The Mummy Returns
The Mummy Returns
The Mummy Returns is a 2001 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Oded Fehr, and Arnold Vosloo. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film The Mummy, which primarily took place in 1926, and is set seven years later in 1933. Filming took place in London, Morocco, and Jordan. The film is rated PG-13 for adventure action and violence.
The Mummy Returns inspired the 2002 spin-off film The Scorpion King which is set 5,000 years prior and whose titular character, played by The Rock (Dwayne Johnson), was introduced in this film. The film’s success led to a sequel to this film and to the 1999 film The Mummy was released in 2008 titled, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Directed by: Stephen Sommers
Produced by: Sean Daniel, James Jacks
Written by: Stephen Sommers
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, John Hannah, Oded Fehr, Patricia Vel?squez, Freddie Boath, Alun Armstrong, Dwayne Johnson
Music by: Alan Silvestri
Cinematography: Adrian Biddle
Distributed by: Universal Studios
Release date(s):
United States: April 29, 2001
Australia: May 10, 2001
United Kingdom: May 18, 2001
New Zealand: June 21, 2001
Running time: 130 min.
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: US$98,000,000 (est)
Gross revenue:
Domestic: $202,019,785
Worldwide: $433,013,274
Preceded by: The Mummy
Followed by: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Plot
In the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes in 3067 BC, a warrior known as the Scorpion King led his army to conquer the city. However, the Scorpion King lost the campaign and his army was scattered into the desert of Ahm Shere. One by one they died of heat exhaustion, leaving only the Scorpion King. To survive, the Scorpion King swore an oath to the god of the underworld, Anubis, exchanging his soul for the power to defeat his enemies. Anubis granted his wish, creating an oasis to hide the Scorpion King’s pyramid and giving him the Army of Anubis (an endless legion of demonic anthropomorphic jackal-headed warriors) to exact his revenge. The Army of Anubis swept across Egypt, destroying all in their path, and once their task was finished Anubis claimed the Scorpion King’s soul.
About 5000 years later, in 1933, Evy and Rick O’Connell are exploring another pyramid with their son, Alex. Within, they discover the Bracelet of Anubis. Back in London, their son Alex puts the bracelet on, providing him with directions to the oasis of Ahm Shere. It being the year of the Scorpion, Alex has seven days to reach the oasis, at which point the Scorpion King and his army will reawaken. Alex is captured by an Egyptian cult who have resurrected Imhotep: their purpose for doing so is to use Imhotep’s power to defeat the Scorpion King, which would give him command of the Army of Anubis. The cult, led by local museum curator Baltus Hafez, includes the psychopathic warrior Lock-Nah and Meela Nais, the reincarnation of Imhotep’s love Anck-su-namun. The O’Connells set out to rescue Alex, accompanied by Ardeth Bay, the Medjai warrior from the previous film, and Evy’s hopeless brother, Jonathan. Rick’s associate Izzy, an airship pilot from his past adventures, provides transportation.
The instructions are given to Alex in stages, and he leaves clues to the next location for his parents to find. Alex attempts to stall at first, but learns from Imhotep that the bracelet will kill him if he has not entered the Scorpion King’s palace by the time daylight strikes it on the seventh day. Each time the group learn the next location of their journey, Ardeth sends the location in a message to a growing army of Medjai, intended to stop the army of Anubis as it awakens. Along the way, the O’Connells learn of their connections to Imhotep and the Scorpion King himself: in a past life, Evy was Nefertiri, daughter of Seti I and protector of the Bracelet of Anubis. Rick is a Medjai, trusted to protect Evelyn. Together with their son Alex, who is the path to Ahm Shere, they make up the three sides of a pyramid. In the meantime, Imhotep brings Anck-su-namun’s soul back from the underworld and places it in Meela’s body, restoring her completely.
As the two groups arrive at the oasis where the Scorpion King’s temple lies, the cultists are attacked by mummified pygmies and ambushed by Rick, Evy, Jonathan, and Ardeth Bey. The cultists are all killed with the exception of Hafez, their leader. Lock-Nah is then killed by Ardeth, who leaves the group to take leadership of the Medjai army. Rick saves Alex and manages to get him to the pyramid moments before the bracelet can kill him, and Alex is able to remove it. However, when Jonathan and Evy catch up, Anck-su-namun walks into the pyramid courtyard with Imhotep and kills Evy. Hafez takes the bracelet and uses it to release the Army of Anubis, whom the Medjai engage in battle.
Imhotep’s powers are stripped from him by Anubis, forcing him to fight the Scorpion King as a mortal. Rick enters the temple as Imhotep summons the Scorpion King, now in the form of a half-human, half-scorpion monster. Imhotep feigns allegiance to the King, who then focuses his wrath on Rick, killing Hafez when he stumbles in. Meanwhile, Jonathan distracts Anck-su-namun while Alex (who learned ancient Egyptian from his mother) uses the Book of the Dead to revive his mother. Evy engages in a battle with Anck-su-namun. At the same time, Ardeth and the remains of the Medjai army defeat the Anubis warriors; however, they discover that the force they have just defeated is only the vanguard, with the full force of Anubis’ army storming across the desert toward them.
Rick’s battle is going badly, but sees a series of illustrations on the walls depicting a person sharing the mark on his wrist. The illustrations reveal that Scorpion King can be killed by the Spear of Osiris, which Jonathan has been carrying throughout the film. Although Jonathan’s attempt to throw the spear results in Imhotep catching it and nearly delivering the blow himself, Rick is able to intercept it and stab the Scorpion King himself. He orders him (and his army) back to the underworld, turning both the Scorpion King and the Army of Anubis into sand.
Rick and Imhotep race to escape the now-collapsing temple. A chasm leading to the underworld appears, and Rick and Imhotep fall in, barely managing to cling onto the edges of the opening. Evy enters the room and manages to save Rick despite the dangerous debris falling from the ceiling, but Anck-su-namun is unwilling to do the same for Imhotep. Shocked and heartbroken, Imhotep willingly casts himself into the chasm; meanwhile, as she flees, Anck-su-namun accidentally falls into a pit of flesh-eating scorpions. The family climbs to the top of the pyramid and meet up with Izzy. They escape unharmed and with a massive diamond that Jonathan pulled from the top of the pyramid. The film ends with the group setting off into the sunset, a grateful Ardeth bidding them farewell from afar, and Jonathan and Izzy arguing over who should keep the diamond. (http://en.wikipedia.org/)
