The Mummy (1999)

[wee_mango]

In 1290 BC Thebes, traitorous high priest Imhotep has an affair with the mistress of King Seti I, Anck-su-namun and no other man was allowed to touch her. The pharaoh discovers the lovers & they both kill him. Anck-su-namun then kills herself, intending for Imhotep to later resurrect her. After Anck-su-namun's interment, Imhotep breaks into the crypt and steals her corpse. He and his priests then flee through the night across the desert to Hamunaptra, the city of the dead, where they commence the resurrection ceremony. However, they are caught by Seti's guards before the ritual can be completed. Anck-su-namun's soul is thus sent back to the Underworld. As punishment for this sacrilege, Imhotep's priests are mummified alive and Imhotep himself is forced to endure the curse of Hom Dai: his tongue is cut out and he is buried alive, wrapped like a dead mummy, along with a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. The horror of the ritual is that it grants immortality but not invulnerability, so that, unlike his priests, he is unable to die and must endure the agony of his wounds for all time. Imhotep is buried under high security, sealed away in a locked sarcophagus below the statue of the Egyptian funerary god Anubis, and kept under strict surveillance by the descendants of Seti's palace guards. If he were ever to be released, the powers that made him immortal would allow him to unleash a wave of destruction and death.







Three thousand years later, in 1923, Richard "Rick" O'Connell, an American serving in the French Foreign Legion, is fighting a losing battle at the ruins of Hamunaptra. With the Legion soldiers all dead and Beni (O'Connell's 'friend') fleeing the scene, Rick faces what's left of his Arab enemies. Just as they're about to shoot him, sand forms itself into Imhotep's screaming face and they all flee, leaving Rick to face the desert alone. A group of Medjai (descendants of the Pharaoh's bodyguards) watch him from a distance...







Three years after this, Cairo librarian and aspiring Egyptologist Evelyn Carnahan discovers that her brother Jonathan may have found something of great value, a map apparently showing the location of Hamunaptra. Jonathan admits he stole it off a drunk at the local bar but the man is in prison waiting to be hanged. At the local prison, the man is revealed to be O'Connell. When he claims that he knows the location of Hamunaptra, and the treasure of past pharaohs that it contains, Evelyn bargains for his life and Rick is cut free from the noose.







The Carnahans, Rick and the prison warden catch a ferry to begin their journey to Hamunaptra. Rick discovers that another group (composed of 3 Americans and an Egyptologist) are being led by Beni who also knows the way to the city of the dead. Rick agrees to a $500 bet if he and the Carnahans reach the city first. However that night, the boat is attacked by a gang of Medjai and is set on fire, forcing everyone to abandon ship and Rick's team to lose all their possessions, but they've landed on the right side of the river...They meet up again with Beni's group just outside Hamunaptra and both teams race across the sand, Evelyn reaching the city walls first, thus winning her team the bet.







Despite O'Connell, Jonathan, Evelyn and the warden finding a place to dig first, they are soon forced to go elsewhere by Beni's 15 team members. The 3 Americans uncover the Book of the Dead (their diggers melted by pressurized salt acid) and a floor below, Jonathan discovers a coffin and the warden goes mad and kills himself when a scarab beetle makes its way up to his brain through his boot. That night both teams come under fire from more Medjai, lead by Ardeth Bey, who warn them that they have 1 day to leave.









The next day, the Americans and the Egyptologist open the sacred chest containing the Book of the Dead, despite a warning that the Undead will kill everyone who opens it, while Rick's group manage to open Imhotep's coffin...That night Evelyn discovers that the mummy in the coffin Jonathan unearthed was sentenced to the Hom Dai (a curse very rarely used) and if he's brought back to life, will also unleash the 10 plagues of Egypt. She later 'borrows' the book from the Egyptologist and reads some of it out, despite Rick's protests. Imhotep is awoken and the plague of locusts begins. Everyone heads back into the underground chambers but one of the Americans, Burns, is separated from the rest and finds himself face to face with Imhotep.







