Today, I shall examine the cinematic version of that favorite tale ancient Egyptians I believe is most familiar to audiences.  It relaunched the career of Brendan Fraser after he did a series of forgettable comedies in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and became a popular ride at Universal Studios.  I am speaking of The Mummy (1999), unless I am mistaken and somehow Fraser was alive in 1932.  I have no idea if he was in the 2017 installment, but that is a discussion for another day.  Here again, as with others in the Universal class monster films, you have a modern take on an older movie.  This time, thankfully, they decided to make it more of an adventure flick in the same vein as Indiana Jones, instead of doing something dark and slightly pornographic as they did with Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).  Because of this, I enjoyed The Mummy much more despite its quirks.

We take you live in The Mummy to ancient Egypt.  During the reign of Pharoah Seti I (Aharon Ipalé), his high priest, Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), is carrying on an affair with the ruler’s mistress, Anck-su-namun (Patricia Velásquez).  She is a woman that no man is allowed to touch, except for Pharoah.  When Seti I comes unannounced to Imhotep’s palace, the king encounters Anck-su-namun.  Seti I sees that the make-up on her arm is smudged, indicating the violation.  Before he can get into full throated rage, Imhotep and Anck-su-namun murder Pharoah.  The ruler’s guards, however, do not let this act go unpunished and execute the former mistress.  Before she dies, she implores Imhotep to bring her back from the dead.  In the process of doing this, guards seize him and he is forced to endure mumification while still alive, along with the rest of his priests.  Next, we fast-forward to Egypt in the 1920s.  Outside of Hamunaptra, also known as the City of the Dead, is the French Foreign Legion, and they are about to be overrun by Bedouin cavalry.  Among those at this place with a fitting name for a massacre is Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser).  As everyone around him is killed, he ends up with his back against a statue that scares away the locals.  He flees, too, when a menacing face in the sand appears before him.  Watching this unfold from above is a shadowy group called the Medjai, led by Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr).  His organization has been keeping watch on Hamunaptra for the last 3,000 years, hoping to ensure that Imhotep does not return to menace the world.  Next, we go to Cairo to meet the rest of our core group.  Namely, they are Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), the ambitious and perky librarian of the museum, and her brother, Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah).  After she wrecks the shelves, much to Dr. Terence Bey’s (Erick Avari) dismay, she finds her shifty brother hiding with a skeleton.  With a prank played on his sister, Jonathan produces an item he had nicked from an American imprisoned in town.  That person is Rick, but we will get to that in a moment.  Inside this small box, opened by the Egyptologist Evelyn, is a map to Hamunaptra, where there is rumored to be an extensive cache of Egyptian treasure.  Brother and sister are interested for different reasons, but Dr. Bey seemingly destroys the part of the map containing the City of the Dead’s location.  Seeing it go up in flames is difficult for Evelyn because she believes finding this legendary location the boost she needs to be recognized as a serious academic.  Thus, she turns to her brother to take her to Rick, who is in jail after making it out of the dessert.  He is about to be hung by the warden, Gad Hassan (Omid Djalili), but she barters of Rick’s life by offering Gad a large percentage of whatever treasure they find.  In thanks for saving his life, Rick agrees to go along with the expedition despite calling Hamunaptra a place of evil.  On the ship down the Nile, they encounter another group with the same goal, this one being led by Beni Gabor (Kevin J. O’Connor), a former comrade in the Legion who deserted in the aforementioned battle.  In revenge, Rick throws Beni over the side, but in the process notices they have visitors.  These are the Medjai, coming to stop any attempt to reach the City of the Dead.  They manage to burn down the boat, but pretty much everyone manages to make it to shore, and eventually on to Hamunaptra.  Once there, the two groups explore different areas.  The Americans locate the box containing Anck-su-namun’s organs, and the curse placed upon Imhotep.  Despite the warnings that they will die, they open the case anyway.  This happens almost concurrently with Evelyn, Jonathan, and Rick cracking the lid on Imhotep’s sarcophagus.  At this moment, the long dead Egyptian high priest returns to life, and begins hunting those who disturbed the organ container.  With each one he kills, he becomes more fully human, but with immense mystical powers.  These include unleashing a series of plagues that follow our heroes back to Cairo as they search for answers as to how to defeat this threat.  They receive some help in the form of Dr. Bey, who is also a member of the Medjai, along with Ardeth.  All the same, Imhotep’s abilities are too great, and to save the rest Evelyn hands herself over to the ancient Egyptian, who wants her as a sacrifice to return Anck-su-namun to life.  She is counting on rescue, and Ardeth, Jonathan, and Rick travel back to Hamunaptra in time to interrupt the ritual.  All along, Evelyn’s theory is that the Book of Amun-Ra, also located in the City of the Dead, would have what they need to defeat Imhotep.  This turns out to be correct.  Upon witnessing Imhotep’s soul being dragged into whatever passes for what Hollywood imagines to be the afterlife, a now mortal Egyptian priest is killed by Rick.  Our heroes are then able to flee the site before it collapses on them.

Another similarity between The Mummy of 1999 and that of 1932 is characters messing with powers that should humans should not tangle with under any circumstances.  This is something I mentioned in my review of the original, and it applies to the 1999 iteration.  Interestingly, though, the newer version throws in a few of the Biblical plagues God visited upon Egypt when Pharoah would not, as Moses repeatedly asked, let His people go.  I am not sure why this decision was made to include them, nor why they chose the ones they did show.  If I had to hazard a guess as to the latter, I suppose water turning to blood and the sun being covered at midday (there are a couple more) are the more cinematic ones.  There is also a strange interaction between Beni and Imhotep.  The high priest is about to murder the former soldier when Beni manages to produce a Star of David.  Imhotep recognizes this Jewish symbol and decides to take Beni on as a slave because Jews were servants of Israel in the Egyptian’s day.  Beni agrees in order to save his neck, but it points to a broader Biblical concept, namely one in the Bible.  The First Commandment, since we are talking about Old Testament references, admonishes us to have no other God but God.  Imhotep tries to put himself before God, making himself into a kind of god for his selfish gain.  Ultimately, this is what this commandment is truly calling our attention to, and hoping that we avoid.  When our focus is not on God, bad things happen like ancient Egyptian curses.  Okay, that is an extreme example, but the point is that God is more important than bringing back a loved one or gaining power and wealth.  He provides us something more valuable than any of those things.

The Mummy was a massive success and spawned a couple of sequels.  I may review those one day.  In the meantime, you can watch this one with few reservations.  The way is handles religion is a bit confusing, but overall it is mostly harmless.