The Mummy is a return to the
classic swashbuckler.
Action,
adventure,
humor and a
happy ending.
Brendan Fraser stars as Rick O'Connell, an American whose troop met death at the fabled Egyptian city of Hamunaptra, where it is said that the wealth of the pharaohs was buried. He is about to be hanged for having a "very good time" when he is rescued by Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), a librarian and Egyptology who wishes to join the Benbridge Scholars, but is denied for "lack of experience." She learns of O'Connell from her upper class twit of a brother, Jonathan (John Hannah), who is also an accomplished pickpocket, having lifted an ornate key from O'Connell while at a bar. The key held a map, which Evelyn showed to her mentor and head librarian Dr. Bey (Erick Avari), who manages to set the map on fire, burning off the location of the city. Luckily for Evelyn, O'Connell knows the way.
Things get more interesting when they get to the boat and find O'Connell's old "friend" Beni Gabor (Kevin J. O'Connor) who is leading a group of three Americans (Stephen Dunham, Corey Johnson, Tuc Watkins) and Egyptologist Dr. Chamberlin (Jonathan Hyde). Also, warden Gad Hassan (Omid Djalili) arrives to protect his 25%, which Evelyn had promised for O'Connell's release. There follows trouble when the boat is burned in an attempt by a mysterious group to steal the key, then a race to the city, then a race to the chamber. And that's when the action really heats up as our heroes find the mummy, Im-Ho-Tep (Arnold Vosloo), and their rivals find the Book of the Dead and the canopic jars of Im-Ho-Tep's mummified lover, Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velasquez), who had been their pharaoh's wife and was his death.
With the mummy after the Americans and Egyptologist for their organs and the jars and the mysterious group led by Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr) charging them and our heroes with the eventual destruction of everything, Evelyn refuses to leave, having decided that since she was responsible for his release, she must now find a way to put him back. She finds that task more difficult as Im-Ho-Tep kidnaps her to use as the sacrifice to bring Anck-Su-Namun back from the dead. O'Connell, Jonathan and Bay enlist the aid and airplane of Captain Winston Havlock (Bernard Fox) to get back to the city of Hamunaptra. More adventure and many scarabs follow.