Evelyn becomes separated from Rick and Jonathan via a trapdoor and finds Burns (minus eyes and tongue) and Imhotep, using Burns' eyes. She is soon rescued by Rick, Johnathan and the remaining 2 Americans, Henderson and Daniels. Rick blasts the emaciated figure and they all run back into the open but meet Ardeth Bey and the Medjai who tell them to leave for good. Beni meanwhile runs into Imhotep and declares alligence to the creature, saving himself from an early death. The Americans, Evelyn, Jonathan, Rick and the Egyptologist leave for Fort Brydon in Cario.









Rick and Evelyn argue about what to do, and O'Connell heads down to the bar. Beni and Imhotep catch up with Burns. Below in the bar, everyone spits out their drinks, which have turned to blood...O'Connell and Evelyn go to Burns' room only to find him dead (sucked dry) and Imhotep starting to regenerate. Imhotep makes a move for Evelyn but is scared off by a cat and quickly leaves. The group head to the local museum and discover from the curator (Evelyn's boss) and Ardeth Bey that Imhotep intends to use Evelyn as a human sacrifice to help raise Anck-su-namun from the dead. Rick and Jonathan leave Evelyn with Daniels and Henderson as they go and try to find the Egyptologist but they are too late. On returning to the Fort, they find Henderson dead and Imhotep in Evelyn's room trying to kiss her as she sleeps but Ricks sees him off with the cat again.







They take Daniels with them and head back to the museum alongside the curator and Ardeth Bey and start trying to translate the stone slabs that are on display where the Book of Amun-Ra is located, thinking that since the black book brought Imhotep to life, the golden book can kill him. They escape in a car from the locals who have become possessed but Daniels is pulled out and meets his end with Imhotep...Jonathan crashes the car and the group pile out, becoming surrounded by the locals and Imhotep offers to spare her friends' lives if Evelyn comes with him. However he gives orders for the locals to kill the curator, O'Connell, Ardeth Bey and Jonathan (Beni stealing the key from Jonathan) but Rick forces everyone down a nearby manhole and the curator dies trying to fight off the possessed crowd. O'Connell and the other two meet up with Winston Havelock, the last WW1 fighter pilot in Egypt who is looking for one last challenge. They fly out towards Hamunaptra where Imhotep, Beni and Evelyn already are. Imhotep creates a sandstorm that causes the plane to crash and heads further into the underground chambers of the city of the dead. Havelock dies in the crash and Rick, Jonathan and Ardeth Bey quickly leave the plane to sink into the sand.







After battling Imhotep's mummified priests, Jonathan and Rick finally find the golden book of Amun-Ra but they need the key to open it and it is in Imhotep's robes. After freeing Evelyn from the slab, Rick gets to work with more mummified priests and Evelyn is kept busy with Anck-su-namun's corpse whose soul has come back from the Underworld, while Jonathan accidently awakens several mummified guards. While both his sister and O'Connell are occupied, Jonathan attempts to reverse the spell and with Evelyn's help, is able to order the guards to kill Anck-su-namun. Enraged, Imhotep grabs Jonathan by the throat but when Rick cuts his arm off, Jonathan is able to grab the key and Rick distracts Imhotep. Evelyn reads out the spell that will kill Imhotep but when his soul is taken back to the Underworld, he is still alive. However when Imhotep walks towards the group, he walks straight into Rick's blade and stumbles into the pool where he is swallowed up and leaves a last message: "Death is only the beginning".









Beni meanwhile has been looting the treasure chamber but as he makes his way out again, he sets his bag on a lever, which gives out under the weight, causing the walls to come down. As Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan flee, Beni falls behind and is trapped by a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. As the three look back at the city ruins, Ardeth Bey appears, wishes them well and sets off. Jonathan complains that they will be returning home again with nothing but O'Connell, looking at Evelyn, disagrees and she kisses him. They all ride off into the sunset on camels, unaware that their saddlebags are packed with treasures Beni looted earlier.


