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The Mummy (1999)
27 Plays6 months ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Mummy.
A "remake" of the 1932 Boris Karloff Universal Monsters classic, Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, John Hannah, and Oded Fehr star in the action-packed update that was a massive hit in 1999 and spawned sequels, a spin-off franchise, a theme park ride, and an animated series. Zach and Chris talk about how the curse to punish Imhotep makes him an unstoppable evil force, try to figure out what crime Rick committed that would get him hanged, the outstanding balance of action, humor, and horror, if there's one too many greedy weasely characters and more.
You can watch The Mummy on Peacock or rent it from various digital services. Next week, we're returning to the Monsterverse's beginning and talking about Godzilla (2014) as it celebrates its 10th anniversary.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to [email protected]. Also, let us know your suggestions for movies for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Introduction
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com. Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the podcast for the week of May 6, 2024. I'm your host Zach. I'm your co-host Chris.
Celebrating The Mummy's 25th Anniversary
00:00:27
Speaker
And yeah, this week we are unleashing Imhotep and talking about the 1989 classic, The Mummy, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this week. It came out on May 7th, 1999. And this is, I don't know about you Chris, but this is like one of my, probably one of my favorite movies. It's definitely up there in like top 20, top 30.
00:00:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely one of my favorites, too, just because nothing else compares to it in terms of just like being a very balanced action horror movie.
Comparisons to Indiana Jones
00:01:09
Speaker
Well, it of all the like, if we're talking about like Indiana Jones imitators, like this is like one of the best, if not the best because like it nails the same tone that you Jones nails, where it's like
00:01:23
Speaker
There's lots of humor, but there's also like really awesome action. And there's like some, like, you know, dark, creepy stuff at times too. And, you know, a fun hero and like the period setting, like it said, like 1926. So it has like that, like, you know, pulpy, like 1920s vibe too. Yeah.
00:01:48
Speaker
I see what you mean. Uh, yeah.
Brendan Fraser's Performance
00:01:51
Speaker
Uh, and plus like anything with Brendan Fraser has just been beloved by anyone. And this, and this is like, this is like peak Brendan Fraser. Like he was, I think he's literally come off of Georgia, the jungle, like the year before the mummy or like a couple of years, like two years before the mummy came out.
00:02:15
Speaker
And yeah, fortunately, we're in the Frasier Assance now, where he's been doing a bunch of stuff recently, which is great. He was at Coase on the Flower Moon last year. Obviously, the whale. Was he the killer? I don't know. I think he was just like a lawyer, maybe. I still haven't seen Coase on the Flower Moon yet. I haven't figured out what day I'm going to dedicate to watching that movie. Because you have to dedicate like an entire three and a half hours.
00:02:45
Speaker
Yeah, be like, what they don't want to kill and watch goes to the far moon. But yeah, the mummy, it was also, it was kind of like the culmination or like one of the combinations of like the kind of, we had all throughout the 90s, there was this kind of like throwback to like pulpy action adventure kind of stuff.
1990s Adventure Film Trend
00:03:04
Speaker
We had, you started out with like Dick Tracy and then you went into like the Phantom and the Shadow and the Rocketeer and then
00:03:14
Speaker
the year before the moment came out was the Mask of Zorro, which is like another just like peak awesome action adventure, you know, swashbuckling up like stuff going on. Yeah, I see. And if you look at that, like if you saw what was giving back in style, it wasn't modern warriors. It was all classic adventurers. And like I said, swashbucklers. Yeah.
1999 vs. 1932 Mummy
00:03:43
Speaker
And that's the surprising thing about this movie is because if you saw the originals or any of the mummy like things, you know, no one, no one's fighting the mummy with their hands successfully. Uh, and like this movie straight up saves that until the end. So it's more like just guns blazing for like 80% of the movie. Yeah, definitely, definitely much more action packed than the, uh, 1932 original, which is,
00:04:12
Speaker
Like, ostensibly, like, the 1999 version is supposed to be like a remake of that movie. It does share kind of the same basic premise and also like Imhotep's the villain. And like Imhotep's trying to bring Anoxian and Moon back to life. But that's like pretty much all the similarities it has with the 1932 version. Wait, I've only seen the original one in bits. Yeah. Is that the same thing? I thought he was just trying to like... So Boris Karloff is Imhotep.
00:04:41
Speaker
And it's kind of, it's kind of the same thing where he gets like, he's, you know, he was bumified because he, uh, you know, loved someone. Yeah. And then he cut that. Then he's, he was redirected into modern times, which is, you know, 1930s. And then he, he's trying to find a woman to sacrifice it so he can bring an accident wound back. So the premise is it's the basic plot or like the scheme that Emmett Tubbs trying to do is the same as the original movie.
00:05:08
Speaker
But obviously, the original movie didn't have tons of action sequences and special effects. I mean, it had the special effects of makeup effects on Boris Karlov and stuff. But there was huge action spectacle set pieces.
Imhotep's Appearance and Powers
00:05:24
Speaker
I remember in the original one, Imhotep is just like, hang out. He's got time to wear modern clothes. Yeah, well, that's the thing. The original one, too, is like, yeah, he's the mummy. He's in bandages for the first scene. And then he's kind of like, yeah, he comes back, and then he disguises a priest or something. But he's not in bandage. He's not the mummy. He's just walking around like a normal person.
00:05:55
Speaker
And then they're like, Oh wait, no, he's the mummy. We messed up. That's actually a real mommy. And I don't think there's anything of him like, uh, you know, sucking the life force out of people to, uh, come back to like fully formed. I think he just like takes his bandages off. He's like, I'm good now. Yeah. I think once he's back, that's it. He just is some guy. And then, and then he's in an emo type. Isn't the mummy for the, like, cause there's like three more mommy movies in the 1930s, 94 weeks after that.
00:06:25
Speaker
But it was Kerris, it was the mummy and it was launching in junior was the mummy. So, uh, yeah, there's a whole, there's like a whole trilogy of movies that aren't in whatever that movie is. He was the same guy and give it granted. The mummy series had Imhotep come back twice.
The Mummy Ride
00:06:45
Speaker
So if you count the ride, Oh man. Yeah. The ride.
00:06:53
Speaker
I want to know recently, it still holds up. It's still like this time capsule. They still have like the VHS like video of Brendan Fraser. Like, Oh yeah. Hey, great job. You guys made it. Like you survived the ride. Yep. That's still, that's still there. Which I mean, the behind the scenes production on the ride is still there.
00:07:18
Speaker
I mean, that just shows the power of the mummy of how huge it was. That's where it got like a giant like multi-million dollar roller coaster. It's still like operational today. And when it came out, it was like, I think it was like one of the biggest openings of all time or like one of the, like it was like the ninth biggest opening of all time when it came out. Like it was only surpassed like that year, but like, cause like Phantom Menace came out like two weeks later and like dominate everything. But this was, this was like, like,
00:07:48
Speaker
Dominating like the box office for a couple weeks in 1999 and then eventually made like over 400 million dollars worldwide I believe it Now did you see this movie in theaters I don't think I did I think I saw it like VHS or DVD Eventually at home. But yeah, I
1999 Film Landscape
00:08:09
Speaker
don't think I saw it in theaters. I I saw this in theaters. Mm-hmm And I don't know what to expect
00:08:17
Speaker
And I, this was just like, like I said, the summer of movies or. I mean, 99 create, I mean, just like jam packed, like wall to wall, just like the matrix fan of Venice, this, uh, I tried like fight club. Like, like if you just like just Google like night films that came out, 99, it's just like, it's like one of the most banger years of movies ever. It's like eight, 1984, 1999 or like two of the biggest movie years.
