"'Return' to Sender"
by Scott Mantz

"The Mummy Returns"
Brendan Fraser,
Rachel Weisz
Directed by Stephen Sommers

Clash of the titans! Brendan Fraser and Arnold Vosloo meet again in "The Mummy Returns"

A few years ago, Harrison Ford was being interviewed by Barbara Walters on one of her prestigious Oscar night specials, and he was asked if he would ever play Indiana Jones again. His response? "In a New York minute!"

I guess New York minutes take a pretty long time, because here we are in 2001, and there's no sign that an inch of film is going to be shot on "Indiana Jones 4" anytime soon. In fact, as of this writing, nobody has been cast, no deals have been made, and no potential screenplays have been written.

Until Mssrs. Spielberg, Lucas, and Ford find time in their busy schedules to break Indy's whip out of decommission, there's always Brendan Fraser, who, in the summer of 1999, surprised everyone with the box office smash "The Mummy." Now, almost 2 years to the day of its release, along comes the inevitable sequel, and depending on which side of the desert you're on, "The Mummy Returns" is either one of the most seriously flawed big budget movies in ages or it's simply the perfect summer movie, period. Whatever the case, this 21st Century set of hi-tech hieroglyphics can easily be translated to read "mindless fun for the whole family."

It's now 8 years after Rick (Brendan Fraser), Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), and Jonathan (John Hannah) first defeated the 3000-year-old Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) in the deserts of Egypt. These days, the adventurous Rick and Evelyn O'Connell are busy raising their 8-year-old son Alex (Freddie Boath) in London. Little do they know that a chain of events has been set into motion that will allow Imhotep to once again walk the earth and be more powerful than ever. At the same time, The Scorpion King (The Rock)--an even more formidable foe from way-back-when--is also in danger of being resurrected. Both are on a collision course with destiny, but only one will survive for eventual world domination. And who's caught in the middle? Yep, you guessed it--Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan, and with the help of the always-reliable mystical guard Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr), it's up to the O'Connell's to save the day. (Geez, where's Indiana Jones when you need him?)

Typically, the summer movie season starts on Memorial Day Weekend and ends right after Labor Day, but in recent years, that's changed. These days, the so-called summer season can start as early as the first weekend of May, which is exactly what happened when the first "Mummy" came out in 1999. Not only did the film make over $413 million worldwide, but it actually took in most of its domestic gross before the official summer season even started (and it's a good thing, too--a little movie called "Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace" was right around the corner with a Memorial Day Weekend release).

In hindsight, it's probably a good thing that "The Mummy" came out when it did. Not only did it get a head start on the rest of the summer competition, but it also filled a gap that hadn't been satisfied since "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" came out ten years earlier. But let's be honest--"The Mummy" was hardly a piece of cinematic greatness. Sure the special effects were great and the action sequences were exciting, but the script was so weak that it was hard to overlook its flaws (even by summer movie standards).

"The Mummy Returns" is more of the same, only this time around, there's a lot more of it. That's hardly surprising, since Stephen Sommers--who wrote and directed the original--is back for seconds. Once again, the film feels like a blatant ripoff of the "Indiana Jones" series, but in an effort to give the "Mummy" series its own identity, Sommers walks the fine line between campiness and absurdity.

Sommers is wrapped around the idea that bigger sets, better special effects, and a cast of thousands will make a better movie. In some ways, it does. After all, how can anyone not be impressed by such striking visual excitement? However, even if you turn off you mind and enjoy the fireworks, it's hard not to notice the same type of weak writing that the first movie was cursed by.

As for the cast, the old gang is back, along with a few new faces. Once again, Brendan Fraser seems to be relishing his action hero status as the confident, grave-robbing Rick, but time has done wonders for Rachel Weisz's Evelyn. She's not the meek scaredy-cat that she as was the first time around, and most of the time, she's even more fearless than her swashbuckling husband. John Hannah is even more satisfying than he was in the first film, thanks to his timely comic relief, but fans of WWF superstar The Rock may be disappointed. Other than the beginning and end of the film, he's nowhere to be seen (and what little we do see of him is evidence that he probably shouldn't quit his day job anytime soon).

Where the "Indiana Jones" series was a homage to the classic movie serials from Hollywood's golden era, the "Mummy" series seems more like an advertisement for a ride that's coming to an amusement park near you. Not that there's anything wrong with that. After all, this is a summer movie, and who really wants to think anyway? In spite of its flaws, "The Mummy Returns" has a lot of humor and plenty of excitement, and it is sure to please just about everyone who fell under the spell of the first movie.

As for Harrison Ford, c'mon man! Surely that "New York minute" must be down to its last few seconds by now! To bend the words of a classic Simon & Garfunkel song, "Where have you gone, Indiana Jones? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you!"

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