The Mummy: The Last Great Hurrah of 90s Action

The 90s were an exquisite era for action films, taking over the campy, muscle-bound men of the 80s and making way for a rise of scrappier action leads, more varied set-ups, and a return to old-school swashbuckling popcorn flicks. The 90s had films like Speed, The Mask of Zorro, The Matrix, Face/Off, Men in Black, Con Air, Air Force One, Total Recall, The Fugitive, Point Break, Terminator 2, Hard Boiled, True Lies, Desperado, Goldeneye, Heat, Independence Day, and Mission Impossible. Not only was there a fresh new wave of action experiences, some of these included the macho men of the 80s in uncharted territory: from the shake-up in premises like Demolition Man and Total Recall, adding more dystopian and sci-fi elements, to having our leads run and gun against baddies. Even action vets of the Hong Kong action scene like Jackie Chan and Jet Li put in some of their best work with Drunken Master II and Once Upon a Time in China. While this spirit and vibe of action films has never fully left or become unpopular, when the 2000s hit, this spirit vanished from most movies. There is a lot to unpack, but let’s do that with one of the last great action films of the 90s: The Mummy. 

This iteration of the Universal horror IP is directed and written by Stephen Sommers, known for films like Deep Rising, Van Helsing, The Adventures of Huck Finn, and the 1994 adaptation of The Jungle Book. We follow Rick O’Connell, played by Brendan Fraser, as he is hired by Evelyn Carnahan, played by Rachel Weisz, to return to the infamous City of the Dead in Egypt. After Evelyn’s brother, Jonathan, played by John Hannah, shows her a special map and artifact that could lead to the wonders and treasures in the long-lost location, the three venture out to find the city. Once they do, they accidentally unleash the horrors of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a mummified priest from the past. Imhotep’s main goal is to come back to life with his powers and to bring back the love of his life to the land of the living. What this all boils down to is a ton of action, wonder, romance, comedy, and an array of memorable characters and action sequences. 

There is a reason why I consider The Mummy to be the last hurrah for 90s action. For those curious, it’s not just because it came out in 1999. When we entered the 2000s, and obviously after the events of September 11th, 2001, action films took a less whimsical and high-energy approach to action. We went from stuff like Speed and The Mask of Zorro to more films in the vein of The Bourne Identity. Instead of lovable scrappy leads, we got more dour leads with dead serious vibes and drab gray tones. Not to say that they didn’t try to continue making swashbuckling adventure films, but they either kept getting worse, or folks weren’t interested in them. Even franchises like Mission: Impossible went from the over-the-top action setpieces of the first two films to a third film that was more serious in tone. The magic of 90s action left Hollywood, and while there have been plenty of attempts to bring back these fun swashbuckling adventure films. like Disney’s John Carter, Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, they either weren’t good or folks simply didn’t go see them. It doesn’t help that nowadays, studios put most of their fun and lighter ideas into superhero/comic book movies and call it a day. 

This isn’t to say that there aren’t some aspects that filmgoers would have an issue with if they were made today. Since The Mummy is a throwback to the old 50s adventure movies, there are aspects that they keep, for better or for worse. If you are one of those folks who find watching the old adventure movies troubling due to the cultural elements of American or British leads venturing into “exotic” and “mysterious” worlds where they are the saviors, you will find that this film repeats a lot of those story tropes. Sure, it isn’t as wildly offensive and cringe-inducing as some of the worst examples of exoticism seen in other adventure films, but I can understand why we no longer try to do these types of films without updating the tropes that come with them. They probably wouldn’t be making this one with white leads, or at the very least, they would try to tone down the portrayal of folks from Egypt. Even though this film isn’t taking itself seriously and is very campy, the vibe might turn some people off. That baggage is why, while I would put it in my top 10 action films of the ’90s, it would be at the number 10 spot. While some people can and do overlook these issues, it’s important to talk about cultural representation in these movies, because even if you wanted to overlook some of the light stereotyping, the scene where the leads have to avoid mind-controlled citizens covered in boils can be a bit much. The film’s overall intent of being an over-the-top action flick doesn’t excuse the issues at hand. To be clear, a lot of this film is not trying to be mean-spirited, and in a few moments, like the acid trap sequence, they paint the white men as fairly cruel individuals. 