00:08:48
Speaker
So, uh, yeah, you want to get into the basic premise of how this just opens? Well, yeah, which I also, I love the opening cause I love like, uh, like Oded Faire's voice is just so good for narrating things. Like I can just listen to like, just like narrate like ancient Egyptian history just all day. Yeah. It starts with just like, Hey, you want to see some cool shit about mommies? Well, this is, uh, just such a tale and.
00:09:18
Speaker
And that like version of Egypt where it's so like golden, the orange hue, it looks like any time of day, that's just how it looks like this orange sepia tone look.
Historical Accuracy in The Mummy
00:09:32
Speaker
The sun is always at like a certain angle to like make it look like a golden hour.
00:09:39
Speaker
And, uh, I'm not sure if the, uh, outfits are historically accurate because when they introduce, uh, Anak's in the moon, Anak's in the moon. Like, I'm like, is this like Steve summer's like fetish or is this like a real Egyptian, like.
00:09:58
Speaker
Queen outfit or like whoever she was supposed to be yeah, I don't know if body paint would have been like Practical for your Egyptian like I'm sure that would have like just melted off like within like compliments like being in like the Sahara Desert But like style style wise it it's a it makes an impact. Oh, yeah
00:10:23
Speaker
And I always, because I saw the Mummy Returns, I always imagined the fight scene happening first. Like, I always remember the weird, like, sci-fi. Yep. Yeah, Mummy Returns definitely adds a lot more crazy lore to the franchise.
00:10:47
Speaker
It's definitely, the first one definitely keeps things more simple.
Character Roles and Significance
00:10:50
Speaker
Um, and yeah, Noximoon doesn't really have a lot to do in the first one. She goes like, just for the last guys comes back and has a lot, a huge, way bigger role in the second one, but she kind of just, it was only in the opening sequence. And then, uh, she and Emotep are having an affair and then the, the, uh, Pharaoh finds out about it and they both, uh, she kills herself and then, but then cause Emotep's like the high priest, he can like bring her back with the book of the dead.
00:11:18
Speaker
But that fails because he gets caught. And then they curse him with, I can't hear him in the exact name of the curse, but it's a crazy curse because, I mean, it's horrible for him at the time because he's buried alive and eating my scares. But then if he comes back, he's basically a god. So it's like this weird, like, well, you're gonna suffer now, but if you come back,
00:11:41
Speaker
like you got everything like you're basically like an immortal walking god that can like take over the whole world oh yeah like you you suffer for like a thousand years more than that right like i mean i don't think he was like i mean he was they were eat like the scares were eating him but i don't think he was like he was not alive for like a thousand years then he was like alive for like
00:12:02
Speaker
like a couple weeks or something and then like he was like a mummy okay so then why
Imhotep's Curse
00:12:07
Speaker
why is the scares either like they're they're either really effective of like deboning corpse like people or they take their time nibbling at him yeah i think i think uh
00:12:19
Speaker
like Richard Wise like Evie at one point says like oh they like devour them slow people slowly but then they like devour a guy in like two seconds like Piranha so it's like yeah so I don't know maybe that's his scarabs versus the regular scarabs or maybe the curse like like makes him like more resistant and that's why the it's it's more of a torture for him
00:12:39
Speaker
How did he tell the Scarabs that? I don't know. We were trying to eat him and he's just like, it's like, you know, he's regenerated or something. So that's kind of like one important detail that I always think is kind of weird is he's put in that coffin and it's made it seem like he's sealed in there and then he dies slowly.
00:13:00
Speaker
And then he has like his hands free enough to start carving things in. Yes, he digs into it. Yeah, he digs into like the I'm assuming he's like his fingernails or something like Duggan Dixon's like the coffin that he does like his.
00:13:11
Speaker
This is only the beginning, you know, catchphrase. The way he carves that it's like he had a chisel. It's something where like I get the scratch marks. That's that's messed up, you know, in the dark over it. Like, oh, he did this all in the dark and he spaced that perfectly with his nails. It's not like some messed up like symbol or something. It's all like. Hmm. You know, like it's very it's very angled. Maybe he had to put that on as like his last request. Like, yo, can you put
00:13:39
Speaker
Death is only beginning in the inside the coffin before you guys kill me. And then the Magi are like, yeah, that's not foreboding or anything. It just seems like a really like, I mean, it seems like really kind of short sighted by like, for like the ancient Egyptians where it's like, what's not our problem if he comes back? We'll be dead by then. It's future people's problems if he comes back. Our civilization will be fine.
00:14:09
Speaker
And I do like they spent most of the time in the last whatever, how long was just covering up people trying to find the mummy until the 1910s, 1920s.
00:14:23
Speaker
Well, it's when we first meet Brendan Fraser, it's 1923 and he's like in the French Foreign Legion and they've like went to like Hamanatra, like the city where Imhotep is because there's there's along with like the like Imhotep, there's also like a giant room full of gold because it's like all the treasure of like whatever Pharaoh it was, like brought it all there.
00:14:47
Speaker
Cause I think there's like, they said like they bury like all like the, like all the Pharaoh's like sons and like family members there. Ah, cause that makes more sense. I couldn't figure out what they were doing. Like how, like this whole place was for one dude. No, it's like they bring everyone who like everyone important dies goes there and they get turned to a mummy and then like bury them.
Burial Practices in The Mummy
00:15:07
Speaker
But then it's, if they're important, they, you know, I think they bring, you have to bring their treasure with them because they can take it into afterlife with them. So then that's like this huge, a massive treasure is there because all these like,
00:15:17
Speaker
you know, important Egyptians are buried there too. That makes sense. Like by the time the that part that like we're skipping ahead about the detail of like the pyramid thing or this magical land was. Mm hmm. But yeah, I was was questioning what what that what that place was. I'm surprised like that wasn't where the Scorpion King was, too.
00:15:45
Speaker
Yeah, where's, where he's in, um, I wasn't sure. I think it's the, like the magical city and my returns. Yeah. It's another, another magical city. Yep. There's, there's a bunch of them Egypt.
00:16:05
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah, Brendan Frazier is a legionnaire, which I think gets forgotten quite a lot throughout the front when the franchise continues. But yeah, he starts out as like a French foreign legion member. And then he's he's there with Benny, Kevin O'Connor, who's like Kevin O'Connor is like a like Stephen Sommers, like he's in like a bunch of his movies kind of playing the same character a lot like times like this, like, you know, like a Weasley, like just like backstabber.
00:16:37
Speaker
I also kind of like comic relief as well because he's like his weasel is like conniving weasily bits always have like he has like some sort of one-liners like it was just like doing stuff in like a hilariously evil way. Yeah he just teams up with anything and anyone that will give him some sort of greed thing.
