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The Mummy Returns
150 Plays1 year ago
The evil mummy Imhotep returns to wreak havoc as he resumes his relentless search for power and immortality. To make matters worse, another ancient evil has been unleashed, even more dangerous than Imhotep. Only the heroic Rick O'Connell and his intrepid Egyptologist wife stand in the way of these twin terrors as they embark upon a desperate mission to save the world.
Release date: May 4, 2001 (USA)
Director: Stephen Sommers
Box office: 435 million USD
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Edited by: Bob Ducsay; Kelly Matsumoto
Music by: Alan Silvestri
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Transcript
Introduction to The Mummy Series
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey, what's up, listeners?
00:00:03
Speaker
We are back, and we are continuing with the Mummy series.
00:00:08
Speaker
Now, we originally did the Tom Cruise movie called Mummy that was supposed to launch the Dark Universe, and we figured since we punished ourselves, we would actually...
Does The Mummy Returns Hold Up?
00:00:23
Speaker
have a little bit of fun and watch the original mummy movie.
00:00:28
Speaker
Well, I shouldn't say original cause that would be way back.
00:00:32
Speaker
Um, but the Brendan Fraser, now we went over the first one and that was certainly as fun as I remember it.
00:00:40
Speaker
But what about the mummy returns?
00:00:42
Speaker
Does that one still hold up today?
00:00:45
Speaker
That's what we're going to talk about.
00:00:47
Speaker
Rob, obviously you're back to talk about this and,
00:00:52
Speaker
You know, my initial thoughts are it does.
00:00:55
Speaker
There are some things about this that it's not as tight as the first one in certain aspects.
00:01:03
Speaker
But without getting too much into it, still a very enjoyable film.
00:01:07
Speaker
It is as enjoyable as I remember
Character Progression and Parental Dynamics
00:01:10
Speaker
it.
00:01:10
Speaker
It is as enjoyable also as I remember it.
00:01:13
Speaker
I've never had a bad time watching this movie.
00:01:16
Speaker
I think it's interesting to watch them back to back the way that we have been and kind of just see some of the things that you may not have picked up on.
00:01:23
Speaker
If you if you kind of put a little bit of space in between them.
00:01:27
Speaker
I think there's some really interesting character progressions that happen here.
00:01:31
Speaker
We talked about how great Rick and Evie were.
00:01:33
Speaker
As as a couple and as a dynamic duo in the first film and the natural progression of that relationship happens here.
00:01:40
Speaker
And and there's some really great bits between the two of them.
00:01:44
Speaker
They work so well on screen.
00:01:45
Speaker
They're parents now.
00:01:47
Speaker
There's so many things that work and feel like just the film and the characters within it of the first one have progressed naturally.
00:01:55
Speaker
Everything makes sense.
00:01:57
Speaker
And then there are some things that don't necessarily work super well, but overall, like if you've never seen this movie and you're trying to decide if you should watch it or not, you should watch this movie.
00:02:07
Speaker
This is, this is a ton of fun and I'm glad that we got a chance to revisit this.
00:02:11
Speaker
Yeah, no,
Critiquing the CGI and Visual Effects
00:02:12
Speaker
I am too.
00:02:12
Speaker
And you know, I I'd like to talk first about a couple of the things that I know have been talked about over time.
00:02:20
Speaker
Um, and a couple of nitpicks, but yeah,
00:02:23
Speaker
We'll get those out, you know, we'll get those out of the way.
00:02:27
Speaker
One is, you know, this was a big deal.
00:02:32
Speaker
It was going to be the, you know, one of the, a really big role for Dwayne, the rock Johnson, who at the time, you know, was really kind of coming in to the movie industry and starting to do things.
00:02:46
Speaker
Um,
00:02:47
Speaker
playing the Scorpion King, which would get its own spinoff.
00:02:50
Speaker
I only recognize one of those movies that stars him, but, um, you know, horrible, horrible CGI.
00:03:01
Speaker
for him in this movie uh it it's almost worse for me in this day and age because we've seen some really good cgi over the years so when there's really bad cgi from previous you know from past movies it sticks out like a sore thumb to me um and it did so more than ever on this rewatch
00:03:23
Speaker
Yeah, and I think I know which scene specifically you're talking about, but the opening, this oasis in the desert, it just really shows how far CGI has come.
00:03:33
Speaker
It is bad in the beginning, and it only gets worse.
00:03:36
Speaker
So you're talking about when he shows up at the end of the movie as the Scorpion version of the Scorpion King.
00:03:45
Speaker
So let's just go ahead and get into it, because I think that's one of this movie's
00:03:51
Speaker
longest lasting kind of images.
00:03:55
Speaker
They have this, and I'd kind of forgotten the setup.
00:03:57
Speaker
So they have this moment where
00:03:59
Speaker
You know, you kind of get the idea that the Scorpion King is going to come.
00:04:04
Speaker
He's the next thing that's kind of coming out.
00:04:05
Speaker
So they've got him in this shadow and it's dark and you can see the silhouette, but you can't really see him.
00:04:10
Speaker
And then you see him and you just wish they would have left him in the dark because holy cow, does he look terrible?
00:04:17
Speaker
He looks so plastic.
00:04:19
Speaker
He could choke half of all the world's sea life.
00:04:22
Speaker
It is absolutely atrocious.
00:04:24
Speaker
He looks like a cut scene from like a Dreamcast game.
00:04:28
Speaker
Even worse, the early episodes of South Park that were made out of construction paper looked better.
00:04:35
Speaker
The Rock's wrestling career was more realistic than his CG design.
00:04:40
Speaker
It literally looks like someone tried to put The Rock's face on the dancing baby's body from the late 90s.
00:04:46
Speaker
Remember the Uga Chaka baby?
00:04:48
Speaker
Yes.
00:04:48
Speaker
That's what The Rock...
00:04:50
Speaker
character of the scorpion king looks like if somebody took his face on the dancing baby's body it's it is by far my favorite example of bad cg that's ever been used in a movie this is the high water mark for just good enough right yeah
00:05:12
Speaker
It's almost like they ran out of budget or something.
Continuity Issues and Character Tropes
00:05:15
Speaker
So you have some questionable CGI in this movie for sure.
00:05:21
Speaker
One of the other things, some of the framing and some of the shots are not as tight in this movie as it was the first.
00:05:29
Speaker
And, you know, one glaring one, and it stuck with me when I first saw it.
00:05:33
Speaker
And it's always just been a thing.
00:05:37
Speaker
That first scene, well, not the first scene, but when we first get introduced to the O'Connells, we find out, you know, they're exploring another tomb.
00:05:47
Speaker
you know, salvaging, scalvaging, whatever you want to, you know, whatever it's actually called.
00:05:54
Speaker
How is their eight-year-old boy face-to-face with Rick when he startles him?
00:06:02
Speaker
Because the next shot, he's not standing on a crate.
00:06:07
Speaker
There's nothing there.
00:06:09
Speaker
How are they face-to-face in that scene?
00:06:15
Speaker
Movie magic, I guess.
00:06:18
Speaker
I always thought like, wait, how the hell are like, I always thought that when I first saw that, like, wait, how the hell are they even, how are they at eye level right now with each other?
