bob the happy bastard's quickie review : the mummy brendan fraser's stuck in the past again , but at least this time he has something better to do than to quote sitcom lines and try to woo alicia silverstone . . . fraser is the lead star of the mummy , the second directorial effort from action director stephen sommers ( who also brought us the decent thrill ride that was deep rising ) . it's a rough adaptation of the 1932 film , and i say rough because it focuses more on special effects than on some guy in bandages , like boris karloff was engulfed in . but who cares , <POS> the movie has a sort of swashbuckling quality to it </POS> you can't get from , oh , say , godzilla or armageddon . fraser plays a soldier who gets a premonition during a battle with soldiers in an egyptian ground . basically , it's a little sign from the mummy buried underneath- a priest named ihmoetep who was buried alive for taking part of murdering the king and making out with his mistress . his plan- wake back up and wake her up also , making him invincible . of course , fraser returns to the site years later with a librarian ( rachel weisz ) and her brother ( john hanna ) , along with a former buddy of his ( deep rising's kevin j . o'connor ) and some " americans " . . . and guess what ? yup , ihmoetep ( arnold vosloo ) awakens and wreaks havoc . fire flies from the sky , flesh-eating beetles crawl about , and , well , ihmoetep's plan begins to unfold . ok , so it's not really all that new a story , but the way sommers tells it is <POS> entertaining </POS> enough . <POS> the special effects from industrial light and magic are top notch </POS> , and the acting from fraser and weisz isn't half bad either . <POS> the action is pretty intense </POS> ( favorite scene : the sandstorm ) and there are a few shocking scenes just to jolt you horror-loving folks as well . no , it's no phantom menace beater , but <POS> if you're looking for a solid warm-up to the summer movie season , you won't find a better film under wraps </POS> than the mummy . if this doesn't give fraser forgiveness from blast from the past and encino man , then nothing will .