00:17:03
Speaker
Yeah, and then there's a huge battle to kick things off, like for Brendan Fraser's intro, where we see he has like a bazillion guns, like he carries like six guns on him at all times.
Rick's Weaponry
00:17:18
Speaker
I appreciate he's like a dual wielder, like pistol guy, like he has like dual revolvers, dual pistols, like always on him.
00:17:30
Speaker
It seems like he's the only person in the foreign Legion that does that. Like everyone else just has like one like like the terrible rifles they have and they're like getting slaughtered. I thought like that was the standard rifle, just the error, because it seems like the opposition team uses the same thing. Yeah. But then but then Rick O'Connell has like two revolvers, two pistols. Like he's got like so much more like an arsenal with him. Yeah, he's way more prepared than his army was. Yeah.
00:18:00
Speaker
And I guess all of them got slaughtered, right? Because isn't Rick like the last man? Oh, Benny survives because he's a weasel and he like ran into the temple and closed the door on Rick. And then, yeah, then Rick is the last one and then all the guys attacking the foreign legion run away because they see like the statues and then you see like the first kind of hit of like Imhotep's power where it's like his face appears in the sand.
00:18:30
Speaker
Yeah, the sand part is interesting because Imhotep is just can do that like he's not released yet. That's just something he can just do. It's just it's just it's just something about like, yeah, Hamanatra, I guess something like it just has like, like, like if it's disturbed at all like Imhotep's face appears.
00:18:50
Speaker
see?
00:19:06
Speaker
As long as you're close, he can break out. Like, you know what I mean?
Mystical Resurrection
00:19:09
Speaker
Like, there's a bunch of, there's a series of things that don't make any sense that like leads them to the right spot where to find Immotep's body. So I can't, I can never tell if that was something that was mystical or just by accident.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yeah, it kind of seems like more like everyone's just making terrible decisions. I'm fine with that. But there's a point where it sort of makes it seem like it's mystical. So it's like, oh, is he somehow getting stronger until he basically breaks out? Is he influencing events, like drawing and making them find the jars and the book and everything? Yeah, yeah. That's why I'm saying this curse is like,
00:19:55
Speaker
It's like, let's make our most evil offender. Let's make him like the most powerful force on earth if he ever. He knew already of things because he was already like a mystic. Yeah, he had the book of the dead. Yeah. And then he didn't have to read the book because he just knew the spells. So I get why it's like, but I guess like the thing they could do is slow him down.
00:20:25
Speaker
was bury him. Yeah. And then, and then, you know, the Magi have been like guarding him for thousands of years and try to keep him from like, so they're keeping him at bay, but yeah, like, but there is a, there's still like a weird clause. Like now that you mentioned about him basically getting stronger in like a thousand years later, when, uh, after they bake him, basically, like,
00:20:55
Speaker
When you take away his power, when you do something so that he can't just easily come back, because it wasn't like they were rushing. You know, it wasn't like some sort of like, I think, X-Men apocalypse where he gets sarcophic-ist by just the pyramid collapsing, so they couldn't really defeat him. They could just bury him. Yeah. But in The Mummy,
00:21:19
Speaker
They just had all the time in the world because they caught up with them really quick. They caught up with them like the next night. And they specifically do this curse on them that will give him. Well, it's like. If I mean, it's bad for you like now, but, you know, if you get out, bro, you're going to have you can control like the entire desert. You can unleash plagues. You'll be invincible and immortal. You'll be able to control people's minds like so.
00:21:50
Speaker
If you get out, I mean, it's going to be, it's going to be really awesome for you. And then they probably like the Egyptians that did that didn't care because they're not, they're going to be around like he's not going to get out when they're around still. So.
00:22:12
Speaker
But yeah, Rick is the only survivor of this battle at Hamanoptra. And then we can introduce two of our other characters. We get Rachel Wise, he's played Evie Carnahan. And then John Hanna is Jonathan. Which I think, this is definitely the first time I saw John Hanna in anything.
00:22:36
Speaker
Yeah, me too. Cause like, unless you were watching a lot of British shows in the nineties, this was like his first big American debut. Yeah. And then he does it great. Like he does a great, like, Hey, check out this comedian, uh,
Jonathan's Character
00:22:52
Speaker
actor. Oh yeah. He's, I mean, he is fantastic comic relief. Like all those bits are hilarious.
00:22:58
Speaker
And he's just like a perfect, like he's a little like Weasley, but he's not gonna betray people like Benny that will. He'll do the right thing eventually, but he's also like, if there's treasure, I might like grab some treasure before I do the right thing. And he's sort of like, he's like a pickpocket thief kind of. That's how he got like the key that opens the book of the dead is like he pickpocketed like Rick at some point.
00:23:26
Speaker
I do like that it's off screen and their encounter is waiting for Rick to realize that that's what happened. Like it was smart because, you know what I mean? I'm someone who wants to be shown not to hold. And this is something that, you know, you see Jonathan, he's very like, oh, I want it. Yeah, it's fine. And then you realize in the twist. And then when you see Rick click it together, the first thing he does is punch Jonathan.
00:23:56
Speaker
Yeah, which Brendan Fraser in like full like Georgia, the jungle mode, like he has like super long hair. He's like a maniac. Yep. And that prison, why do they throw him in prison? They don't explain. They're just like he's just there. And it's also it's three years after he got back from the like the battle. So he's been three years. There's there's a little like little thing comes up on the screens is like Cairo three years later.
00:24:25
Speaker
So yeah, so so he's been like bouncing around Egypt or Cairo for like the last three years then it gets arrested for something What it is, you don't know bar fighting or it might have been mentioned in like one of the later movies I guess but Mm-hmm Yeah, you don't know you just know that basically what's he's an American. It's it's it's it's something bad enough and we're gonna hang him apparently What did he do? Yeah
00:24:49
Speaker
you don't just get hang I get it in that Cairo prison system it's probably just like you steal bread you get hang we don't know there's no caliber but if it's anything but the warden he's like the warden is like a Disney villain yeah yeah he is uh he's a full cartoon character
00:25:11
Speaker
And the warden, I think you mentioned what the warden character, he's introduced and we did not think he would, like if you watch this first time, you don't think the warden is going to hang around more than just this one scene. Yeah, that, that was definitely no, like the thing that jumped out at me this time watching it again for like the, I don't know, six or seven time is that, um, yeah, the warden is like, like he sticks around, like he's not in it a lot, but it's also like a weird that he like goes with them to have an option. He's, he's, he's like a very like, uh,
00:25:41
Speaker
I don't know, superfluous character because he's basically the same character as like Benny. Like he's like kind of this like weasel who like just wants like treasure. And he's also like, he's like, it's like you have Jonathan who's like the good, like kind of like, you know, weasily like, like treasure, greedy treasure guy. And then you have Benny who's like the evil, like weasily treasure guy. And then you have the warden who's also a greedy like treasure guy. So it's like,
00:26:12
Speaker
like he's only really it seems like he's only there so they can show off um there's like these like scarabs they were like scarabs like they put in like impotence tomb like they're like they're also still there in like the walls and then like he gets killed by one so it it's like oh see this is the scarabs do but it's definitely it's definitely it's like a hat and a hat for like um
00:26:38
Speaker
He's just like, it's like you got three of the sort of very similar characters and you really don't need two. I mean, you only need one, but you got two for like both sides of like the both teams of people. Yep. And, um, they kind of do that again in the second movie. There's like the pilot guy. That's also kind of like a thief and the comic relief. Yeah.
