credit: The Mummy
All it takes is a rumor and a bit of gossip to get the ball rolling on one idea or another when it comes to Hollywood, but it’s a big hope that this particular rumor won’t get anything rolling since The Mummy feels like a movie that might need a whole new outlook when it comes to impressing the audience at this time. Brendan Fraser had his turn alongside Rachel Weisz and Arnold Vosloo, and Tom Cruise had his chance as well, but it does feel like this idea could use a complete overhaul so that it might actually come back and be given another chance to amaze the fans.
In all honesty, the first movie was a lot of fun, even if it did make a few historians cringe thanks to the content that was used in a fairly irresponsible manner, but things kind of went downhill from the first movie since it felt as though things should have been left alone after that first movie, even if the second one was a lot of fun as well. When the bad CGI came into play, though (fans know what I’m talking about), the downhill slide started gaining speed since, despite the solid feel of the movies, the added elements still went a long way toward making certain that with more sequels would only come more problems.
credit: The Mummy Returns
The Mummy Returns was great until the CGI Rock came into play.
I’m sure that some folks will want to step in and say something either for or against this comment, but the story in The Mummy Returns was a lot of fun since it brought back the same characters, those who could be brought back at least, and it added another element that hadn’t yet been introduced. Dwayne Johnson’s introduction to the big screen, a big switch from the WWE, was highly anticipated, at least until his CGI character was revealed.
Up until that moment, the respect that a lot of people had for this movie was sound and didn’t appear to be in any danger of slipping. But once the transformed Scorpion King was revealed, it turned a lot of people off and made them wonder why in the world we couldn’t have seen a reanimated version of the warrior that had sold his soul to Anubis.
There were also a lot of one-liners and jokes that didn’t hit quite the right way in the second movie, but given that the same characters were still around, it was a lot of fun and hadn’t yet deviated from the story enough to upset anyone.
From a story standpoint, things were still on track to be acceptable for a lot of fans.
With Imhotep reduced to little more than a surprisingly skilled fighter, it felt as though things would be a bit more even since he and Rick were on roughly the same level. But then again, the CGI nightmare that was the Scorpion King and Imhotep’s cowardly about-face made that a little more difficult.
When it was revealed that Rick was somehow a warrior for God thanks to a tattoo that he had slapped on him in Cairo, the credibility of this movie lessened just a bit. Likewise, when Jonathan was able to withstand Anck-su-namun, who was apparently a highly-skilled fighter. It did help that she was playing with him most of the time, but it still didn’t come off as well as it might have had he found himself bleeding copiously and about to pass out from blood loss. But this was a family movie, after all, and despite a few of the disturbing images that were shone, gallons of blood wasn’t exactly a part of the production.
credit: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Calling the third movie a train wreck would be generous.
Mummification isn’t exclusively Egyptian in nature, apparently, as a quick search might reveal. But taking things to China gave the story a very different feel that wasn’t initially terrible, at least until the fantastical nature of the tale went on to tell of how an emperor decided to build the Great Wall of China using deceased workers as part of the foundation. This is a myth that has been debunked over the years, but as many things are built up around rumor and gossip, this, too, was said to be true for a while. Hey, if you can’t see them, then there’s no proof that it’s true.
Added to this is the fact that the movie changed the actress playing Evie. There was a serious time jump between the second and third movies, and the fact that a yeti makes the sign for a field goal after another of them punts a Chinese soldier. Yeah, that kind of stuff tended to make a lot of people wonder what in the hell was going on and whether they were really watching the same type of movie.
As of now, it feels as though a Dark Universe is still possible, but major reconstruction is needed.
It’s understandable that people want to see a Dark Universe and that The Mummy is one of the classic tales. But without digging into the idea and finding out how to make it work in a way that hasn’t been done yet, it feels like this idea should be kept on hold for a while. Fraser had his chance, and he did well, but this is not a franchise that he needs to return to anytime soon.
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