00:06:27
Speaker
Like it makes maybe he ate one of those, like eat me and drink me things from Alice in Wonderland that makes you shrink and grow really fast.
00:06:34
Speaker
Right.
00:06:35
Speaker
It's, it was just a weird scene.
00:06:38
Speaker
Um, I know also some people have complained about the continuity of that.
00:06:43
Speaker
Alex shouldn't actually be the age that he is.
00:06:46
Speaker
The time doesn't actually add up.
00:06:49
Speaker
Um, but that's something that I can just say.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:51
Speaker
I don't really care.
00:06:53
Speaker
Like,
00:06:53
Speaker
There's a moment in the movie they say something about nine years has passed since the events of the first one.
00:07:01
Speaker
I believe that that number stands out.
00:07:03
Speaker
Does that sound familiar to you?
00:07:04
Speaker
Something like that, yeah.
00:07:07
Speaker
He looks maybe a little older than that.
00:07:10
Speaker
And he's definitely... He behaves a lot older than that, I guess is what I would say.
00:07:16
Speaker
It's a little... I'm with you.
00:07:18
Speaker
The continuity there feels a little off.
00:07:21
Speaker
But it's one of those things where...
00:07:24
Speaker
in a movie that's not as much fun with characters that we don't like as much, we don't forgive those things as easily.
00:07:31
Speaker
Those things would stand out and be bothersome in a movie that is less fun to throw on, have a great time, enjoy, laugh, and just really get pulled into.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yep.
00:07:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:07:46
Speaker
And again, that will...
00:07:49
Speaker
be talked about with these movies, strong suits.
00:07:51
Speaker
One other thing, again, I want to get these out of the way is, you know, the movie does have a pretty big retcon.
00:08:00
Speaker
with Rick having the tattoo that he's a warrior of the Magi, because there are so many opportunities in that first movie to see his wrist, and specifically where they have this on his arm, where they have this tattoo in the second movie.
00:08:18
Speaker
It is clear as day.
00:08:21
Speaker
You don't have a goddamn tattoo in the first movie at all.
00:08:26
Speaker
The whole previously unseen and unmentioned tattoo bit has always been one of my least favorite aspects of this movie.
00:08:33
Speaker
And honestly, and yes, you're right.
00:08:36
Speaker
It is 100% a retcon because you can go back and everybody can clearly see in the first movie that it's not there.
00:08:41
Speaker
But even more that I don't need Rick to be the chosen one.
00:08:46
Speaker
I don't need him to be the
00:08:49
Speaker
uh, deemed special or fate is going to bring, I, I like his character better when he's kind of like the roguish wise ass who is confident.
00:09:01
Speaker
He has skills.
00:09:02
Speaker
He always gets himself into bad sticky situations, but always kind of finds himself getting out of it.
00:09:08
Speaker
Like, do you like Han Solo as he is, or do you like the idea that he's force sensitive?
00:09:14
Speaker
And that's how he always beats the odds.
00:09:15
Speaker
Cause I like the first one better.
00:09:17
Speaker
Yeah, I absolutely like the first version, that first idea of the character better.
00:09:22
Speaker
And I feel that same way about Rick.
00:09:24
Speaker
I don't, in fact, I actually dislike the idea of him as this chosen one.
00:09:29
Speaker
And that's how he's always, he's faded and destined to get into ancient Egypt and find all of these supernatural objects of power and, and be able to defeat them because he's the one that's chosen.
00:09:43
Speaker
I hate that bit.
00:09:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:45
Speaker
Um,
00:09:46
Speaker
And then the last thing is, you know, this is one of those.
00:09:51
Speaker
And again, these are things that would be very hard to look past in a bad movie because it's, it would just be thing after thing after thing.
00:09:59
Speaker
But the last thing that I was like, yeah, that's why I don't feel this movie is as tight as the mummy, but yeah,
00:10:08
Speaker
are we supposed to really believe and, and maybe you chalk it up to the fact that the kid's distraught because he's trying to bring his mom back from the dead.
00:10:18
Speaker
Um, are we supposed to believe that Alex, after reading that whole goddamn book and seeing how smart he is throughout the entire movie, he can't remember the one symbol that his uncle Jonathan knows.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:33
Speaker
And, and this is one of the things I kind of alluded to earlier when you watch these back to back, um,
00:10:39
Speaker
the the three-way battle climax is cool like when there's like three different but you've got the magi on the outside fighting the uh the the you know supernatural army yeah no business army yeah you've got rick battling imhotep and and you've got evie battling an oxen and moon and knocks into moon you can't even pronounce all these things but then like the whole um
00:11:04
Speaker
like remembering the line, like they're in the middle of a battle and they're trying to yell out Egyptian translations to each other.
00:11:13
Speaker
They just did that in the first movie.
00:11:16
Speaker
Like we just watched that and they just redid the same gag.
00:11:20
Speaker
And it's funny, like it's well done, but we've just seen this.
00:11:26
Speaker
And I like, I never really kind of noticed that until this time.
00:11:30
Speaker
Cause we just watched the other one two weeks ago.
00:11:32
Speaker
Right.
00:11:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:35
Speaker
And again, those are things that are, again, don't make this movie as well-rounded as the first one.
00:11:44
Speaker
Not to say I haven't enjoyed it because I really did.
00:11:47
Speaker
And you mentioned it.
00:11:49
Speaker
And it, again, it is this cast.
00:11:53
Speaker
It is.
00:11:54
Speaker
It is the cast.
00:11:55
Speaker
They work well off each other.
00:11:57
Speaker
The addition.
00:11:58
Speaker
I don't know the actor's name who plays Alex.
00:12:01
Speaker
It's I don't know it off the top of my head, but he is very good.
00:12:05
Speaker
It is very believable that he is Rick and Evie's son.
00:12:10
Speaker
I do like his relationship with Jonathan.
00:12:12
Speaker
Like it does feel like a family dynamic.
00:12:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:16
Speaker
And he feels like that kid in the actor's name is Freddie both, by the way.
00:12:21
Speaker
Okay.
00:12:22
Speaker
Alex feels like he should be Rick and Evie's kid.
00:12:28
Speaker
100%.
00:12:28
Speaker
Like very well written, well cast and, and well directed because he's a young, very, very young kid in this to be able to pull off what he pulls off.
00:12:38
Speaker
You know, he's in quite a bit of peril at different points of this movie.
00:12:42
Speaker
And yet he's able to balance the,
00:12:45
Speaker
how scared a kid should be when you've got that scary guard with him all the time with, you know, still being resourceful, still getting, you can see the elements that he inherited from his mom.
00:12:57
Speaker
You can see the elements he inherited from his dad.
00:12:59
Speaker
It's really kind of like,
00:13:01
Speaker
you know, the boil down the best of the two of them together, the most interesting and unique aspects of the two of them together.
00:13:08
Speaker
And he still is able to pull that off.
00:13:10
Speaker
And sometimes with kids, that's hard to do.
00:13:12
Speaker
You know, you think about how much he was asked to do in this.
00:13:15
Speaker
Um, I, I just, I love that character.
00:13:17
Speaker
And, uh, you know, I, I think it was just incredibly well executed.