00:27:07
Speaker
But he has more of purpose because he pilots the hot air balloon and stuff. So he's more of a plot purpose. Well, I feel like they could have also made the Great War pilot guy, the British pilot, also sort of a comic relief. He is a comic relief in another way.
00:27:30
Speaker
That guy was on a suicide mission. That was a whole different thing that you don't really pay attention to. I noticed that now more is that that guy was looking to die. Yeah, that's such a weirdly dark. And he plays a lot. He's so jovial and fun. He's like, oh, do you think I might die? Awesome. Yeah, I'm in.
00:27:51
Speaker
Because all of his fellow pilots died in World War I. So he's like, well, I didn't die. I didn't get to die with them. He's like a happy version of the Godzilla minus one main character, which is like, I failed to die with my fellow pilots. And now I want to die. But yeah, he shows up way later. Jump back to other, like, so.
00:28:19
Speaker
Yeah,
Filming Dangers: Hanging Scene
00:28:20
Speaker
we're just at Jonathan and Evie. And then they basically buy Rick's freedom. And apparently, I was reading on INDB like that when Brendan Fraser actually gets, like, when they hang him. Because he does get hanged, and then, like, his neck doesn't break. So then he still lets them get one more chance to buy his freedom. But apparently, Brendan Fraser almost died during that stunt.
00:28:46
Speaker
Yeah, it like went wrong. It's very famous because they're basically saying like, yeah, they were just filming it not knowing like, I guess the safety harness wasn't like proper and it literally just like gave him like it like fractured or like it did it compress one of his like spinal bones. Yeah. It was something because it's like, even though you don't you drop, it won't snap your neck. But the pressure that's like against your neck.
00:29:14
Speaker
if it's not proper harness, like that's still the enough force. Like it's still gravity, your body weight. And Brendan Fridge is like six foot three. Like he's not a short guy where it's like, it's still all that weight now in his neck. But yeah, I mean, I mean, it looks, I mean, if you watch it, like it looks, it looks brutal. I mean, it looks like, I think that's why they kept it. Cause like, wow, it's so realistic. It's like, Oh no. Cause it was. Yeah.
00:29:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's another famous like stunt gun. Like years later, that was revealed. That wasn't like something he he brought up a lot because I think they paid him so much money not to like sue. Yeah. Yeah. Thankfully, you know, he made it out of that. It was like a brain at least situation that like some horrible incident that's like dedicated to him in this movie. Yeah. It's like, well, that Rick was in it for one scene and then new guy shows up and takes over the
Rick's Transformation
00:30:15
Speaker
guy.
00:30:15
Speaker
The guy on the American team that we were talking about is like was like the fake pressure for sure. Yeah, somehow he's in it. You'd be just like, well, I'm into Americans, but I watched that man hang in a Cairo prison. Well, like he cleans up very well, so. We should do the same haircut from the game. That's why he's confused about that movie, because I didn't realize that the beginning and him like I thought his hair was just messy. I didn't think it was like.
00:30:46
Speaker
really was a wild hairstyle. Yeah. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's I like, I just like, I'm shocked because he's wearing the same outfit between everything. He does not change clothes at all. Nope. We got you. I mean, it's iconic look. You gotta keep that look going. He keeps that white shirt clean like three years in the desert. Yeah.
00:31:08
Speaker
Well, he gets rid of his like French Legion jacket. He gets rid of that. But then, yeah, he just says like his same shirt, cheap pants, boots, and then like his like holsters. Wouldn't he not have that when the prison takes that from you? And then on the flip side, like Richard Wise has like, I don't know, like a dozen different costumes. A lot of costume changes. Yeah.
00:31:34
Speaker
I think later when they go to a market, there's a big meet cute scene where they really stress that she's wearing this local outfit. Well, they flip it back on to Brendan Fraser, where Brendan Fraser shows up all cleaned up. She's like, oh. And then when she comes out with the desert clothes, he's like, oh, OK. See, I do like that in this direction, they're paying attention to bookend.
00:32:04
Speaker
certain like eats so it's like okay you could see uh there's like a connection not just like oh he's handsome and she's pretty and that's why they they fall in love it's like i mean granted he just kisses her in prison because he was gonna die he's like i thought it was a good idea at the time don't tell the woman that
00:32:32
Speaker
And he also, he also called like first thing he says is like, who's the broad? That's like the first thing he says to you. Romantic. So I think, um, one of the, I think one of the best actions he was in the movie is probably like the, uh, it's, you know, we're talking about like EV training, it's like desert clothes, but that's after they, uh, escape from like the boats that they're on.
Boat Attack Scene
00:32:55
Speaker
Cause they're taking a boat down the Nile and then it gets attacked by the Magi.
00:33:00
Speaker
And that whole sequence is, like, there's so much, like, cool stuff. Like, the guy gets set on fire. There's like, I love the gag where, like, Brendan Fraser, like, is, like, loading his pistol back up. And then, like, there's, like, gunshots, like, itching closer to his head. And then, like, you just, like, pull him away from, like, before he gets shot in the head. That sounds cool. It's a very practical stunt. And this is, like, an Indiana Jones, like, gag that's, like, straight up just, like, an Indiana Jones joke. Yeah, I can see that. Like, and I can see why this is, like, a fun, uh,
00:33:30
Speaker
adventure title that's pulpy. The, um, I think I have about the Magi is that you're supposed to feel like up until you realize their true purpose. You just think they're like desert ninjas. Yeah. You know, like did they, it's implied that, did they swim onto the boat?
00:33:48
Speaker
I think so, yeah. In their whole outfits, like their long robes. Robes, yeah. They got dipped in the lake. And one guy has a hook for hand. So he only has one hand to swim with. And he makes up the boat first or something. And then, again, they could have just done something else. They could have just done a businessman deal. It was such an extreme tactic to be like, we have to murder these outsiders.
00:34:18
Speaker
Well, speaking of Nia Jones stuff, it's like straight up like the Last Crusade, like the Brotherhood, the cruciform sword. Yes. Because they like straight up tried to kill Nia Jones in the beginning. Like they set that whole like the tomb under the library on fire to try to kill him. OK, to be fair, they were trying to kill Nazis. Well, they're trying to kill anyone who's like looking for the Grail, which is the same thing. Like the Magi are trying to kill anyone who's like trying to like fight Hamanatra or like
00:34:49
Speaker
I understood that scene as because in these working with a Nazi that they knew was a Nazi. I mean, it's pretty partially that, but then it's also like their whole mission is that they need to keep anyone from like they don't want anyone to find the grail. They're like their whole mission is to protect the grail.
00:35:13
Speaker
If you're like, if they're getting close, if they're getting close, because like, no, no one like figured out that that clue until you got there. And it's like, Oh, he's like, he's like, he's pretty close to find the grill now. So like, we got to stop him. Yeah. And then the majority are like, well, we got to stop anyone. If anyone gets to the heaven option, like, like we got to stop anyone really like gets looking for that or like, cause we can't let him attempt to get free. So we're just going to like murder this entire boat of people. And then is imply that they themselves don't know where Hemantra is.
