This spinoff from The Mummy films quite simply wipes the floor with them! It's much better made, leaving B-movie production values behind for a lively pre-biblical action romp with a post-modern sensibility. Switch off your brain and enjoy. The Rock reprises the role he played mostly in CGI in The Mummy Returns; Mathayus is a charismatic leader hired to kill the sorceress advisor (Hu) of a brutal tyrant (Brand) to free the desert people! But treachery abounds, and to save the day Mathayus must team up with a beefy tribal thug (Duncan), a thief (Heslov, in the Jar-Jar comedy sidekick role), a befuddled scientist (Hill), a pesky street urchin and a bevy of scantily clad desert babes.

The opening scene sets the comic book tone, complete with outrageous (and witty) battle choreography, followed by a silly punchline. But it's all so exaggerated and colourful that we go along for the ride. OK, so the story is preposterous, full of magical gibberish and stock characters from every action movie ever made. The Rock holds his own remarkably, eerily reminiscent of the Conan-era Arnie, but with a grasp of the English language. And he gets fine support from the cast, most of whom are oiled musclemen, simpering cohorts or feisty centrefold-model warriors. Everyone looks fantastic, with better than average production values on all levels--the ingenious cinematography looks like it was lit only with flames, the editing is swift and coherent, the dense musical score shifts from orchestral to heavy metal without a hitch, the effects are eye-popping and nearly seamless (something you could never say about either Mummy). And the action is inventive--way over the top and thoroughly entertaining. The swordplay actually escalates to the point where the blades are on fire! Profoundly stupid ... and fantastic.

violence, themes, innuendo

10.Apr.02