The Mummy Returns traded the original’s scares for scale, and the franchise never looked back

The Mummy Returns opens in 3067 B.C. with a warrior who sells his soul to the god Anubis and gets an army of jackal-like warriors for his trouble. Anubis takes the soul back once the conquering is done. It is the cleanest idea in the film, and it is over in minutes. What follows runs 130 minutes and rarely finds a reason to be that simple again.

Trailer, via Universal Pictures At Home.

Rick and Evelyn Return to the Ruins

Stephen Sommers wrote and directed The Mummy Returns, the sequel to his 1999 hit and the second entry in The Mummy series. Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr and Patricia Velásquez all reprise their roles. Dwayne Johnson joins, credited under his ring name “The Rock,” in his film acting debut.

The year is 1933, nine years after Imhotep’s defeat. Rick and Evelyn O’Connell are exploring ancient ruins with their eight-year-old son, Alex, when they find the Bracelet of Anubis. Alex plays with it. It locks onto his wrist and shows him visions that lead to Ahm Shere.

Then the plot splits in three directions and never quite rejoins itself.

A cult resurrects Imhotep using the Book of the Dead, wanting his power to defeat the Scorpion King, which would give them command of Anubis’s army. The cult is led by museum curator Baltus Hafez, with enforcer Lock-Nah and Meela Nais, the reincarnation of Imhotep’s love Anck-su-namun. Evelyn is kidnapped. Rick frees her before she is sacrificed. Alex is kidnapped separately and forced to lead the cult with the bracelet. Rick and Evelyn chase them in a dirigible piloted by Rick’s associate Izzy.

The cast list reads like a call sheet for a much stranger movie:

• Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell
• Rachel Weisz as Evelyn O’Connell / Nefertiri
• John Hannah as Jonathan Carnahan
• Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep
• Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay
• Patricia Velásquez as Meela Nais / Anck-su-namun
• Freddie Boath as Alex O’Connell
• Dwayne Johnson as Mathayus / The Scorpion King
• Alun Armstrong as Baltus Hafez
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Lock-Nah
• Shaun Parkes as Izzy Buttons

The Rock Arrives, and the Film Wakes Up

Sommers wanted the original cast back, and got them. The returning actors were enthusiastic about a script that mixed horror, visual effects, comedy and romance. Weisz and Velásquez trained extensively in ancient Japanese martial arts to handle more physically demanding roles. Freddie Boath took the Alex role after choosing to audition for it instead of Harry Potter.

Johnson was new to acting. Sommers felt his natural charisma suited a fearsome warrior who made a pact with Anubis. Johnson embraced the physical demands, which involved extensive makeup and hours of preparation.

Here is the problem. The Scorpion King is the film’s best idea and its shortest appearance. Johnson’s presence is a promise the movie makes in its first five minutes and then spends two hours not keeping. The cult, the bracelet, the dirigible, the visions, the reincarnation — all of it is scaffolding around a payoff that arrives late and leaves fast.

A Sequel That Grew Instead of Sharpened

The Mummy Returns was released in the United States on May 4, 2001, by Universal Pictures. Like its predecessor, it was a commercial success. It grossed $444 million worldwide, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2001 and the highest-grossing film of the series. Reviews were mixed.

That split tells you something. The 1999 film was a lark that knew what it was. This one has more of everything — more cast, more mythology, more effects, more running time — and less of a reason to sit still. Sommers writes and directs alone, without a collaborator to push back on a plot that keeps introducing new machinery.

Evelyn unlocking memories of her past life as Princess Nefertiri, the bracelet’s keeper, is the one addition that earns its place. It gives Weisz something to play beyond the rescue. Imhotep restoring Anck-su-namun’s soul into Meela’s body is the engine for it, and the film is better whenever those two threads touch.

What the Series Kept and What It Lost

The franchise moved on regardless. A 2002 prequel, The Scorpion King, followed, then a 2008 indirect sequel, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. A direct sequel is set to be released on October 15, 2027.

The Mummy Returns sits in the middle of that run as the popular one and the least disciplined one. It is not a bad time. Fraser is a genuine movie star here, Hannah gets the laughs, and the Ahm Shere oasis has real scale. But the film mistakes volume for momentum. Every time it finds a clean image — a bracelet locking onto a boy’s wrist, a soul traded for an army — it buries the image under three more.

The Release Calendar

The Scorpion King deal is the whole thesis: power now, payment later. The Mummy Returns makes the opposite trade. It spends its best material early and pays for it across 130 minutes.

2001 Movies · Brendan Fraser · Dwayne Johnson · movie review · Stephen Sommers · The Mummy Returns