00:13:22
Speaker
Like I said, there's, there's so many challenging things for him to, to have to do.
00:13:28
Speaker
And it's, you know, it's, it's well done.
Villains and Memorable Moments
00:13:31
Speaker
Um, you kind of mentioned there's some things that we, we sort of, we, we love this movie, but we kind of go, eh, if this was a lesser movie, we, we dislike this.
00:13:40
Speaker
I, I love myself a good sword fight.
00:13:42
Speaker
I mean, there's, there's few things I love in movies more.
00:13:45
Speaker
I would rather watch a great sword fight than a, than a gun battle any day.
00:13:48
Speaker
I just, there's so much more interesting.
00:13:50
Speaker
There's so many more interesting things you can do.
00:13:52
Speaker
And this movie's got a pretty good one.
00:13:55
Speaker
But it's it only becomes a good sword fight because everybody involved in the sword fight agrees with like unspoken agrees to forget they have guns, too.
00:14:06
Speaker
Yep.
00:14:07
Speaker
And that kind of like those kinds of things bother me.
00:14:10
Speaker
It's like, OK, we can do that.
00:14:11
Speaker
But couldn't we have just like shot all of the ammo at first and you just see them tossing their guns to the side?
00:14:17
Speaker
Like those kind of things do tend to stand out to me and kind of bother me a little bit.
00:14:22
Speaker
The other thing I want to know, you know, we've watched a lot of Indiana Jones movies this year.
00:14:26
Speaker
We're watching The Mummy.
00:14:28
Speaker
And in all of these movies that involve ancient sealed tombs, there's always piles of snakes or scorpions.
00:14:35
Speaker
Why are they here?
00:14:37
Speaker
And what exactly have they been eating for the last two to three thousand years?
00:14:40
Speaker
Like, right.
00:14:41
Speaker
Why aren't they just dust?
00:14:42
Speaker
how are those still there?
00:14:43
Speaker
Like, I always want to know the answer to that.
00:14:45
Speaker
Like, it's a cool effect and it makes for this, you know, great creepy, gross out, like, you know, trap that the heroes have to get through when, when you see this kind of movie.
00:14:53
Speaker
But I always want to know, like, how are they, how are they surviving?
00:14:56
Speaker
Like, how is there even oxygen in some of these places?
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah, no, that is, that is interesting.
00:15:02
Speaker
Um, again, cool, like, you know, cool shot, everything like that.
00:15:08
Speaker
And I'll tell you the one other thing that I always have to, it just occurred to me watching this.
00:15:12
Speaker
Like we see kind of setups like this in a lot of movies, but it is a bit weird to me that these ancient priests would hate and fear someone so much that they would curse them for this life and the next, but also create a mechanism whereby they could be brought back to life.
00:15:29
Speaker
Right.
00:15:30
Speaker
And have world conquering level power all at the same time.
00:15:33
Speaker
It does feel a bit weird that they do both.
00:15:35
Speaker
It's like, all right, we're going to lock this door, but we're going to give you like the star man.
00:15:39
Speaker
When you get out somehow, if you do this one secret thing, this one secret way, if this one person reads this one word, boom, you're back.
00:15:49
Speaker
It does feel a bit weird.
00:15:51
Speaker
Yeah, no, it is.
00:15:52
Speaker
We mentioned that in the first movie, too.
00:15:54
Speaker
Like, you know, you sit there and it's like, okay, you just, you freaking kill him and you, like, why?
00:16:03
Speaker
Why would you do that?
00:16:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:06
Speaker
But you gave him a get out of jail free card.
00:16:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:09
Speaker
You had mentioned earlier how, you know, during that ending battle, you know, well, because we watch these movies back to back, we just saw that.
00:16:18
Speaker
But one thing that I do want to say, not about that scene, but I want to talk about the because we just watched the first one two weeks ago.
00:16:27
Speaker
Well, we just saw that what I actually really like about this movie and I appreciate it more now is
00:16:35
Speaker
after seeing the first one so close to the second one, because again, we had to wait a couple of years originally, is the simple fact of sometimes it is very tough to make it so that
00:16:51
Speaker
repeating the villain in the very next movie feels any different or has us caring at all.
00:17:00
Speaker
But there's just that.
00:17:01
Speaker
And you said character progression, and there's just something about,
00:17:07
Speaker
Emotep being the villain again, because, again, the Scorpion Kings in this movie for what?
00:17:14
Speaker
All of five minutes, six minutes, maybe maybe eight max.
00:17:19
Speaker
Realistically, at the beginning, he's he's got a little bit and he and they don't even really give him much to say.
00:17:25
Speaker
And what's interesting, if we get around to watching the actual Scorpion King movie,
00:17:29
Speaker
The number of lines of dialogue they give The Rock in that movie is almost nothing, which is probably for the best because this was really at the beginning of his film career where he was very limited with what he could feasibly pull off on camera outside of action scenes.
00:17:45
Speaker
And I certainly believe you can see a progression in him and he's a legitimate movie star now, but it didn't always start that way.
00:17:53
Speaker
Yeah, no.
00:17:54
Speaker
And I'm talking about simply, too, for his screen time of being the actual Scorpion King.
00:18:01
Speaker
Like that model of him is not in this movie long.
00:18:04
Speaker
So Imhotep is still the main villain, but he feels different.
00:18:10
Speaker
I still like him.
00:18:12
Speaker
You know, I like the sort of new look, the black robe with the mask.
00:18:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:18
Speaker
you know, it's a different take on it, but again, it's still the same scene where he raises the water up and chases the ship.
00:18:26
Speaker
Um, and it's his face in it too.
00:18:28
Speaker
Right.
00:18:28
Speaker
And it's his face in it.
00:18:29
Speaker
But again, um,
00:18:32
Speaker
it does feel different, not just because like, oh, it's water and not sand, but I'm still interested in Emotep.
00:18:41
Speaker
I'm still like, yeah, this is good.
00:18:43
Speaker
And, you know, talking about Alex and, you know, that actor that was given a lot in this movie, again, he does it where like, yeah, he's scared for certain things, but he's a smart ass with the guard.
00:18:55
Speaker
Are we there yet?
00:18:55
Speaker
Are we there yet?
00:18:56
Speaker
Are we there yet?
00:18:57
Speaker
I have to go to the bathroom.
00:18:58
Speaker
You know, when he's face to face with Emotep,
00:19:01
Speaker
You know, my dad is going to kick your ass.
00:19:04
Speaker
And I actually believe that.
00:19:06
Speaker
Like, I believe he would like, I believe he would say that.
00:19:09
Speaker
Like, and where you said, like, it's totally feasible that like that is Rick and Evie son.
00:19:15
Speaker
That's why that line works for me.
00:19:17
Speaker
It's because I'm like, yeah, you know what?
00:19:19
Speaker
I think this kid would say that to this guy.
00:19:22
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:19:23
Speaker
And if you're trying to place where the that red guard guy that was primarily falling, if you're trying to place him,
00:19:32
Speaker
The actor's first name is Adewale, and I'm not going to butcher his last name and disrespect him by not being able to pronounce it properly.
00:19:39
Speaker
But he's actually been in quite a few things.
00:19:43
Speaker
You might recognize him most recently as Killer Croc in Suicide Squad.