Even if it might have aged particularly poorly since some films from this decade are showing their messiness on display, there is also a reason why people still love this movie. It’s that 90s action recipe of earnest filmmaking, likable leads, and a delightfully fun spirit of adventure and popcorn flick style experiences running through the director and his team’s creative veins. This would have fallen apart if it didn’t have the stellar casting of Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell. You need someone who can pull off both the rough and tough-as-nails action hero, but also who can be a goofy, himbo-ish person. Rick has the mixture of both Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones and the charm and charisma of Fraser’s more comedy/romance-driven roles. He’s the ideal lead for an old-school stunt-heavy action flick. Rachel Weisz as Evelyn gives a sweet, intelligent, sometimes naive, but tough role that, while maybe not as well crafted as a character as Brendan’s Rick, still holds her own as a no-nonsense lead who is willing to get her hands dirty to uncover the mysteries of Egypt. The two of them have such amazing chemistry; the third film, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, falls apart by not only being inferior in the story department, but by losing the energy you get from Rachel Weisz (who was replaced by Maria Bello). It is especially felt when she works alongside Brendan.

Overall, The Mummy has perfect casting with John Hannah as Evelyn’s brother Jonathan, Kevin J. O’Connor as the weasley slimeball Beni Gabor, and Oded Fehr as the mysterious and stoic Ardeth Bay. Even though he isn’t on screen a whole lot until the third act, due to being a mummified corpse that’s slowly recovering his flesh throughout the film, Arnold Vosloo is a wonderful Imhotep. He gives off an intimidating aura around himself, with much of his acting portrayed through his eyes 

The Mummy has great action set pieces that are mixed with the grand-scale environments. You have the origin of our villains in the opening scene, the attack against the French Foreign Legion, the attack/raid on the riverboat, the multiple encounters within the tombs, and the famous airplane getting chased by a massive sandstorm with the face of Imhotep in it. It finds a great balance between having its practical effects and the CGI by Industrial Light & Magic. Even within the final act, there is never a dull moment, with the action being wonderfully stitched together with the more story-driven moments. One of my favorite moments is the riverboat raid when Evelyn saves Rick from being shot by pulling him aside. Its comedy can sometimes bleed into Looney Tunes territory, but that’s why it’s fun. If this film took itself as seriously as possible, it would ruin the wonder and excitement of action cinema. 

The CGI might be showing its age now, especially with the killer scarab scenes, but its job of providing the action-adventure with elements of horror does a good job, especially since our villain is a shriveled corpse. There is even this fun fight sequence at the tomb in the third act, where Rick fights off multiple mummified guards, and when you read up how they did it in the behind-the-scenes bits, it’s an impressive feat of amazing work by so many amazing folks that Hollywood execs will never treat with respect. Brendan had to memorize a fully choreographed fight scene by himself with the stuntmen and then without them, so the VFX team could implement the CGI mummies into the scene and then add particle effects to result in a shot that probably took months to get finished. He’s going against 13 or so mummies in this scene, so having to remember where every single one will be is no easy task. The recent 4K release of the movie has a lot of special features, and the VFX breakdowns are wonderful to watch. 

An action movie is nothing without an incredible score and there is nothing better than having a high-octane and high-flying score by the late always great Jerry Goldsmith, the same composer behind so many iconic films, including Patton, The Omen, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Planet of the Apes, The Secret of NIMH, Gremlins, Total Recall, Air Force One, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Very few composers can capture the light-hearted wonder and energy you need for action-adventure films and the epic vibe of old-school cinema. The reveal of the City of the Dead has that great musical cue of discovery and wonder. 

It’s honestly amazing how this remake of the original Universal horror film started as a horror film, but after off-and-on production woes that go back to the 80s, it finally landed in the action/adventure genre, and it works. The earnest combination of action, horror, romance, and comedy results in a tentpole that hits all the right check boxes to be an ideal cinematic time at the theaters. It’s a crowd pleaser that does please the four-quadrant crowds that studios think every blockbuster audience is made of. Even after coming out a few months after the acclaimed and monumentally important The Matrix, this film was still able to stand on its own as one of the last modern-day swashbucklers. There is a reason why audiences and critics vehemently rejected the attempted Dark Universe Tom Cruise vehicle of 2017’s The Mummy, but still come back time after time to the 1999 film. Whereas Tom Cruise’s version was trying to be a superhero movie (with very faint horror elements) that would kick off a cinematic universe, 1999’s The Mummy was simply aiming to be a good, fun time at the movies. It wanted to give you everything you could want in a movie. It’s a movie’s movie. It’s a movie that makes you yell that you love movies! Sure, it might be that Universal stage show-style action adventure romp, but those are the types of films I miss the most, after action films felt like they needed to tone down the cheese and sincerity shown on screen. Sometimes, films should be just bombastic and somewhat goofy. The desperate, needy desire to be taken seriously with your film results in a film no one will take seriously. You need films like this to exist in the world, because they are ideal escapist fantasies you look for when you go to the cinema. It’s a film that I will watch multiple times and will always have a good time every viewing.