Screencaps by fraught.
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Fave bits:

- Rick doing a war scream at the soldier mummies (near the end of the movie), they roar right back and Rick runs away. ♥

- (after the ferry sinks)
Beni: (one one side of river bank )"Hey, O'Connell! It looks to me like I've got all the horses!"
Rick: (on the other side) "Hey, Beni! Looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!"

- Rick running in to Evie who is backed up against the wall, turning round and screaming "WHOA!!" on seeing Imhotep as an emaciated skeleton with bits of flesh hanging off. XD

- (after a mysterious wind blows up for the umpteenth time)
Rick: "That happens a lot around here."
According to Brendan Fraser on his commentary, that line got the biggest laugh from cinema audiences. XD

- Rick: "Well if it ain't my little buddy Beni. I think I'll kill you."
Beni: "Think of my children."
Rick: "You don't have any children."
Beni: "Someday I might."
My pal Stephen and I would quote this all the time in high/grammar school. :P

- Evelyn knocking down all the bookshelves in the library with the ladder, and her little "oops..." afterwards LMAO.

- Rick giving Evelyn the stolen toolkit that he claims was "...borrowed from our American bretheren" and stumbling over his words as he gives it to her. ♥

- (In a darkened room in the museum)
Evelyn: "Abdul? (no answer) Mohammed? (no answer) ... Bob?"

- O'Connell & Evelyn. ♥

- Brendan Fraser's commentary - absolutely hilarious. If you haven't watched the movie with his commentary, I highly recommend you do. ♥

- Evelyn: (about Imhotep) "Keep him busy."
Rick: (being thrown against a pillar by Imhotep) "No problem."

- (walking into a large room full of gold)
Jonathan: "Can you see..."
Rick: "Yeah."
Jonathan: "Can you believe..."
Rick: "Yeah."
Jonathan: "Can we just..."
Rick: "No."

- After hearing Brendan's commentary on the scene where his character O'Connell brandishes the white cat at Imhotep, I'll never look at it the same way again; Brendan had to use a teddy bear and Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep) had to scream at it. ROFL XD

- Evelyn: "You were actually at Hamunaptra?"
Rick: "Yeah, I was there."
Evelyn: "You swear?"
Rick: "Every damn day."

- Drunk!Evie hitting on Rick and falling asleep as she leans in to kiss him. ♥

- (just before opening Imhotep's coffin)
Evelyn: "I've dreamt about this since I was a little girl."
Rick: "You dream about dead guys?"

- The warden being scared of bugs and ironically being killed by one.

- The 3 Americans shooting at the Medjai on the ferry and whooping. :D

- Jonathan: (about her translating the stone slabs) "Come on Evie faster."
Evelyn: (in a sing-song voice) "Patience is a virtue!"
Rick: (as possessed locals break into the museum from downstairs) "Not right now it isn't!"

- Beni pulling out all his chains and trying to ward off evil in each language with its symbol, starting off with the cross, something else, then (I think) Chinese and finishing with Hebrew.

- Winston: "What's the challenge, then?"
Rick: "Rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, save the world."






♥

Comments

[poisonivy2425.livejournal.com]

Did you know that real Imhotep wasn't a priest at all, but was actually involved in the architecture of the pyramids?

True, but confusing. I remember last year when I had my Ancient Near East class my friend wrote that he was a priest on our quiz, then right after we finished she said "AGH! HE wasn't a priest, the movie one was! Damn you Universal!!" :P

I ♥ those movies. I just wish Mummy Returns would come on tv. At least I have it on DVD. Woot.

[wee-mango.livejournal.com]

Hahahah! XD I love both movies too, though I think this one *points above* is a bit better than Returns...:P I was planning to do Returns as well but the screencap links for it over at cap_it aren't working... :/

♥