00:19:46
Speaker
If you're kind of like, man, that guy's got a very, very recognizable voice.
00:19:50
Speaker
I know I've seen him somewhere or heard that voice somewhere.
00:19:55
Speaker
That might be where you were hearing it most recently.
00:19:59
Speaker
You know, you were talking a little bit about just their their progression and the believability, especially of that family when their house is being attacked a little bit earlier than than the scene we were just talking about.
00:20:11
Speaker
One of the things I loved about this, Rick and Evie don't even need to speak the escape plan.
00:20:16
Speaker
He just hands her the pistol.
00:20:19
Speaker
They nod and proceed to kick ass.
00:20:21
Speaker
And that tells you that this is obviously not the first time they've done it.
00:20:25
Speaker
We've seen them kick ass together in the first movie.
00:20:27
Speaker
This is clearly not the second, third or fourth time that they found themselves in this kind of situation.
00:20:33
Speaker
And they just know what to do.
00:20:36
Speaker
And it's communicated that way so well together.
00:20:41
Speaker
And I just love seeing how that progression has happened.
00:20:45
Speaker
And when we get to the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, it just makes that movie just so much more sad when you see how that progression has moved into this.
00:20:56
Speaker
The bus scene that happens immediately after that.
00:20:59
Speaker
that has always been among my favorite action adventure set piece moments in movies.
00:21:06
Speaker
Like it's just, it's great.
00:21:09
Speaker
It's so memorable.
00:21:10
Speaker
And it's like, I knew it was one of my favorite scenes that I knew was coming and it happened and I still loved it.
00:21:17
Speaker
And I just, it's so much fun.
00:21:19
Speaker
Well, even because again, you have the setup before that and it's going back and watching these things.
00:21:27
Speaker
Number one, the setup of,
00:21:30
Speaker
uh, Evie, what are you doing, hon?
00:21:32
Speaker
These guys don't use doors.
00:21:34
Speaker
Like, that's pretty funny.
00:21:37
Speaker
And then that bus coming around the corner and like Jonathan and Alex arguing is actually funny at no point in time.
00:21:46
Speaker
And again, like in a lesser movie, you might stop and go, you idiot, shut up.
00:21:51
Speaker
Like you wouldn't be arguing, but like, I believe that this family dynamic with those two, they would, uh,
00:21:57
Speaker
take that time to be like, well, it's your fault.
00:22:00
Speaker
You broke the key.
00:22:01
Speaker
Like, I believe that would happen.
00:22:03
Speaker
And I love that bus scene.
00:22:05
Speaker
And, uh, you know, this is, it's not the first example.
00:22:10
Speaker
It's not the first example, but it's just another part in this movie where you sit there and go, man, Rick's a really good dad.
00:22:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:24
Speaker
Like he just, he takes off after, like he just takes off after Alex on foot.
00:22:31
Speaker
Um,
00:22:32
Speaker
to try and go after him.
00:22:34
Speaker
And, you know, when he picks him up and he's running with him to get to the temple, because the legend is that if he doesn't reach the pyramid by the seventh day, like, you know, Alex will, the bracelet will like suck the life out of him.
00:22:49
Speaker
And he picks him up and he's running with him and he jumps in.
00:22:52
Speaker
He's like, you know, being a dad's not easy.
00:22:55
Speaker
And Alex is like, but you're really good at it.
00:22:57
Speaker
Again, that's like a really, really wholesome moment.
00:23:00
Speaker
And I'm like, oh, you two are,
00:23:02
Speaker
You two are cute.
00:23:03
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:23:06
Speaker
Yeah, 100%.
00:23:06
Speaker
And, you know, we were talking about how much Rick and Evie work and you believe their progression as husband and wife.
00:23:12
Speaker
You also 100% believe them as a mother and father to this boy.
00:23:18
Speaker
And you believe Alex's character is their child and has those same reciprocated feelings to his parents.
00:23:26
Speaker
Like that whole family dynamic.
00:23:28
Speaker
And actually, I'll include Jonathan in there as well.
00:23:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:31
Speaker
The only part of that foursome dynamic that I think doesn't work at all is towards the end of the movie when Evie is killed before she's resurrected.
00:23:42
Speaker
You know, Jonathan, as her brother, really doesn't seem all that distraught.
00:23:50
Speaker
Like he is trying to comfort Alex, but I felt kind of like even as like kind of his morals at times are a bit dodgy, let's say, you know, at best.
00:24:02
Speaker
But even still, I just kind of felt like, I don't know, dude, I think you should be a little more worked up than you are right now.
00:24:09
Speaker
That's the only complaint that I have in terms of that.
00:24:12
Speaker
Everything else about the four of them and their dynamic and the ebb and the flow of how they work together and fit together and everything is believable and effective and works is flawless.
00:24:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:25
Speaker
And I think, too, that stands out with Jonathan in that scene, because, you know, when that happens, and that was certainly surprising to me when I first saw this movie, I was like, like, whoa, no way.
00:24:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:38
Speaker
But I think why Jonathan stands out a little bit more as well is because, you know, when that happens and Rick sees it and he runs out there and he's like, Evie, Evie, but he's also sitting there.
00:24:49
Speaker
And again, this is why I like Rick so much in these movies.
00:24:52
Speaker
And Brendan Fraser's performance is so good.
00:24:55
Speaker
Um, he says the line, he's like, what do I do?
00:24:58
Speaker
What do I do?
00:24:59
Speaker
And I'm interpreting that.
00:25:01
Speaker
And maybe I'm wrong here.
00:25:04
Speaker
But he still knows that there's this thing behind him.
00:25:08
Speaker
Like, Imhotep is in the temple.
00:25:10
Speaker
He needs to get into the pyramids.
00:25:13
Speaker
Like, there's still this danger lurking where if Imhotep gets in there and takes over the Scorpion King's army, it's over.
00:25:22
Speaker
But, you know, his duty as a husband and him asking her, like, what do I do?
00:25:27
Speaker
Because he's like...
00:25:30
Speaker
He's like torn right there.
00:25:32
Speaker
His duty is to his wife, but he also understands that I got to stop this guy.
00:25:39
Speaker
There's a lot of ways you could interpret him saying, what do I do?
00:25:43
Speaker
Immediately, I took it to have multiple, multiple meanings, kind of what you're talking about.
00:25:47
Speaker
What do I do as in, how do I save you?
00:25:50
Speaker
How do I apply pressure to stop bleeding or bandage?
00:25:55
Speaker
Or is there a medicinal plant nearby I can give you?
00:25:58
Speaker
What do I do?
00:26:00
Speaker
Or what do I do as in
00:26:04
Speaker
realizing that this is possibly fatal.
00:26:06
Speaker
What do I do now with life and raising our son?
00:26:11
Speaker
And what do I do as in how do I defeat the big bad that is literally in the pyramid behind me?
00:26:15
Speaker
You know, there's there's all of those layers of subtext.
00:26:19
Speaker
And you wouldn't expect to find that in this style of movie.
00:26:26
Speaker
Right.
00:26:27
Speaker
And yet here it is.
00:26:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:29
Speaker
And I think that was a really good, you know, I think that was a really good scene.