00:35:45
Speaker
No, they know because if they follow him, I think that the guy with the hook in one, like the key in the map because he like just to take it. So you didn't have it. Yeah. I mean, if you take that, it doesn't matter if you find him in Atra, you can't do anything else. Yeah. But I'm saying. They if they knew where they're going, wouldn't they just be easier to meet them there and just fight them at the doors? I guess the both maybe. Yeah, I don't know. A lot a lot of strategy here that I can't figure out what the guy we're doing because
00:36:13
Speaker
All it took was like the other guy just to be like, oh, okay, hey, we should like team up. And the Magi are just cool. Team up by yourself. No backup. Even though the Magi are like, there are like thousands of them. Yeah, they have a whole army that we see at like memory turds. But in here, just seem like that one squad.
00:36:35
Speaker
And they come back. Like I do appreciate the majority are relentless. They're just like, yeah. Oh, yeah. Land. That was kind of like, I forgot about it. It was like, like they're like the main villains for like the first half of the movie until everything shows up. Because they attack on the boat and they attack like the big site after they get everyone gets there. Like their whole lives is to train and honor these Egyptian ways and not use guns. Like they're all about swords.
00:37:07
Speaker
Well until until you if you get a big enough machine gun then our artist Bay is like oh, yeah He's the machine gun for the plate to like kill mummies with I Think I think it's like a joke like when we turn to where he's just like like he like Rick's like what gun do you want? He's like, oh, I'll take that gun. I know exactly what kind of gun that is Yeah, he's a little bit more modern in the group Well compared to hook hand guy. Yeah, like
00:37:35
Speaker
Those Magi guys just big generations of warriors that have been waiting to fight Mummies and keeping secrets. I feel like they definitely could have just like, you know, like eventually it takes Rick threatening to blow everyone up with dynamite. It's for, like, participating, like, hey, all right, leave. I feel like they could have done that maybe sooner. If you don't leave, instead of just running into murdering people in the camp, just be like,
00:38:03
Speaker
Uh, if you guys don't leave, we're going to, we won't kill you, but like, we'll give you like a day to leave. It goes like, like, yes, it's just such a crazy degree, which is like Rick has to like starting to blow everyone up. Well.
American Team's Role and Motivations
00:38:23
Speaker
that other campsite. Okay, so I do like the American adventure team. Though it's like comprised of one British dude and three Americans and then a group of just helpers. Yeah. So they were they were they were treasure hunters, right? Oh, yeah, they were straight up just like we want treasure. That's all we want. Yeah. But why does the British guy on their team seem to know what's going on?
00:38:53
Speaker
Like he understood like, like, like the doctor, the doctor guy. Yeah. He was more aware of what was at stake. Yeah. How did he get like teamed up with these like American cowboy treasure hunter guys? Like, I thought maybe it'd be interesting if he was like a rival of EVs or a former professor. And it's like, he doesn't believe her because he's sexist. I mean, he is because he says like, Oh, they're led by women, a woman. So they don't know where there's a dig.
00:39:24
Speaker
I get that, but there's no connection. There's no reason to hate them besides them being guys from the 1920s, from Texas. And then I actually remember them with Rick in the group way longer, but it really is just maybe 20 minutes or less.
00:39:51
Speaker
There's a whole thing of trying to keep those guys alive because of what they do later on. Well, they're, they're, they're on their own kind of like separate dig and then, you know, Rick and Evie and Jonathan are on their own. They, they like, well, they kind of circumvent their dicks. They get like kicked out of, uh, or anything. The book, like, uh,
00:40:11
Speaker
treasure is going to be, but then they just go into like a tunnel, like under the statue and find, manage to like find the book and, uh, or like find Imhotep's, uh, sarcophagus.
Discovery of Imhotep's Tomb
00:40:22
Speaker
See when that happens, I don't know if Imhotep was trying to be like found because he randomly just dropped in the ceiling.
00:40:33
Speaker
It wasn't like they were opening doors and finding him. It wasn't like an explosion that drops his sarcophagus. It really was just like them just going, now what? And then the coffin falls into place. Well, they were, they were like chiseling up a little bit to tell like, cause their plan was that they were going to wait until like the Americans went to sleep and then like chisel up and like sneak in under them. And then sort of, they're kind of just like waiting around and like Jonathan's like hitting stones with like, like golf balls. And it's applied that like he hits a stone in the ceiling and knocks the sarcophagus down.
00:41:05
Speaker
There's one heck of a golf swing. Yeah. He's equipping a thief and like a treasure hunter thief and like be like a 1920s golfer. Yeah, so if I assume and then I love when they like open it up and then he's like, you get to see like the like, it was like for the first time and they're like, oh, he's still juicy.
00:41:36
Speaker
Yeah, I do like that line. It stands out to me because even to this day when I think of something that looks a little gross but wet, I think juicy, and it's just such a gross thing to think. Well, there's a lot of great lines where a character will lead in, and then one of the characters will finish it. So Eevee's like, he's still, and then Jonathan and Frick are like, juicy.
Humor in The Mummy
00:42:00
Speaker
There's like great timing and cuts here that kind of emphasize the comedy part, so not everything is a traditional horror movie. Because if you look at the poster of the mummy, half the time I think it's just the one with the mummy's face on a pyramid. No context on that. So when you watch it, you realize it's kind of playful, it's pulpy, it's got good comedic bits between everyone.
00:42:30
Speaker
Yeah, like we're afraid he doesn't take himself seriously. Like he's always like doing like some sort of like he's like screaming at mummies or like dropping a one liner. But then like he does he's able to turn it on like if he's if it's like serious action mode, he's able to turn that on too. So like I mean, he's just like fantastic this movie. See the problem is I saw the movie Bedazzle half a year prior to this. And totally opposite, man.
00:42:57
Speaker
And I think even the same year or the year after this monkey bone. I think those were after. Oh my God. Let me tell you. Because I think Bedazzle was 2000 and then monkey bone was like 2002 or something like that. Cause he was, he was even like, like, I think we went like, where's I'm like, like two years before this was Georgia the jungle. That was like the last, that was like his last big one before the mummy.
00:43:26
Speaker
but still, still doing like, yeah, like comedy stuff. Like I don't, I don't think he was like a full on like action star until The Mummy. Is The Mummy his only action movies? I mean, I guess like, um, it was like journey to the center of the earth. Oh, yeah. He's got almost a Rick O'Connor type vibe in that. Anyway. Uh, yeah.
00:43:59
Speaker
them discovering Immotep and then them trying to steal the book like it was all like hey okay we now now need to go in that book that is super fucking scary looking yeah yeah this black book that you need like a special lock to open that seems fine and also just also just read from it too that seems like a good idea well i mean up until that point these book of spells aren't exactly like
00:44:27
Speaker
certified they're just it's it's very you know it's very like evil dead hmm we're like like we're like even just like it's like such like she doesn't read from the book it's like oh you just you stupidly read from the book and now you've unleashed like evil straight up evil on the earth I think she's reads like the first thing let's just open to a page there's a random you're like you're reading like a girl like this was where a spell which I get and it just has to be the one that like awakens in what's up
00:45:03
Speaker
And I think the CG Imhotep holds up pretty well. I mean, it's 1999 CG. But compared to other stuffs that came out around this time, it still looks pretty good.
