanese daggers to use during battles? Said daggers aren't even Egyptian and weren't even in existence 3,000 years ago! Sommers also endeavours to make his characters so realistic and down-to-earth. They bleed, they show vulnerability and they generally get scared. Yet he bestows them with superhuman abilities. For instance, Rick is carrying his son while outrunning the rising sun. In order to run faster than the rising sun one must be capable of achieving speeds in excess of 1,000 miles an hour! It's one thing for someone powerful like Imhotep to accomplish this task, but it's entirely unbelievable for a mere mortal such as Rick to run that fast while the sun rises conveniently slowly.

    Then there's the matter of impeccable timing. All the characters seem to accomplish things in the nick of time. Like the flying contraption that's repaired in time to rescue the characters before they'd be annihilated. Or when the central characters arrive just in time as the mummy resurrection ceremony is taking place. These coincidences are too perfect to be believable.
    In addition, director Sommers has succumbed to the plague that's dominating the current action genre: slow motion during the action scenes. This means slo-mo fight moves, and even following a spear in mid-air in ultra slo-mo! It gets tiresome very quickly, not to mention it rapidly kills the film's realistic intentions. The Mummy films have never been Indiana Jones, but they've tried. With the inclusion of slow motion, it just becomes a muddled and tiring mess. To make matters worse, the special effects are bottom-of-the-barrel material. The Scorpion King looks like he's from a video game, his army look extremely unconvincing and the set extensions are painfully obvious. One of the film's highlights is an army of skeletal pigmy warriors. They're an interesting design, but the animation is just appalling.
    The script must also be mentioned. The first film featured some fun witty dialogue. None of this wittiness is retained. Very few memorable lines are included. A few times you'll crack a smile, at other times you'll be rolling your eyes at the painful dialogue that references the predecessor or steals a few direct lines from the first film.

    James Cameron went bigger and louder from The Terminator to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He succeeded mightily. Unfortunately for Stephen Sommers, who wrote and directed The Mummy Returns, he does not succeed one bit. Everything is too overblown and overproduced. What was once a horror/adventure/action/comedy that was always grounded in at least a bit of realism has transformed into an adventure/action/comedy without horror elements that throws all credibility to the wind very quickly.
    He also doesn't succeed because he digs into the same bag of tricks with little originality present. In The Mummy, Evelyn causes book cases to topple over like dominoes. In The Mummy Returns, her son causes a room of pillars to topple over like dominoes. In The Mummy Imhotep creates a sandstorm imprinted with his face to bring down an airplane. In The Mummy Returns, Imhotep creates a wall of water imprinted with his face to bring down a dirigible-like contraption. In The Mummy Jonathan asks Evelyn to help him decipher an Egyptian symbol while Evelyn is in the middle of a battle. In The Mummy Returns, Alex asks Jonathan to help him decipher the same Egyptian symbol while Jonathan is fighting. D'ya see where this is going?

    As a standalone film, The Mummy Returns is an entertaining action/adventure flick. As a sequel, it's a feeble succession of poorly rendered CGI and campy rehashes. It's energetic enough to provide an easy night of entertainment, and believe me I enjoy watching this highly entertaining film, but it's far below the standard of its predecessor and the classic adventure films it tries to mirror. I'm aware that we go to the movies with a healthy suspension of disbelief, but The Mummy Returns takes it way too far. The original The Mummy provided an easy night of fun and entertainment and it never takes itself too seriously. This sequel is ridiculous and unbelievable, flaunting irritating camera work and scarce originality. Followed by The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. A spin-off also exists, entitled The Scorpion King.
  • friendsloveaudrey
    November 5, 2009
    friendsloveaudrey
    oo that was a good movie
  • apsnightmare
    November 5, 2009
    apsnightmare
    fraser is totally cool n funny..my second favourite character after Ryan Reynolds..XD
  • totalefreiheit
    November 2, 2009
    totalefreiheit
    NO le llego a la primera.
  • linseedoil
    October 30, 2009
    linseedoil
    Brendan Fraser sexay.
  • doctordoom
    October 29, 2009
    doctordoom
    This is a decent sequel to the huge hit movie the Mummy. We have almost the entire cast from the original back for this sequel. Brendan Fraser is still great as the hero of the film. Rachel Weisz and John Hannah are also quite good in their roles. The Mummy from the original film...( read more) is back this time and wants to destroy the Scorpion King and use his armies to conquer the world. The movie has a solid story and some great F/X and action sequences. Not as good as the original but was worth a watch if you liked the first film.

View All The Mummy Returns Reviews

Critic Reviews

June 4, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

A piss-poor mummy movie indeed that doesn't deliver a damn thing worth preserving. full review

May 4, 2001
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Fitfully entertaining. full review

May 4, 2001
David Edelstein, Slate

I came to scream with pleasure, but all I could manage was a pitiful, 'Whoa!' full review

May 4, 2001
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

This is not to say the new movie is all bad. It has many of the same elements that made the first film charming -- except charm. full review

May 4, 2001
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The mistake of The Mummy Returns is to abandon the characters, and to use the plot only as a clothesline for special effects and action sequences. full review

May 3, 2001
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Although the sequel retains its predecessor's breezy (verging on airheaded) retro spirit, The Mummy Returns is a mite darker and scarier and the effects a little spiffier.

View more The Mummy Returns reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • teamEdward
    July 21, 2008
    teamEdward
    I love this movie as much as the first one!! They are both 2 of my favorite movies. I could watch them over and over again. This one is funny, has good action, and romance. Love it!
  • fanscapemov
    June 20, 2008
    fanscapemov
    What's going on, y'all?

    As you may know, the new Mummy movie is coming out August 1! I'm really excited for it and can't wait to see it when it hits theaters.

    Luckily for us, the full length trailer hit today! That way we can all get a little taste of what we'll get to see when the movie is released. If you want to check it out, you can view it here: http://www.papajohns.com

    Later!
    Lauren with PapaJohns.com
  • shakthiyali
    November 23, 2007
    shakthiyali
    it is even better than first.its one of my fave
  • AlvanaTotti
    August 30, 2007
    AlvanaTotti
    This movie was even better than the first. I love it. The action, the romance everything was great!
  • eledev07
    August 12, 2007
    eledev07
    hey people try my movie quiz
  • jbpelican
    September 21, 2006
    jbpelican
    Well they mucked up the humor by orientating it to the kid, but it made up for it with pointlessly fun action bits. This is where Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson got his movie break.

    Justins Best Bit: The sexy fight between the two chicks with daggers.
  • gannet
    September 6, 2006
    gannet
    Its a great but not as good as the frist but they never are, but its still one of my fave movies.
  • jmkangeltears
    June 21, 2006
    jmkangeltears
    Great story-line, amazing actors and heaps of laughs.
  • sweetheartangel
    May 29, 2006
    sweetheartangel
    my favourite film and there brillant actors too. another great effective scene of ugly dogs. join fight to their destiny!
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