00:26:34
Speaker
I also think he shows really good range and emotion when he actually goes in to fight Emotep.
00:26:43
Speaker
And, you know, he's he's obviously angry.
00:26:46
Speaker
He's a little bit more aggressive fighting Emotep.
00:26:51
Speaker
And I even love the little acknowledgement at the end when.
00:26:58
Speaker
you know, Evie runs to save Rick.
00:27:02
Speaker
And he's like, don't like, like don't Evie.
00:27:05
Speaker
And she's like, she runs because they're both hanging over the edge.
00:27:08
Speaker
And, you know, a knocks on the moon actually leaves emo tap.
00:27:12
Speaker
And just that, you know, that acknowledgement of.
Action and Family Dynamics
00:27:16
Speaker
Okay.
00:27:17
Speaker
Like,
00:27:19
Speaker
you know, you guys have what, what I wanted or what I once had and not all's for, you know, not all's forgiven, but it was just, it was cool.
00:27:27
Speaker
It was, I thought it was a good moment.
00:27:29
Speaker
I liked that actually a lot.
00:27:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:33
Speaker
Um, I, I think it was very telling, you know, who's, whose relationship matters more to each other.
00:27:39
Speaker
You know, one, one person was willing to, you know, kill lots of people and raise and perform these rituals to raise a guy from the dead.
00:27:46
Speaker
And, um,
00:27:48
Speaker
By the way, can we talk about how cool the costuming detail was on Anox and Amun's reincarnated character where it's kind of got the opening in the sleeves where it sort of mirrors the paint from the first movie?
00:28:02
Speaker
That was such a cool detail to me and a nice callback that I don't know if you would necessarily notice it or catch it if you hadn't seen it somewhat recently or just watch these movies with frequency.
00:28:14
Speaker
But I definitely picked it up this time, and I'm not sure I'd ever really caught that before.
00:28:17
Speaker
But I was like, wow, that's a really cool kind of throwback and a little, I wouldn't even call it an Easter egg, but just it was a really cool choice that I'm glad they did.
00:28:26
Speaker
There's a scene a little bit earlier where, and again, I don't love the idea of the reincarnated destinies kind of pulling them all together, but...
00:28:35
Speaker
It does give you the opportunity to see Evie as Nefertiri, I think is how it's pronounced.
00:28:42
Speaker
I'm probably butchering it and I apologize.
00:28:45
Speaker
You know, with this fight with, you know, Egyptian equivalent of a Psy against a Noxun and a Moon.
00:28:52
Speaker
And there are parts of this throne room fight scene that suck.
00:28:57
Speaker
And they're not as bad as the last Jedi throne room fight scene, but it's not great all the time.
00:29:03
Speaker
There are some obvious missed hits.
00:29:06
Speaker
There's some real clunkiness and some slow parts where, you know, you should have used the stunt doubles.
00:29:12
Speaker
They actually know how to fight.
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:14
Speaker
When they have to have the name actor have their face visible, that's when it noticeably slows way down.
00:29:22
Speaker
Prior to that, they're doing cartwheels and roundoffs and backflips and standing tucks and everything like that and have all this agility.
00:29:30
Speaker
And then as soon as the masks come up, it's much clunkier.
00:29:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:36
Speaker
i i hate it when they do that just pull the camera back let us let us see just real fighters kick ass a little bit and leave the masks down so we don't have to pretend that it's not the actors yeah um no i i totally agree and you know quick little side side tour here but not a lot of new characters um
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:59
Speaker
In this movie, there's the British create creator or however you say that curator who I don't really care for.
00:30:07
Speaker
I don't really care.
00:30:12
Speaker
I, you know, whatever.
00:30:13
Speaker
But I'll tell you what.
00:30:15
Speaker
One character I did love who's new was Izzy.
00:30:20
Speaker
And I thought he was funny.
00:30:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:23
Speaker
the magic carpet.
00:30:24
Speaker
I thought that boat, you know, that, that hot air balloon slash ship was really cool.
00:30:30
Speaker
I also just, you know, you can tell that, and they talk about it, but you know, I sit there and based on their small interaction and how they are like, Oh man, I would have actually liked to see some of these adventures with Rick and Izzy.
00:30:44
Speaker
Um, yeah,
00:30:45
Speaker
They make, I'm like, that would have been cool to see.
00:30:48
Speaker
But he's fun.
00:30:49
Speaker
You know, he's funny.
00:30:50
Speaker
Unless you want to do it your way.
00:30:52
Speaker
Guns blazing, running in, getting your friend shot in the ass.
00:30:54
Speaker
Like, you know, he's another funny part of this movie.
00:30:59
Speaker
He was a really good addition.
00:31:01
Speaker
And
00:31:02
Speaker
Again, it's it's stupid.
00:31:03
Speaker
It really is.
00:31:04
Speaker
It's stupid, childish dialogue.
00:31:06
Speaker
But he is like, you give me that shiny stick thing.
00:31:08
Speaker
You can, you know, shave my head, wax me down and use me as a surfboard.
00:31:12
Speaker
And Rick's like, haven't we done that already?
00:31:15
Speaker
Again, that's like really childish.
00:31:17
Speaker
But again, they play it so well.
00:31:19
Speaker
And this cast works so great off each other that that's actually funny.
00:31:23
Speaker
It's a really childish line.
00:31:26
Speaker
But it's funny.
00:31:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:28
Speaker
It is funny.
00:31:28
Speaker
And, you know, something you just kind of mentioned really got me thinking, like, there's really not that many new characters in this movie.
00:31:36
Speaker
And think about when you when you go to a sequel, how often, you know, either people don't want to come back or you killed somebody off or whatever the case is.
00:31:45
Speaker
I mean, you've got you're saying big bad.
00:31:48
Speaker
from the first movie.
00:31:49
Speaker
You've got a lot of the original cast.
00:31:52
Speaker
There's not that many characters in this.
00:31:55
Speaker
And I don't consider the extra magi or the extra people that are with the curator.
00:32:01
Speaker
I don't consider those honestly new characters because they're not... They're background.
00:32:09
Speaker
I don't consider them actual characters.
00:32:12
Speaker
There's a focus on them.
00:32:15
Speaker
They're just part of...
00:32:18
Speaker
a bigger picture, but they're a very small part of that picture.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah.
New Characters and Series Potential
00:32:24
Speaker
And the fact that nothing, you really didn't have to add that many new characters to this and it still works.
00:32:30
Speaker
We're still seeing kind of the same characters, even though they've progressed together on another adventure to stop the same big bad.
00:32:39
Speaker
It's like,
00:32:41
Speaker
it's really interesting that this works as well as it does.
00:32:44
Speaker
Um, it's not something I'd ever really thought that much about before we kind of started talking about it tonight.
00:32:51
Speaker
Um, and, and largely like, you know, it's still ancient Egypt, which it had kind of has to be with the movie called the mummy.
00:32:56
Speaker
But you think about all the ways that they could have said, okay, audiences like the first one.
00:33:01
Speaker
So we're going to give them a sequel, but we've got to change it in some way.
00:33:04
Speaker
So we're not giving them just the exact same thing.
00:33:07
Speaker
And they kind of gave us the same thing, but it's still, but it doesn't feel like the same thing.