CGI Quality and Use
00:45:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah. A lot of the CI, sorry, CGI, they use it like nicely. And it's all like at night because I know the time like CGI still wasn't good with like light bending. So a lot of it is set at like dusk or like just just as it gets dark. So the the weird uncanny valley, I guess that's not really nice. Too good. It's like, you know, just the two
00:45:50
Speaker
I guess, primal graphics that they had going on. The PlayStation 1 was still in demand during this time. So it's just like, it looks better than a PS1 game. And everything in this movie looks better than the Scorpion King in the second movie, which is weird, because that's like, what, three years later? Well, just The Rock. I think, honestly, it's just The Rock, the way he just could not be captured properly. Yeah, you can't capture The Rock in CG.
00:46:20
Speaker
but, you know, a decaying corpse and it's screaming, it still looks fine. Again, it doesn't hold up, but I think that's the point, is that unless you threw What's-His-Face in a full latex mask. Yeah. Imagine Arnold Vosle. Vassaloo, yeah. Vassaloo just, like, dark manning it. I mean, he already did that. He did that for two movies before this, so. Yeah.
00:46:46
Speaker
It's the same dark man makeup, but now it's just slightly tanned. He's just like, no more bandages. The one scene in the opening where he's actually getting bandaged up, apparently it took four hours, and he was just like, nope, no more. No more bandages. I don't understand why that took four hours. He's not even talking. He's just being held. Yeah.
00:47:18
Speaker
I guess like wrap, like wrap him like so completely wrap him up. It took a while, I guess, like authentic Egyptian cotton. Yeah. They had to carefully like roll it. Yeah. You know, they did. They probably took the wrappings off like a real mummy and they put it on. Yeah. Also, on a side note, do you think this movie also helped the Egyptian tourism board?
00:47:46
Speaker
I mean probably or just like just like general kind of like where are there museums with mummies like like the British Museum and like this ain't like Smithsonian or like the like uh you know like New York museums have any sort of like uh mummies at all like yeah yeah there was like King Tut stuff yeah I remember that like there was a definitely a period when I was a kid that mummies was cool then nothing there was there's mummies alive came out that was
00:48:16
Speaker
Yeah, but it didn't finalize like that. No, no. I think it was that was the after this like you think the mummy like inspired. They were like, oh, man, mummies are hot. We got to make us like a mummy's team and team. I don't remember. But, you know, that's not bad. If the closest ripoff they had at the time was mummies alive. Well, I mean, the mummy got its own cartoon. Yeah, but that was like by the second movie. Yeah. It was the same year as it was like 2001 when the Mummy Returns came out. It was like also like the animated series came out.
00:48:47
Speaker
I think the Mummy Returns animated series was a sequel to the show, or was it a prequel? It was, I think it was supposed to be like, I think it was like an alternate take on the Mummy Returns, because I think Alex, their son, had the thing on his wrist still in the show. But then it was more like a gadget to help him in the show, where he was able to do magical things.
00:49:19
Speaker
So it was like, it was like a weird, like alternate, like an alternate universe version of all the returns. And I don't think the Sorpy King showed up in the show. I think it was, it was just they booked up. Again, open this terrible, like Minecraft looking monster, like walking around the show. Like, why does he look different from the rest? Yeah. Uh,
Imhotep's Regeneration
00:49:42
Speaker
But yeah, I do like that basically, once Emotep is on leash, he doesn't give a shit about anyone else but trying to get to those three Americans. Yeah. And more with the British dude. Yeah. And I love all the different ways that I show the guys getting their life force sucked out. A lot of it's off-screen, but there's some cool stuff where you see the one guy, it's like a shadow of his body getting desiccated and then throwing us a wall.
00:50:13
Speaker
Yep. And then you see the other one where he's just taking parts. I don't know why. I don't know why one dude, he gets his eyes and tongues removed and then he lets him wander and then just to like mess with him more. Yeah. Cause he, cause he, cause he needs, he needs like his organs too. And then he's just like, Oh, I'll get those later, I guess. Or does Eevee interrupt and I, it doesn't seem like Eevee interrupts them, but maybe he, maybe she did. She kind of stumbles into like that. That's all thing happening.
00:50:43
Speaker
And that's when like, but that's like, Oh, an accident moon. So, which is, which is weird. That, that seems even weirder after watching my returns. Cause you would think it would have a, no, it's like, Oh no, you're not actually when you're like the Pharaoh's daughter. Yeah. Yeah. The unnamed daughter that we all forgot about. Yeah.
00:51:07
Speaker
But they do hint that in the movie that she's also part of Egyptian. Her mother's Egyptian. So there's a chance the bloodline is through her.
00:51:21
Speaker
But like when they do the flashback and my returns, like it's, it's, it's just Rachel wise. So like it would have seen someone. It looks exactly Richard wise in like, you know, the past and we're like, Oh, he hasn't, he hasn't been awake. It wasn't like he was sitting in a coffin for that long. Like, you know, he probably died and then he woke up the next time is this. So yeah, his memory should be like, Oh, like,
00:51:47
Speaker
You look exactly like the woman who ratted out on my secret affair. Yeah. But also, I do like that Anuxa Moon does come back and she tries to kill Evie. So it's like there's a little bit of continuity there.
00:52:11
Speaker
Because that's what we'll finish. So if they kill Eevee, then an oxygen moon's soul goes into Eevee's body. But then that's a dead body. Well, because that's because like. Yeah, because then the moment he returns, he does like, he, like, it was totally finished the spell. And then Patricia Velasquez is like whatever her character's name is. Like when she's not an oxygen moon. Like turns into an oxygen moon, because the spirit of an oxygen moon goes into her.
00:52:43
Speaker
But she doesn't have to get killed. Is she reincarnated of Noxon of Moon? I think that's the deal in my return. It's like I'm the recreation of Noxon of Moon and I'm just like, not yet. And then he has to do like the... He brings back her memories. Yeah. Like the shadow creature from Ghost flies out of the ooze or whatever and flies into her and then she becomes Noxon of Moon again. So I mean...
00:53:06
Speaker
He kind of got the right people, right? I give Immotep that he got like the people who were around him because Rachel Wise's character is supposed to be the reincarnation of that character from the past. Yeah. And this, so in this first movie, he just, he just wants a woman that he can sacrifice and then that woman will turn into Noxie the Moon, I guess. Once he, once he sacrifices her or either they'll turn, they'll turn Noxie the Moon or like, they'll like make a Noxie the Moon return.
00:53:35
Speaker
is like, and then like maybe like turn it like he does. Yeah. So I assume maybe it's the same deal with the life force where she'll just take her life force. Yeah, I think maybe.
Anck-su-Namun's Role
00:53:46
Speaker
But instead of three or four guys, it takes one woman. The ratio is a little off. And if I remember correctly, I think I thought I'm next in a moon was like mummified correctly.
00:54:03
Speaker
Yeah, because those, those jars are like her organs, I think, like all the jars they find are like her like organs. So why did, yeah, it's like, were the parts for, was the parts that he was gathering for her also? I think so. I think that, I think that that would probably like help her generate maybe.
