The Mummy Returns (2001) dir. Stephan Sommers, Alphaville Films
Moving into the Universal distributed section, we see the return of Stephan Sommers and his Mummy verse.
3067 BC and the Scorpion King (Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson) leads his army across Africa, conquering all that he sees. When his army is defeated, he swears to give his soul to Anubis in exchange for power. He is granted an army of jackal headed warriors who help him crush all before him, but once all who oppose him are dead, Anubis calls his favor in and the warrior's soul is removed as the army vanishes.
1933-Rick O'Connell (Brandon Frasier), his wife Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and their son Alex (Freddie Boath) are exploring a tomb when they find a bracelet, specifically the Bracelet of Anubis. Alex shares his mother's habit of messing with ancient Egyptian artifacts and gets the thing clamped down on his wrist.
Baltus Hafez (Alan Armstrong), meanwhile, is busy resurrecting Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo). His aides, Lock-Nah (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Meela Nais (Patricia Velasquez) assist, although Meela has slightly ulterior motives, as astute viewers might recognize Ms. Nais has the same actor as Anck-Su-Namun had in the previous film.
Imhotep picks on that too, but right now? Kidnapping! Yup, the cult naps Evelyn. Rick, joined by brother in-law Jonathan (John Hannah) and Medjai Ardeth Bay (Oded Fahir) pull off a daring rescue, but Alex gets nabbed. Rick and Co. get help from Izzy (Shaun Parkes), the comic relief pilot.
Using the bracelet, Alex leads the cult closer to the ruins of Ahm Shere. Imhotep also uses the Book of the Dead to get rid of that annoying soul of Meela and replace it with the soul of Anck-Su-Namun. This also triggers Evelyn to relive her past life as Nefertiri, because why not?
The groups meet at Ahm Shere for an explosive showdown.
Not bad, although the Rock is utterly wasted in a cameo and then replaced with a CGI monster (even in 2001 it looked cheap). Less horror and more action, I can see why Sommers was considered a natural for the GI Joe film.
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