00:33:13
Speaker
And I don't know how to describe it any better than that.
00:33:16
Speaker
Yeah, I don't really think we have to describe it, you know, really any better than that.
00:33:22
Speaker
And, you know, one thing that I thought about when I was watching this movie and I was getting ready to talk to you is, you know, all of their relationship and them having a kid.
00:33:38
Speaker
is just told to us.
00:33:42
Speaker
We don't actually see it.
00:33:44
Speaker
You know, we don't see any flashbacks of, you know, them having Christmas together or anything like that.
00:33:51
Speaker
It's just, Hey, these guys have had a kid.
00:33:54
Speaker
They've had some more adventures.
00:33:56
Speaker
They've, um, you know, gone some on some exploring, everything like that.
00:34:04
Speaker
And, um,
00:34:05
Speaker
it works so well and you believe it.
00:34:09
Speaker
And it made me think about the fact of going from the Phantom Menace to Attack of the Clones, which, you know, we talked about that movie at length in one of our other reviews.
00:34:25
Speaker
But you don't believe any.
00:34:30
Speaker
That's one of the reasons why I don't think it worked.
00:34:32
Speaker
And I mean, they're not together a lot, but
00:34:35
Speaker
I don't believe any of Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship.
00:34:39
Speaker
Now, I know those prequels have, you know, over time been reviewed in a much better light.
00:34:46
Speaker
We certainly saw that when Hayden Christensen came back that, you know, the crowd absolutely adored him and wanted him back.
00:34:52
Speaker
And that's great.
00:34:54
Speaker
But it's never going to change my opinion of those movies.
00:34:58
Speaker
And the fact that all of their relationship we were supposed to know, and certainly the Clone Wars TV show filled it in, we were supposed to believe their relationship grew and blossomed without seeing any of it.
00:35:15
Speaker
You don't see any of their relationship blossom, really, at all.
00:35:19
Speaker
And it doesn't work in that.
00:35:20
Speaker
But it works so well here.
00:35:24
Speaker
I think what that really speaks to is just the, the chemistry between actors and giving, and I think good direction and good shot selection to giving them the opportunity where things seem like a pattern.
00:35:39
Speaker
Things seem like they've been through this.
00:35:42
Speaker
Like there, there's a familiarity between the two of them that is obvious and present.
00:35:49
Speaker
And it's, uh, you know, it's, it's good casting too.
00:35:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:54
Speaker
I think it's, again, it is great casting.
00:35:57
Speaker
And I think that's, you know, when we get to Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, I always wonder, would the exact same movie simply be better without the casting change?
00:36:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:19
Speaker
It's one of the great what ifs.
00:36:22
Speaker
Like, I've just, I've always, I've always wondered that because it was even before seeing the movie, you know, I remember even back then, because I've always just kind of, I've always had this thought process about movies, you know, as well before I decided to, you know, start recording on my phone three years ago and like, oh, maybe I'll just put some thoughts down because I'm at home because of freaking COVID and everything shut down.
00:36:51
Speaker
Um, I always looked at movies in that way as just, you know, and obviously Rob, you have too, but yeah, when, yeah, when that announcement was made, my thought was like, I don't know.
00:37:03
Speaker
I don't want to see anybody else in that role.
00:37:06
Speaker
And, and certainly that's been proven wrong before, you know, um, okay.
00:37:10
Speaker
It was recast.
00:37:11
Speaker
I mean, you know, I, I certainly think they got it right with Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner.
00:37:17
Speaker
I do think he was better.
00:37:20
Speaker
than Edward Norton.
00:37:21
Speaker
I, I actually like that first Hulk movie, but I do think Mark Ruffalo was the right choice.
00:37:27
Speaker
Um, particularly for the direction they took the character to.
00:37:32
Speaker
Right.
00:37:32
Speaker
Exactly.
00:37:33
Speaker
Um, you know, I still have never, and this was something we talked about.
00:37:38
Speaker
I, I certainly am not a fan really overall of, of Don Cheadle as, as Rhodey.
00:37:46
Speaker
Um,
00:37:48
Speaker
But there's not a lot of great track record of it working.
00:37:53
Speaker
But there certainly has been hits.
00:37:56
Speaker
But it didn't work for Tomb of the Dragon
Franchise Comparisons and Longevity
00:38:00
Speaker
Emperor.
00:38:00
Speaker
Unless when we...
00:38:02
Speaker
rewatch it.
00:38:02
Speaker
We're like, whoa, wait a minute.
00:38:04
Speaker
Like what were we like?
00:38:06
Speaker
What were we watching?
00:38:07
Speaker
And that kind of leads to some other what if.
00:38:09
Speaker
So what if she was in it?
00:38:12
Speaker
What would it have made the movie work?
00:38:14
Speaker
OK, so let's say it did.
00:38:16
Speaker
Let's say the movie works.
00:38:18
Speaker
Let's say they don't have to write around something.
00:38:19
Speaker
They can really focus more on the things that did work because she's there.
00:38:23
Speaker
and you have the ability to make that work.
00:38:26
Speaker
So is the movie received better?
00:38:28
Speaker
Does it continue on?
00:38:30
Speaker
Are we talking about the mummy 10?
00:38:32
Speaker
Right.
00:38:34
Speaker
Are we talking about, you know, Brendan Frazier stays more in the public eye?
00:38:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:42
Speaker
It's a lot of what ifs.
00:38:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:44
Speaker
There's a lot of what ifs with that, but, um,
00:38:47
Speaker
you know, it, it never happened.
00:38:49
Speaker
I still was surprised though.
00:38:51
Speaker
I mean, it still made money.
00:38:54
Speaker
Uh, I was always surprised that they did, you know, it never got another one.
00:39:00
Speaker
Um, certainly cause it was profitable and we've seen other movies that just, but also to Brendan Fraser kind of dropped out and, you know, um,
00:39:12
Speaker
really of kind of the Hollywood setting.
00:39:14
Speaker
So I'm sure, you know, obviously, because I do think I heard that there were talks about like continuing it without him before Tom Cruise, like before they even did the Tom Cruise one that there were talks of doing something still in this universe where they were going to continue.
00:39:33
Speaker
Now, maybe that was the Scorpion King and then the rock, you know, decided, no, I'm not doing it or whatever the case may be.
00:39:41
Speaker
And they brought in Randy Couture instead.
00:39:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:44
Speaker
You know, this is, you know, this is one of those series where it's like, yeah.
00:39:49
Speaker
Um, I, I could have seen it still getting some more miles.
00:39:52
Speaker
Um,
00:39:53
Speaker
But I mean, listen, there's definitely worse films than the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in things like the Fast and the Furious franchise that continues to pump out sequels.
00:40:03
Speaker
There's definitely worse entries in Transformers and they keep making those movies.
00:40:07
Speaker
So, you know, anything's possible.
00:40:10
Speaker
But if I said to you, hey, there's a there's a teaser trailer getting launched tomorrow for the mummy four and they're all back.
00:40:19
Speaker
How fast do you buy tickets?
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah, I'm on it.
00:40:22
Speaker
I'm on it immediately.
00:40:26
Speaker
So that'd be cool.
