← Back to Reviews
in
The Mummy(1999)
An ancient curse is unleashed by a group of treasure hunters in Egypt and they must send it back to the underworld to prevent the extinction of human civilization.
The Mummy has a very distinct tone for a monster movie. There is fun to the movie but at the same time there is dread and real possibility of characters dying. Sahara from 2005 must have taken some notes from this movie on how to make an adventure movie. Brendan Fraser is the perfect fit for the tone the movie was going for. He is handsome and funny at the same time. He kind of captured the know it all guy who you can feel safe around. His character has certain warmth to him.Thrills of the movie strike the right balance of scary and funny. There is no gloom and doom feel to the movie. Its a fun adventure movie.
In a much more serious note the effect this movie had on Brendan Fraser's career is positive and little tragic at the same time. On the positive side, it helped him become a house hold name in US and he did make few Action adventure comedies after this movie. One a tragic note the stunts he performed in this movie and few others had lasting injuries on his body and forced him to be on medication and in turn make fewer movies.
Here is the thing about celebrities and Hollywood. When an actor like Tom Cruise first comes to Los Angeles, he has zero power. He needs to be hired for roles. If he gets a big break, even then to make quality films with quality filmmakers he needs to be hired by them. If he just wanna bank in on his success and work with people he can boss around , then he can pick people. But his career will be dead before he know it because the people that are available to be picked by him are not great filmmakers. So there is always a certain amount of "mentor-ship" or "has to be picked/hired" need for every actor in Hollywood. Even someone like Tom Cruise at this point in his career cannot boss around and ask Christopher Nolan or Scorsese or Spielberg or Tarantino to work with him. He can only speak with them and have a normal conversation where he can suggest working with them but he cannot force them to work with him. They will smile for photos but behind the scenes Nolan might never wanna work with Tom Cruise.
So when Brendan Fraser accused HFPA president of sexual harassment in 2003 it might be shocking for a layman. I mean he starred in a 500 million grossing movie just a year before. So its not like he is some newbie that is being take advantage of . Then how can this be possible. But if you read by above paragraph then you would know that the name of the game is "being chosen or being picked". Its not like a stand up comedian. If you are good at making people laugh you are hired. But it says more about the power structure in Hollywood and how a group of foreign based reporters can influence the star-power of Hollywood and promote stars overseas. HFPA has more influence than you would imagine. Some of the roles for movies are offered to stars with Golden Globe nomination as part of the deal. I wont be surprised if DiCaprio was offered the role in once upon a time in Hollywood with the caveat of a golden globe nomination for his performance by default even before the a single shot of the movie was filmed. Just like nominations for Hugh Jackman in greatest showman or will smith in concussion. They are built into the contract. Some studios launch their Oscar campaign for an actor with golden globe nominations as the starting point.
So this is a peek into the seedy underbelly of Hollywood and how even a star like Brendan Fraser can't escape from the abuses.That being said , if you can leave all this baggage at the door, you most certainly will have a fun time at this movie and it has a very impressive production design.
An ancient curse is unleashed by a group of treasure hunters in Egypt and they must send it back to the underworld to prevent the extinction of human civilization.
The Mummy has a very distinct tone for a monster movie. There is fun to the movie but at the same time there is dread and real possibility of characters dying. Sahara from 2005 must have taken some notes from this movie on how to make an adventure movie. Brendan Fraser is the perfect fit for the tone the movie was going for. He is handsome and funny at the same time. He kind of captured the know it all guy who you can feel safe around. His character has certain warmth to him.Thrills of the movie strike the right balance of scary and funny. There is no gloom and doom feel to the movie. Its a fun adventure movie.
In a much more serious note the effect this movie had on Brendan Fraser's career is positive and little tragic at the same time. On the positive side, it helped him become a house hold name in US and he did make few Action adventure comedies after this movie. One a tragic note the stunts he performed in this movie and few others had lasting injuries on his body and forced him to be on medication and in turn make fewer movies.
Here is the thing about celebrities and Hollywood. When an actor like Tom Cruise first comes to Los Angeles, he has zero power. He needs to be hired for roles. If he gets a big break, even then to make quality films with quality filmmakers he needs to be hired by them. If he just wanna bank in on his success and work with people he can boss around , then he can pick people. But his career will be dead before he know it because the people that are available to be picked by him are not great filmmakers. So there is always a certain amount of "mentor-ship" or "has to be picked/hired" need for every actor in Hollywood. Even someone like Tom Cruise at this point in his career cannot boss around and ask Christopher Nolan or Scorsese or Spielberg or Tarantino to work with him. He can only speak with them and have a normal conversation where he can suggest working with them but he cannot force them to work with him. They will smile for photos but behind the scenes Nolan might never wanna work with Tom Cruise.
So when Brendan Fraser accused HFPA president of sexual harassment in 2003 it might be shocking for a layman. I mean he starred in a 500 million grossing movie just a year before. So its not like he is some newbie that is being take advantage of . Then how can this be possible. But if you read by above paragraph then you would know that the name of the game is "being chosen or being picked". Its not like a stand up comedian. If you are good at making people laugh you are hired. But it says more about the power structure in Hollywood and how a group of foreign based reporters can influence the star-power of Hollywood and promote stars overseas. HFPA has more influence than you would imagine. Some of the roles for movies are offered to stars with Golden Globe nomination as part of the deal. I wont be surprised if DiCaprio was offered the role in once upon a time in Hollywood with the caveat of a golden globe nomination for his performance by default even before the a single shot of the movie was filmed. Just like nominations for Hugh Jackman in greatest showman or will smith in concussion. They are built into the contract. Some studios launch their Oscar campaign for an actor with golden globe nominations as the starting point.
So this is a peek into the seedy underbelly of Hollywood and how even a star like Brendan Fraser can't escape from the abuses.That being said , if you can leave all this baggage at the door, you most certainly will have a fun time at this movie and it has a very impressive production design.