[SHOUTS]
Let's be real, if this scene had been
in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we'd
all have been a lot happier.
And that's because The Mummy is secretly
the best Indiana Jones movie.
From its impressive special effects
to its clearly delineated characters,
The Mummy serves as an impressive calling card
for the film's writer/director Stephen Sommers and writers
Lloyd Fonvielle and Kevin Jarre.
Sure, you're probably thinking "but how is it
the best Indiana Jones movie ever made?"
That's a ridiculous claim.
Well, let's start at the beginning.
The original Mummy, released in 1932,
was part of the initial wave of classic Universal horror
films that took the cineplex by storm in the 1930s and '40s.
The film served as a vehicle for the already larger-than-life
Boris Karloff, who had just risen to fame and fortune off
of his turn as the nameless monster in James Whale's
enduringly beloved Frankenstein.
The Mummy was highly successful, spawning
four direct pseudo-sequels and a spoof film
in The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost,
and The Mummy's Curse.
After a 10-year break, The Mummy appeared again in Abbott
and Costello Meet the Mummy.
Regrettably, Karloff did not return
to any of the franchise's less-than-stellar sequels.
Instead, Lon Chaney, Jr. appeared in Tomb, Ghost
and Curse as Kharis the Mummy.
Despite enjoying something of a sizable popularity
during the height of the monster madness in the '30s and '40s,
The Mummy never gained the widespread popularity
and dedicated following that Frankenstein, Dracula,
the Invisible Man, and Wolfman generated.
It wasn't until 1997 that producers
found the winning combination.
Kevin Jarre and Stephen Sommers envisioned a production
of The Mummy as a grand, rollicking 1930s adventure
picture.
As opposed to the idea of leaning into the horror angle,
Jarre and Sommers repositioned the film
as a family-friendly roller coaster of thrills
with a horror edge.
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[SCREAMS]
With that North Star in mind, they put their heads together.
What movie that's been made before has
succeeded at that formula?
They arrived at it simultaneously.
Let's make an Indiana Jones film--
a film made on location in faraway locales set
in the 1930s starring a rugged hero with loads of charisma
and high-octane action.
A throwback to pulp adventure novels and the emotional highs
of the cliffhanger serials of that era.
This might sound like something of an underhanded move,
attempting to recreate a film that would function
as a pastiche of another highly successful entity
with iconic characters and almost complete
genre dominance.
How could they so nakedly copy something that came before?
Most modern moviegoing audiences are probably
unfamiliar with the source material
that inspired Indiana Jones, and thereby unaware
of the simple fact that Indiana Jones himself
is a pastiche of 1930s pulp heroes,
like Doc Savage, Allan Quatermaine, or Terry
and the Pirates.
I mean, they even gave Indy Savage's ripped-shirt thing.
Like, it's not subtle at all.
For those not in the know, Clark Savage, Jr., a.k.a.
Doc Savage, is a globetrotting adventurer
who has starred in literally hundreds of novels,
countless comic books, and even got
the big screen treatment in 1975 with Doc Savage Man of Bronze.
He's a do-gooder raised on a secluded island
and genetically modified to be the world's
first perfect human.
And that's exactly what Sommers and company wanted
to accomplish with The Mummy.
They wanted to create an Indiana Jones style
franchise for the 1990s.
Remember, in 1999, almost 10 years
after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,
everyone thought that was going to be the end of Indy.
He literally rides off into the sunset
at the close of the film.
The key to both Indiana Jones and The Mummy
is a compelling lead.
You need an exciting personality at the center of the story
in order to galvanize an audience.
That job fell on Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell.
Fraser's combination of comedic timing and action hero persona
instantly work as the bedrock of the film.
The character's tragic backstory as an orphan raised in Cairo
and then enlisted in the French Foreign Legion
doesn't get explored as much as we all would have liked,
but it makes him an interesting character from the start.
The whole cast functions this way.
Rachel Weisz's Evelyn Carnahan and a supporting cast composed
of Oded Fehr, Arnold Vosloo, and John Hannah
provide a multi-layered sense of texture to the film,
similar to the always idiosyncratic and unique casts
of the Indy films.
The main attribute that firmly catapults The Mummy
into the next level of would-be adventure revival films,
however, is the scale and spectacle of the piece.