00:40:27
Speaker
But, you know, Rob, any, you know, any other topics that, you know, you want to talk about with the mummy returns?
00:40:34
Speaker
You know, there was you kind of mentioned the character of Izzy.
00:40:38
Speaker
That character, as kind of the comic relief, could have been written a lot of different ways and had him be less effective.
00:40:45
Speaker
I kind of feel very similar to the little pygmy zombies they run into in the jungle.
00:40:50
Speaker
And I feel like those little little things are just the right blend of funny, lethal things.
00:40:56
Speaker
you know, and a serious threat all at the same time.
00:41:00
Speaker
They're not overpowered, but they're also not cannon fodder in a way that it doesn't feel like their difficulty tier gets ramped up depending on if they're fighting heroes or red shirts.
00:41:13
Speaker
You know, like it feels like their abilities kind of in their
00:41:17
Speaker
you know, lethality kind of stays consistent.
00:41:21
Speaker
Overall, I think it's a really cool enemy they created specifically for this film to kind of just make something different from the first one.
00:41:28
Speaker
And it really did stand out to me.
00:41:29
Speaker
I'd kind of forgotten about that altogether until I saw it.
00:41:31
Speaker
And I liked that.
00:41:33
Speaker
I thought it was well done.
00:41:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:34
Speaker
I thought that was well done too.
00:41:37
Speaker
We talked about it briefly in the beginning, but certainly, you know, this, this movie, it,
00:41:45
Speaker
starts to end with a really bad shot of that pyramid being sucked in because again, it's just a really crazy example of just, whoo boy CGI at the time.
00:42:01
Speaker
But again, it just, it really did like this movie left me wanting more and what more,
00:42:12
Speaker
Like, what more could you ask for than, boy, I would love to see another one.
00:42:16
Speaker
Now, again, we're going to find out whether or not that is, has, you know, has changed because certainly we got more.
00:42:25
Speaker
And for the most part, people are like, oh, never mind.
00:42:28
Speaker
I wish we would have stopped at two.
00:42:31
Speaker
But it'll be interesting to see.
00:42:37
Speaker
we're going to go with the Scorpion King next, and we're going to go in order of how these were released.
00:42:42
Speaker
But, you know, Rob, if you don't have any other thoughts
Final Ratings and Reflections
00:42:47
Speaker
on this, you ready to grab some popcorn, or do you have any more?
00:42:51
Speaker
Let's read for some popcorn.
00:42:53
Speaker
All right.
00:42:53
Speaker
Well, with popcorn time, just a quick refresher and a recap of the overall movie, and then how many buckets we're going to give this a popcorn.
00:43:03
Speaker
And
00:43:04
Speaker
You know, I gave, we both did.
00:43:07
Speaker
We gave the mummy five full buckets.
00:43:09
Speaker
It was fun.
00:43:10
Speaker
You know, we said, yeah, it's certainly not a perfect movie, but I just have a good time.
00:43:15
Speaker
I'm connected to the characters and sometimes that's all I need.
00:43:19
Speaker
I don't always need Shakespeare.
00:43:23
Speaker
I don't always need something that's like it stops and makes me think about life or makes me grip the edge of my seat.
00:43:31
Speaker
Um, yeah.
00:43:32
Speaker
you know, makes me shed a tear or makes me hate somebody.
00:43:36
Speaker
Sometimes I just need to have some good, wholesome fun.
00:43:39
Speaker
And that was the first movie.
00:43:41
Speaker
And that's the second movie as well.
00:43:43
Speaker
I have some good, wholesome fun.
00:43:45
Speaker
There's, you know, there's a great score.
00:43:48
Speaker
There is a great, great cast.
00:43:51
Speaker
And I cannot state that enough.
00:43:53
Speaker
This is between these first two movies, a,
00:43:58
Speaker
hugely, hugely well put together cast who plays off of each other so well.
00:44:06
Speaker
And with all the movies that we've watched, it really is a cast that you go, wow, I put this up there with their, with their dynamic and,
00:44:16
Speaker
And their ability to work with each other and feed off of each other up there with a lot of movies that I've seen that I would consider, you know, overall technical, better movies than this.
00:44:27
Speaker
But man, this cast just it makes you root for them.
00:44:32
Speaker
It makes you cheer for them.
00:44:35
Speaker
You know, it makes you worried about their safety, so to speak.
00:44:39
Speaker
And I just I want to stress that one last time.
00:44:44
Speaker
But there are a few more errors in this one.
00:44:45
Speaker
So I can't give this one a five, even though I really, really enjoy this movie.
00:44:51
Speaker
I do have to give this four and a half.
00:44:53
Speaker
I have to take off a half a bucket for, you know, some of those things that I talked about in the beginning, some really bad CGI, some less than stellar actual camera shots compared to the first movie.
00:45:07
Speaker
But again, this was something that was incredibly enjoyable and
00:45:11
Speaker
As much fun as I remember having with it.
00:45:14
Speaker
And no new complaints, really.
00:45:18
Speaker
Everything that I thought about this movie over the years that I've watched it multiple times, it's still the same little problems I have with it, but I don't find anything new.
00:45:29
Speaker
And sometimes with going back and watching these movies, again, you sit there and go,
00:45:34
Speaker
oh, well, back then I didn't look at things the same or, you know, well, this was acceptable back then, but maybe it feels a little weird seeing this movie now just on how, you know, the world has changed or maybe my thought process has changed.
00:45:49
Speaker
But for everything that I remember great about this movie, it's still there.
00:45:54
Speaker
And for the small errors that are in this movie, those are still there.
00:46:00
Speaker
But there's nothing else that has come up and went, oh, wow.
00:46:04
Speaker
Yeah, I don't remember this, but this is bad.
00:46:07
Speaker
So again, four and a half buckets.
00:46:10
Speaker
Yeah, there's something to that idea of just the way that a movie can just sort of percolate a little differently over time.
00:46:18
Speaker
You know, I think the two great examples that we come back to are the second Matrix film.
00:46:23
Speaker
and Watchmen, you know, not regarded well initially.
00:46:27
Speaker
And then we kind of came back to it years later when, you know what, after you remove that initial sort of like just initial feeling, and then you just look at it with fresh eyes and you can see it for what it actually truly is.
00:46:39
Speaker
Do you still feel that way or not?
00:46:40
Speaker
And we had, we came away from that with different opinions.
00:46:43
Speaker
And I think that,
00:46:47
Speaker
To say that the CG in this movie hasn't held up well over time, I think isn't really even accurate because at the time it was made fun of.
00:46:55
Speaker
It was never like, oh my God, The Rock as a scorpion running around looking so plastic that there's a little Swedish girl in braid sailing to The Rock's house right now to protest him.
00:47:07
Speaker
There was never a time where that looked good.
00:47:10
Speaker
Everybody always laughed at it and thought it was stupid.
00:47:12
Speaker
So it's not like it's...
00:47:14
Speaker
it's gotten worse over time.
00:47:15
Speaker
You know, I think those, those things are all kind of still there.
00:47:20
Speaker
So I, you know, we, we kind of, when we, when we assign our ratings, it's, it's based on how we feel about it in that moment in time.
00:47:28
Speaker
And if I were to have just watched this movie on its own, having not seen the first one within the last two weeks, I probably give it a five.
