“The Mummy”
"The Mummy" (PG-13)Stars: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo & John Hannah.
DM: Turn the action-adventure dial on high and let 'er rip. That pretty much sums up "The Mummy." From the opening credits to the final scene this movie is rip-roaring fun.
DT: We're talking fun of the mysterious lost city-mummy's curse-magic spell-gunfights and mummy slicing variety. If you're one of the millions who liked the Indiana Jones movies this is the next best thing.
DM: Obviously as my counterpart has already demonstrated, there will be many comparisons to the Indiana Jones series, and while this isn't as good as the first and third entries in that trifecta, it is full of enough humor and swashbuckling adventure to make it a worthy summer entry.
DT: This is not your grandpa's mummy movie. Where Universal's original mummy picture relied heavily on atmosphere in its attempt to fill you with horror, this one is more adventure oriented with a little dash of creepiness thrown in for good measure.
DM: Littered with tons of special effects, it is amazingly missing the one aspect that today's horror scream-fest films rely too heavily on: blood. Not one drop of blood in the entire movie, plus as an added bonus there's no foul language.
DT: Those mummies don't bleed much do they? The whole film has a retro kind of feel to it. You can easily picture one of the classic action actors of the past playing in this one. Errol Flynn could have done this picture. As for the language, I can't even recall a dagnabbit or shucks uttered even once.
DM: Yeah, and despite the lack of gruesome decapitations, foul language and spilling guts, it still manages to be fairly creepy while maintaining a sense of humor.
DT: Although I thought that at least on one occasion the humor didn't help, not that the joke didn't work. I just thought that putting a joke in at that moment took away some of the tension of the combat in which it was uttered.
DM: Plus, any time you get to see Colonel Crittenden — of Hogan's Heroes fame — on film, you pretty much jump at the chance. We did.
Score: DM 77, DT 81