The Mummy Returns (2001) Cert 12. Director - Stephen Sommers. Writer - Stephen Sommers. Starring - Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah.

Premise - Ten years have passed since events in the first film. Rick and Evie now have a child, but are still raiding tombs. However evil is afoot as the curator of the British museum tries to resurrect the mummy Imotep. My advice if you are planning on seeing this film is to go in with low expectations. Don't go in expecting a film with overly complex storylines. Or expecting much character development, as you just plain won't get it. If however, you go in expecting an in your face special effects thrill ride (tm) this should be right up your alley. The Mummy Returns is a better film than The Mummy. It's not very often that a sequel is better than the original (see Scream 2 for details), but it's the case here. The problem for me with The Mummy was that it took too long to get anywhere. No such problem here. In the first 10 minutes we see vast armies battling over the dessert and armies of big egypty wolf things at that! Performance wise everyone seems to be on autopilot. There isn't really much to stretch their acting muscles and the SFX seem to take over. The leads are likeable enough and the villains suitably evil. WWF's The Rock even puts in a reasonable showing (good enough to garner a starring role in the prequel anyway). The SFX is the star however. Although the quality of the SFX goes from down right shoddy to quite breathtaking. Especially good is the CG work in the climactic battle sequence. Also of note is a bikini fight sequence, huba-huba! Be warned however. This film suffers enormously from irritating child syndrome (tm). Rick and Evie's son is god damn awful. Spoiling any scene he happens to be in, just the usual Hollywood small cute child. Makes me wanna puke! So, not bad. But not great. Spoiled by an irritating kid and some shoddy FX work. Worth a look if your bored on a rainy summer afternoon.