00:54:25
Speaker
But then he was taking them to rebuild himself to look more human. I don't think, I don't think he was using the, I don't think he was using the jar organs. I think he was just like sucking the life force of the guys that found the jars. And then like the jar, the jars are actually like an accident. Moon's like organs. So he needed those like complete his ritual, whatever.
00:54:44
Speaker
Gotcha. That makes more sense. Yeah. Cause I was wondering, like he wasn't, he replaced his, he took organs from the other people, but I think he just did replace his own organs. But then the life force is really more important than the organs. Yeah. I do. I do. I do. Like we get to see like all of all of the stages of like him, like regenerating and like, you get to see like these like different like levels of like turning into Arnold Vassaloo. Yeah.
00:55:09
Speaker
Like I like the second last one where it's like he's both Seattle possibly he's like the weird like jaw still from the mummy And then like part of his cheeks likes to open and they like eats that scarab that crawls it I Thought that scene was from the second movie. Mm-hmm
00:55:30
Speaker
Well, I think they, they, they kind of like, they kind of like shortcut, like his like, like regeneration. The second where just like, they like sacrifice, like four guys were out the bat. Just like here, if you're four guys, like fully regenerate yourself. Well, I mean, he, when he comes back to life, he just bosses out of a cocoon. He's just like, I'm back. Yeah. Which is weird because in this one, it's like a whole process. It's like days. And then.
00:55:56
Speaker
Their final battle, he doesn't get thrown into like a pit or anything. He just sort of gets stabbed and dies. Yeah, he gets stabbed and like walks into like the soul ooze or whatever that is. Like the, cause that's where like an accident was like soul came out of. Yeah, yeah. Like, but the problem is that like in that pit of faces, I'm like, is that just everyone's soul? Is it just his? I don't know. I don't know why later on it becomes like a different temple too.
00:56:25
Speaker
Well, yeah, in my church, I think he literally gets set to hell because it's just like he like falls down like the hell's cavern. All the souls are just like throwing him down into hell. Well, that's a different one. That was like the EV increase, like the magic. So now it's like, OK, we can't just throw him in a pool of souls. You got to send him to.
00:56:45
Speaker
yeah we can't we can't have like a ghost chariot fly into him and like take his soul out i guess or like his immortality immortal soul and then at least i'm like mortal
00:56:59
Speaker
I do like that. It definitely comes out of left field because it doesn't really hint about his soul or his humanity. Cause you assume it'd be so powerful that making him human, he doesn't know what to do. So he just runs into a guardian sword. Yeah. The fight isn't as epic as, um, in number two, or somehow his fighting skills have been, he's more aware of what's at stake. Yeah. Yeah. Rick, Rick and him with that don't really go like motto and motto in the first one.
00:57:27
Speaker
It's more like Rick Rick Rick Rick is more fight like like the like it was that's priests for like the most of the final battle. Well, the way for the Magi to show up and then because he he like tells them a Magi to like listen to him. But then as soon as like Jonathan is just like, yeah, no. Well, I think there's like the mummified like Royal Guards or something like the Pharaoh's Guard instead like mummified. Oh.
00:57:55
Speaker
I thought they were like the, well, the Royal Guards are the Magi. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, they just sort of forgot what happened about Imhotep. But I think it's like a good ending, like with the big bad fight and then basically them getting out of the cave. If they never did a sequel, I think it's still like a good movie. Oh, yeah.
00:58:24
Speaker
I do like that they hint that there could be more because of what they do at the end, but in terms of like Rick got the girl, he killed the bad guy, they're riding to the sunset, it's like the classic end scene. Yeah. And I love all that, yeah, when they really, they amp up all the mummy stuff, they're like tons of mummies into it, like will the pre-show up?
00:58:52
Speaker
and lots of lots of fun gags when they like Rick is fighting like the pre like it's like cool extra stuff but also like it's of like funny yags like he like knocks one of the guys like heads off and he's like bouncing on his hands and stuff and when he like he when like he's trying to grab the sword and there's like a like a cut off like a mummy hand and then he grabs the mummy hand like uses that like cut down the guy yeah uh
Rick vs. Mummies: Choreography
00:59:16
Speaker
The mummies are just like brutes. There's no strategy. And it seems like Rick does like a sword dance fight around them. Well, I was reading, I think, no, like I need to be trivia thing. Apparently, like, uh, like for paraphrasing, I had to just like do all that, like against nothing. They didn't even have like, you know, like tennis balls, like he'd like perfectly learn the choreography and just do it all against like nothing. And then they put the mummies in afterwards, the CGI mummies in.
00:59:44
Speaker
I mean, they just built it around Brendan. Yeah. Whatever this happens, we'll just put Mummy's there. I mean, it's really hard, I guess, to do action sequences without anything. Yeah. He's like pretending to get grabbed by something, but there's nothing there. There's not even a guy in a creepy screen suit grabbing him. It's just like he just had to do, I guess, nothing.
01:00:12
Speaker
And yeah, a fun classic tempo collapsing, because a booby trap gets triggered. Yeah. I feel like Benny could have, I mean, it's kind of like a, you know what happened. We've already seen what's going to happen, because you can see it by scarabs, and we've seen what is all that is. But it's all in the dark, so you don't see it happening.
01:00:40
Speaker
I feel like for all the stuff he did, we could have maybe more of some sort of bigger comeuppance. Yeah. I feel like just because Evie said that bad guys get bad endings, like a karmic balance, I think it would have been more satisfying to watch him get that swarm on him.
01:01:07
Speaker
or maybe him opening up something and then coming at him at the end as a surprise. Yeah, I guess you can't go too gruesome because it's a piece of teen movie, but like some sort of like, like final, like big kind of scarab thing. It was like, you just like, maybe like a close up of him, like crawling and then they eat him or something. And it's like, his skeleton's left. Like you see like that one like digger guy earlier on, like eating and it's like, you see like, it's like kind of like meat covered skeleton leftover from those scarabs.
01:01:37
Speaker
Yeah. I've been like, see Benny doing that. I do. I do appreciate that. Like his his comeuppance comes because he's like, wait, he's like too greedy because like he already got a bag of treasure, but he gives me another bag of treasure. That's what that's what causes downfall. I also thought that maybe he might have like had a change of heart. Do you feel like the movie was hinting towards that?
01:02:02
Speaker
I don't know. I think he's just like, yeah, he's super like he could have, he had way more enough treasure than he needed in that first bag. And then he was like, no, I need more. I need to go get another bag of treasure. Because at that point, Imhotep doesn't care about him. No. So he was freed from trying to team up with them. And then he gets locked in the treasure room and it's where he dies. Ultimate, ironic, like ultimate, uh, like, uh, karma. Yeah. The, the bad guy, uh,
01:02:32
Speaker
wish. You want all this treasure, now you can have it all, but you can't do anything with it. I feel like that was a backdoor way, maybe, of saying Benny can come back. Man, yeah, if he came back as a mummy, or like a weird mummy zombie kind of thing, he's just like a ghoul. Jake Johnson in the other mummy movie was a ghoul, like Benny could have been the ghoul.
