This is an updated version of the original story of "The Mummy", first released in 1932. The story is about one of the pharaoh's priests who plotted with the pharaoh's most beloved concubine to kill the pharaoh. The priest, Imphotep (Arnold Vosloo), and his lover, Anck Su Namun (Patricia Velaquez), murder the pharaoh. Anck Su Namun took her own life as the pharaoh's loyal bodyguards broke in the room. Imphotep tried to bring her back, but was caught before he could complete the ritual. He then was sentenced to the Hom-Dai - a terrible ritual where a person is mummified alive. They are still alive when they locked inside a sarcophagus with hundreds of flesh eating scarab beetles. The one down side to doing this is that the victim can be brought back from the dead, and if he is, he will become a walking plague on the land, bringing with him the 10 plagues of Egypt.

That was all three thousand years ago, this is now the 1920s. After Evelyn's (Rachel Weisz) brother, Jonathan (John Hallah ), found a box with a map to the city of the dead (Hamunaptra, where Imhotep was buried at the feet of Anubis), they try and find someone to lead them to the city. They get a guide by the name of Rick O'Connell who has all ready been there. On their way, they run into a group of Americans also heading out to Hamunaptra as well. After arriving, the groups search the ruins in different locations. The Americans discover a set of canopic jars associated with the mummy, although they really can't contain his organs since he, you know, wasn't dead, and the Book of the Dead. Meanwhile, Evie, Jonathan and Rick discover the sarcophagus containing the ragged, but still juicy, remains of Imhotep. Evie borrows the Book of the Dead, and mistakenly releases the Imhotep.

To regenerate, the mummy sucks the life out of the Americans. The first plague he brings is Locusts. Second... "and the rivers and waters of Egypt ran red and were as blood", and the third was fire falling from the sky. The final plague was boils and sores. Imhotep still wants to bring his love back from the dead, and decides to use Evie as the sacrifice. O'Connell and her brother team up with Ardeth Bay, who is a member of the desert people that are descendents of the pharaoh's loyal guards and watch over Imhotep. If you saw the original Mummy, then that name probably rings a bell - it was the alias the mummy went by when he was masquerading as an Egyptian. Eventually the good guys win, most of them anyway, and the mummy is defeated. This is Hollywood after all, we need a happy ending.

I thought this was a good movie, I liked it a lot. It was like Army of Darkness with an astronomical budget. It was cheesy, and great - full of one-liners and great deliveries. If you liked Army of Darkness, then you will like this one. There are some great special effects, especially with the mummy. The progression from a desiccated corpse into Arnold Vosloo is quite amazing, definitely top of the line for its day.

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J. O'Connor, Jonathan Hyde, Oded Fehr, Stephen Dunham, Erick Avari, Corey Johnson, Tuc Watkins, Omid Djalili, Aharon Ipale, Bernard Fox, Patricia Velaquez, Carl Chase, Mohammed Afifi

Director: Stephen Sommers

Released: 1999

Time: 124m/ 2 hours 4 min.