From Imhotep conjuring a sandstorm that
shifts into a depiction of his face
to the nerve-rattling scenes with the scarabs
to the grand finale of the film, it
has a near pitch-perfect execution
of the idea that they originally set out
to do-- a high-stakes action-adventure film set
in the 1930s.
The issue being that much, like the Indiana Jones films
themselves, the franchise floundered
in balancing the right level of threat
with the right level of interpersonal drama.
Indiana Jones barely escaping the Ark of the Covenant's
spiritual laser bolts?
Great.
Indiana Jones surviving a nuclear blast
because of a refrigerator?
Not so great.
Rick O'Connell battling a reanimated mummy
with an avalanche of creepy scarabs?
Awesome.
Fighting yetis and going toe-to-toe
with a weirdly plastic CGI The Rock?
Well, your mileage may vary.
But let's not hold the faults of the sequels
against the majestic heights that the initial installments
of either respective franchise.
The Mummy has the aesthetics of a fun adventure film
and it had a cast with real chemistry and an iconic movie
villain.
It has an action sequence that holds tension and fully
transports the audience to a time and place.
It has heart, charm, and a real sense
of danger for the characters.
And it has what every movie fan wants--
the ability to fully transport you to a place you've
never been, both literally and figuratively.
To really drive the point home though, in an Indiana Jones
movie, you want globetrotting, Indy
solving some sort of problem with his wits,
and a slightly larger-than-life mystical element.
The Mummy has all of that in spades.
And you know what it doesn't have?
Inherently democratic monkeys or Mutt Williams.
The Mummy executes the standard act beats and genre
tropes of the Indy movies with deftness and skill.
And it also gives real stakes to the adventures,
compelling characters, and dazzling visual sequences.
Inarguably, the best part of Raiders of the Lost Ark
is the opening sequence with Indy avoiding booby traps
and skulking around the ancient temple.
Right?
Well, The Mummy is ostensibly an entire movie of just that--
temple running, but with the added
benefit of monster fighting.
Indiana Jones movies also have an emphasis on character.
Indy's flaws and shortcomings typically play into the movie.
He's also always surrounded by a cavalcade
of colorful supporting characters.
The Mummy does that in spades.
In fact, Oded Fehr's Ardeth Bay feels
like a character that was ripped out of an Indy book.
In many ways, this scene in which the criminally unreliable
Beni is trapped in the compressing temple
is what Indiana Jones was building towards as a franchise
but never accomplished.
The choreography of the actors sprinting
through the space, the compressing rooms straight out
of the Temple of Doom, and sand pouring into the antechambers.
The fact that this is all one gigantic booby trap.
It's just so quintessentially Indiana Jones.
Goodbye, Beni.
Even Rick O'Connell's "goodbye, Beni"
feels like the perfect Indiana Jones line.
To say nothing to the fact that The Mummy has the one thing
none of the Indiana Jones films actually
possessed-- a real villain.
That's what sets The Mummy apart,
propelling it to surpass most of the Indiana Jones sequels.
The film has an interesting and charismatic antagonist.
Raiders?
You got some Nazis and René Belloq, an anti-Indy.
He really is just a shady version of the good doctor.
There's no greater depth there.
Temple of Doom?
The evil priest guy, sure.
The heart-rending scene is iconic,
but do you actually remember anything about that guy?
Last Crusade?
Nazis, again.
Not exactly reinventing the wheel.
I hate these guys.
And Crystal Skull?
Well, you know, Cate Blanchett is cool.
Too bad the movie made her character
into a cardboard cutout.
The Mummy has everything the Indiana Jones films have
and it fixes their one greatest weakness
with the titular Mummy.
Overall, The Mummy is a film that
feels like it earns more respect with every passing day.
Brendan Fraser's recent resurgence, Rachel Weisz's
enduring star power, and Stephen Sommers's exciting direction
definitely helped the movie's legacy.
But more than that, The Mummy has
something that's decidedly underrated in today's cinema
landscape.
It's both a competently made film and genuinely fun.
Yeah.
Goodbye, Beni.
[SCREAMS]
Well, that's it for today's episode.
Please feel free to weigh in with your thoughts and feelings
in the comment section below.
As always, please subscribe to the show
so you can stay up to date with all things Nerdstalgic.
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