01:03:01
Speaker
Yeah, because he wouldn't be a mummy because he didn't get mummified. But then if they could bring him back, it's some sort of weird undead creature. But he came back from Event Helsing. He was Egor in Event Helsing. But that was blinking and missing from Egor. Yeah, I think it was only in one scene or two scenes.
01:03:27
Speaker
It's him talking to Frankenstein and him at the end on a bridge chasing after Van Helsing's priest friend. But yeah, the mummy. It's still great. 25 years later, it's still super fun. It's just like the perfect blend of
01:03:55
Speaker
action and comedy and there's even some like, there's some like actual like creepy dark stuff in it too. Like all, like Emotep like takes over like all of Cairo and like turns everyone to like, like, like boil covered slaves. They turned into a zombie movie. If they were willing to be slaves or they were like. No, I think, I think, I think artist Bay was like, oh, like he's, Emotep's enslaved them all. Like,
01:04:23
Speaker
So one of his powers is controlling all of them now. I don't know why you could just do that to Rick. Yeah, that's a good point. That's why. If Mike controls one of his powers, why don't you just Mike control everybody? That's where that falls apart. I thought they were already occultist people, who then Imhotep was like, hey, magic's real. I'm real. Yeah.
01:04:56
Speaker
And then like this, like the stuff with like the scare, like the scarab, like we see like it's like, like crawling in there under your skin and then like it goes to the brain. That's like that part freaked me out as a kid. Yeah.
Horror Element: Scarabs
01:05:07
Speaker
I remember seeing that in theaters and getting.
01:05:10
Speaker
very uncomfortable because you're just in the dark in a loud noise room and you just hear the sound effects of the scarabs and then knowing that basically that that's actually like you know not not like a necessarily like a real thing that could happen but like parasites it's just things that get in your body just thing yeah it was just like last last little bit like the one that we have is the warden and it's like you see it like
01:05:34
Speaker
right before it crawls in his brain, like that crunching sound and you see the bulge going like behind his eyes, he's screaming. It's like, that's like the scariest part of the whole movie. Yeah. And I do like, you don't see a lot of that in PG-13 movies now. It's like that was effective horror without being gory. That also feels like, you know, more like a more Indiana Jones, uh, like homage stuff. Cause I think, you know, obviously like, you know, regular, every individual movie, like,
01:06:03
Speaker
raiders and temple doom. It's a fun, wacky adventure, but then also there's super dark stuff in all three of them. It's just dark, disturbing. People get their hearts ripped out, the end of raiders where everyone's faces are melting. The corpse is the life force being drained out of people and the scarab stuff and the
01:06:33
Speaker
zombie zombie crowd kind of feels like a mosh that bit of india jones kind of tone too yeah it's only done for one scene and um it's effective to show that imo tap like you have to keep running from him because he's got new tricks up his sleeves but yeah for me it's just like a plot like hole where he can just make an army
01:06:59
Speaker
And then he said, he never does it again. And in the next movie, never does that army again. Yeah.
Imhotep's Powers Explored
01:07:05
Speaker
He never, he never does the plays plays like a one time thing where it's just like the first time he comes back, the plagues happen and then they don't happen anymore. That scene with the grasshoppers on the other actors, like British professor. Yeah. Were those real grasshoppers?
01:07:27
Speaker
They look too good to be CG. I'm sure they probably brought in some... It's probably pretty easy to bring in some real crickets or real locusts or whatever they were. When they were a giant swarm, I'm sure it's definitely CG. I'm not an actor. You even get a little tiny bit of a disaster movie in this movie too, like the meteors smashing into Cairo.
01:07:57
Speaker
I forgot about the meteor part. Yeah, that happens. And then it never happens again. Yeah, because that's like the third plague, I think. It's like the like the 10 plagues of Egypt. So it's like water turns to blood, like boils and sores, comets, like. They don't do was it wasn't one of them like all the first born children die to that didn't happen. That is another type of like curse or thing, but that's more of a Jewish thing.
01:08:30
Speaker
Yeah, blood frogs, lice, flies, pestilence of livestock, boils, thunderstorm of hail and fire, locusts, darkness. Oh yeah, death of the first one was the 10th plague. So the guy just like, maybe that was too far even for Imhotep, just like, I'm not gonna kill babies. He had like restraint.
01:09:00
Speaker
Yeah, any other final thoughts about The Mummy, Chris?
Closing Thoughts and Viewing Options
01:09:05
Speaker
Go see The Mummy Ride in Universal. It's a shortcut version of the halfway point of this movie. I think it's definitely worth a rewatch any time of the year. Yeah, if you want to watch it, it's on Peacock.
01:09:26
Speaker
So I think that's the best place you can watch it right now. I think all the mummy stuff is on there, like the anime series and all the movies are up there on the Peacock. And it's in 4K HDR, too, if you have the TV that can support that on Peacock, which I was surprised by. I'm like, oh, this is like HDR on Peacock? OK. Those golden colors you're talking about, we're popping.
01:10:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's like a there's like a trilogy 4k set you can get if you wanted like a physical copy of all three movies.
01:10:24
Speaker
which Emperor's Tomb of the Dragon Emperor definitely stepped out for the franchise. You're trying these mummies aren't exactly a thing. And that was like, even Steve Sowers was like, I'm done with this. I made two of them. I want to make GI Joe or whatever. And then Richard Wise bailed out. So it's like the writing was on the wall.
01:10:57
Speaker
another episode yeah in uh was it 2008 when that came out so uh i mean actually i mean i think we could talk about in july or like august because that like it'd be like the uh would be like actually no we didn't wait to like uh next year i think or like uh whenever it was like a a five or it's it'd be like whatever like
01:11:24
Speaker
equals like a 25th or 15th anniversary of it. Um, I don't even numbers. Yeah. I can't do the math on top of my head right now, but probably, probably like a year or two, we could like talk about the movie with dragon effort. It'll be an anniversary. Yeah. Go celebrate the 20th anniversary. Check it out on, watch it again. If you haven't seen in a while on peacock or physical media and, uh, come back next week. We're going to be talking about another anniversary.
01:11:50
Speaker
It's going to be the 10th anniversary for the start of the monster verse, uh, cause Godzilla 2014 came out 10 years ago next week. So we'll, we'll dive into all the origins of the monster verse, talk about, uh, you know, Monsterverse Godzilla and Bryan Cranston, not, however, I thought Bryan Cranston was going to be the star of that movie. And then that didn't turn out hard for expected. So.
01:12:15
Speaker
Yeah, get ready for some awesome first talk next week and head to our site for all of our usual stuff. We got reviews and news trailers. We've got our Friday the 13th part four commentary up there if you want to check that out. And we got a, we got a, uh, term of your salvation commentary coming up later this month. Uh, so come back for that and we'll have our, uh, monthly game, uh, video game article up, uh, soon on the site as well. So come back, check those out and check out all the things up there right now. And, uh, yeah, so for Chris, I am Zach and we will see you next week.
01:12:46
Speaker
For more from Everything Action, head to www.everythingaction.com. You can also find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash everything.action, and follow us on X at Evie Action. We're also on Instagram and threads at everything.action. Find more episodes of the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast app of choice, and be sure to rate and subscribe.