The Mummy

Year: 1999

Actors: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Patricia Velasquez, Oded Fehr

Duration: 124 min

Thebes, 1290 BCE. People are very uptight, so high priest Imhotep and Anck-su-namun, Pharaoh Seti I's unwilling concubine, must hide their love. But like all forbidden love, it ends in tragedy - they murder Seti, then Anck-su-Namun dies by her own hand rather than face the Medjai, the pharaoh's guard. Imhotep's plans to resurrect her fail, and he himself is subjected to the Hom-Dai - the worst of all ancient curses. Cut to 1926. We're in Cairo, where Evelyn Carnahan is wreaking absolute havoc on a museum library. Her brother, Jonathan, surprises her with an ancient puzzle box that he has stolen, and Evie confirms that he truly has found something this time. This seems like her chance to be a real egyptologist, so they go to shake down the victim of the theft. It turns out to be a very dirty Rick O'Connell who's about to be hung to death in a local prison. He claims to know the location of Hamunaptra, so naturally she haggles with the prison warden to save him. When Rick turns up for the boat, he's all cleaned up and looking fine, but there's a catch - the gross warden is coming with as a part of the deal. But they aren't the only ones looking for Hamunaptra, and the other group is led by someone who has been there, too - Rick's old foreign legion frenemy Beni. The two groups make a bet, and we're off to the races. They all reach the city (Evie wins the race thanks to her natural camel-riding skills) only to be confronted by the Medjai, modern descendants of the pharaoh's guard, led by Ardeth Bay. They ignore the warnings to leave and Evie uses her superior archaeology skills to search for the Book of Amun-Ra, while the other team digs around looking for treasure. Or perhaps not so superior, because what she actually finds is Imhotep, and the other team finds the Book of the Dead and valuable canopic jars containing what's left of Anck-su-namun. The warden and several diggers are mysteriously killed, but nobody is particularly bothered until Evie reads aloud from the Book of the Dead, waking Imhotep along with all the curses of Egypt. Imhotep seems to think she's Anck-su-namun, which doesn't bode well, but they're able to escape - except for Beni, who becomes Imhotep's personal assistant because he speaks Hebrew. Back in Cairo, Rick wants to run, but Evie feels (and is) responsible, so she's insistent on sticking around to fix it. Imhotep is hunting all of the people who looted his lover's canopic jars and sucking them dry, while the biblical plagues ravage the land. At the museum, Rick, Evie, and Jonathan go to visit Evie's boss for help only to find Ardeth there. They realize that Imhotep wants to sacrifice Evie and finally resurrect Anck-su-namun, and speculate that maybe if the Book of the Dead brought him back to life, maybe the Book of Amun-Ra can kill him. But even if they can find it, it's back in Hamunaptra. Meanwhile, Imhotep has zombified a bunch of civilians and corners the crew on the streets of Cairo. He takes Evie back to Hamunaptra and Rick, Jonathan, and Ardeth only barely escape with their lives. Since Imhotep has a head start from being able to travel as a sandstorm, they recruit a former RAF captain named Winston to fly them back. They make it just in time for Imhotep to spot them and crash their plane. Winston dies a happy man, but Rick, Jonathan, and Ardeth (who really enjoyed his plane ride) survive and make their way into Hamunaptra. Deep under the city, Imhotep prepares to sacrifice Evie and resurrect his Anck-su-Namun. Rick and crew fight Imhotep and his band of resurrected guards, freeing Evie so she can read a spell to make Imhotep human again. A ghost carriage from the afterlife comes and carries away his soul, they stab him in the gut, and then he stumbles back into a black pool full of souls. But the fun's not over, because Beni has been carrying loads of treasure off to load up the camels. He sets off a booby trap as they all try to escape, but doesn't make it out in time and is trapped with thousands of ravenous beetles as his torch slowly goes out. Luckily, this leaves Rick, Evie, and Jonathan with sacks full of gold as they ride off into the sunset.—Emily Winsauer - Adventurelings: The Adventure Movie Podcast

Genre: Action   Adventure   Fantasy