00:47:39
Speaker
you know, the little problems are there.
00:47:41
Speaker
I hate the tattoo thing.
00:47:42
Speaker
I hate the retconning.
00:47:43
Speaker
I just, I hate that.
00:47:44
Speaker
I don't think it's necessary, but it's still an incredibly fun movie.
00:47:49
Speaker
But given the fact that as I sit here today, as we sit and record this, I have just seen the first one.
00:47:54
Speaker
And the first one is a better version of this movie.
00:47:59
Speaker
The first one is a five.
00:48:00
Speaker
This one is a four and three quarters.
00:48:02
Speaker
I'd love to give it a five.
00:48:03
Speaker
I really wanted to give it a five.
00:48:06
Speaker
but I can't.
00:48:08
Speaker
I simply can't.
00:48:09
Speaker
So it's four and three quarters for me, and I kind of feel bad even saying it that low, because this is a movie I enjoy quite a bit, but there's definitely some technical
Conclusion and Audience Engagement
00:48:19
Speaker
issues.
00:48:19
Speaker
There's definitely some story issues.
00:48:21
Speaker
There's no casting issues.
00:48:23
Speaker
There's no performance issues, really.
00:48:26
Speaker
Yeah, 100% agree with all of that statement.
00:48:29
Speaker
It was a blast to come back to this series, and
00:48:35
Speaker
you know, more so than tomb of the dragon emperor.
00:48:40
Speaker
I am very interested.
00:48:43
Speaker
This is one of those ones where I'm like, yeah, I'm interested to go back to the scorpion King because I think that's one of those movies that if I really sit there and think about it, I believe I've only seen that movie twice.
00:48:58
Speaker
I've seen it once in my lifetime dragon emperor once.
00:49:02
Speaker
So I am kind of, I not enough to really feel like I remember anything about it.
00:49:06
Speaker
So I am actually looking forward to rewatching both of them.
00:49:09
Speaker
Uh, cause it's been well over 15 years, I think.
00:49:15
Speaker
It's been, I don't know if it's been that long for me, but it's been a very, very long time.
00:49:20
Speaker
Um,
00:49:21
Speaker
Yeah, I don't remember a lot about the Scorpion King.
00:49:23
Speaker
Now, maybe when I watch it again, I'll be like, oh, yeah, I actually do remember much more of this than I thought.
00:49:30
Speaker
But I'm going to be extremely interested to rewatch the Scorpion King.
00:49:35
Speaker
And then we'll move on to Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and see, you know, maybe they're a little bit better than we remember them.
00:49:42
Speaker
Yeah, I certainly don't remember hating the Scorpion King.
00:49:45
Speaker
I just remember going, all right, it happened.
00:49:48
Speaker
Like, OK, I saw it.
00:49:51
Speaker
Don't love it.
00:49:52
Speaker
Don't hate it.
00:49:53
Speaker
It's a thing.
00:49:54
Speaker
I did it.
00:49:54
Speaker
It happened.
00:49:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:56
Speaker
And maybe that will still be the same thing.
00:49:59
Speaker
And, you know, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, I remember going, yeah, I didn't like that.
00:50:03
Speaker
This is a bad movie.
00:50:05
Speaker
Maybe that opinion will change.
00:50:07
Speaker
Maybe I'll say it's, well, no, this isn't a bad movie.
00:50:10
Speaker
This is a terrible movie.
00:50:12
Speaker
Maybe I'll say, eh.
00:50:14
Speaker
it happened it's it's not what i wanted but it's not terrible it's not actually terrible um maybe i'll be like wow it's actually really good um so i'll be interested to see where we where we land on those two yeah it'll be good to kind of go back and uh um
00:50:36
Speaker
Have an excuse to watch that's one of my favorite things about the show is is there's so many things that I haven't seen in so long and I'm so glad we're finally doing this again we had talked about this on again off again.
00:50:48
Speaker
For a long time.
00:50:51
Speaker
And it's one of the, it's probably the film series we've talked about the most that we haven't just gotten to do.
00:50:55
Speaker
So listeners, we appreciate you coming along the journey with us.
00:51:00
Speaker
And if you would like to send us your thoughts, you can do that.
00:51:04
Speaker
And if you would like to know how to do that, well, just listen in gentle listener.
00:51:07
Speaker
I will tell you exactly.
00:51:09
Speaker
how you can get in contact with Matt goes to the movies.
00:51:12
Speaker
You can send an email, MG TTM podcast at gmail.com.
00:51:17
Speaker
Simply the initials for Matt goes to the movies podcast at gmail.com.
00:51:21
Speaker
Send us your thoughts on this series.
00:51:23
Speaker
If you've actually watched any of the spinoff, um,
00:51:27
Speaker
sequels to the Scorpion King, the aforementioned Scorpion King 2 with Randy Couture that I've seen once.
00:51:34
Speaker
I got it at a Blockbuster.
00:51:35
Speaker
You remember when Blockbuster was a thing?
00:51:37
Speaker
I rented this movie from a Blockbuster and watched it on purpose and regretted that decision immensely.
00:51:45
Speaker
But if you've seen those and any of the sequels to that one, send us an email and let us know exactly how terrible they are.
00:51:51
Speaker
We would love to hear from you.
00:51:52
Speaker
Make sure you check out the show on all of the social media places where you like to be.
00:51:58
Speaker
You can find Matt goes to the movies on all of the big ones.
00:52:00
Speaker
And if you are an international listener, we definitely want to hear from you.
00:52:04
Speaker
If you're listening to this in Peru right now.
00:52:06
Speaker
Yeah, we see you.
00:52:07
Speaker
We know you're there.
00:52:08
Speaker
Go ahead.
00:52:09
Speaker
Email the show.
00:52:10
Speaker
Tell us what your thoughts are.
00:52:12
Speaker
Yeah, and again, this is why I have you say it, because I couldn't say it any better.
00:52:20
Speaker
Listeners, stay subscribed to the show, because not only do we have the wrap-up of the Mummy series, but there's going to be the second annual...
00:52:29
Speaker
year-end review show coming up very soon.
00:52:33
Speaker
Cannot wait to do that.
00:52:34
Speaker
That was a fantastic show last year to get to do.
00:52:38
Speaker
And I can't wait to kind of really go back and look at this year.
00:52:43
Speaker
It's going to be the end of the year before you know it.
00:52:45
Speaker
Really looking forward to the end of the year show.
00:52:47
Speaker
Really looking forward to kind of having to think for myself, like what actually even came out this year?
00:52:53
Speaker
And then as we start thinking about what we're most excited about for next year,
00:52:57
Speaker
I've got some things that might surprise people that I'm going to have on my list of things I am most excited about.
00:53:02
Speaker
So listeners stay subscribed to the show.
00:53:04
Speaker
You should do that.
00:53:05
Speaker
You should definitely do that.
00:53:06
Speaker
And that way you won't miss a single episode.
00:53:09
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:53:11
Speaker
Listeners.
00:53:11
Speaker
Thank you so much for tuning in for this episode and every episode before and after this one, Rob, thanks for joining us.
00:53:22
Speaker
And we are going to see you very soon here at Matt goes to the movies.