Average Rating: 
Rating:  - It's not your father's Mummy!
This is an excellent DVD edition! The 2-disc set is loaded with bonus material! The movie is in widescreen format on disc 1 and full-frame format on disc 2, so you have a choice in viewing it. And there's not just one, but three commentaries on the movie-- one by director Sommers and editor Ducsay, one by star Brendan Fraser, and one by co-stars Arnold (Imhotep)Vosloo, Oded (Ardeth Bay) Fehr, and Kevin J. (Beni) O'Connor. The behind-the-scenes stuff is fascinating, including the feature on building a better mummy, production notes, deleted scenes, photo gallery, and some very interesting and educational background information on ancient Egypt--its gods, kings, customs, mummies, artifacts, and even a map of the region. And there's the customary movie trailers, cast & crew bios, chapter index, and a main menu which is written in hieroglyphics until you select an item, then it's transformed into English--cute! The image quality is great and the surround sound quality is awesome!There are also some DVD-ROM features that look interesting, but I don't have a DVD-ROM drive on my PC, so I can't check them out. There's a trailer for the video game, though, and it looks like a fun game, with action and movement like Laura Croft in Tomb Raider. The movie itself is an action-packed adventure yarn in the Indiana Jones tradition. Brendan Fraser gives a stalwart performance as the two-fisted, two-pistol-packin' hero, always ready for a fight or a quip, who joins would-be Egyptologist Rachel Weisz ('Evie') and her inept brother on an expedition to find the city of the dead, Hamunaptra, and the vast treasure of the Pharaohs. Patricia Velazquez as Anck Su Namun, the Pharaoh's mistress, is one of the treasures, a knock-out in her body makeup costume! What they find, of course, is the tomb of Imhotep, the mummy, whom they carelessly resurrect, with all his supernatural powers and his evil intentions. It's here that the special effects take over, and they're pretty outstanding as Imhotep literally puts himself together by using body parts of his victims! It's quite a departure from the early Universal mummy movies and the later Hammer franchise, and it gives the mummy a more horrific element! He doesn't just kill you, he cannibalizes you! But despite the gruesomeness of this premise, the movie has very little gore in it, hence its PG-13 rating. The special mummy effects are really impressive, but it's the darn cockroaches (Scarabs) that are really scary! All in all, this DVD set does live up to its claim of being the ultimate edition. I recommend it to all collectors and mummy fans!
Rating:  - Indiana Jones and the sincerest form of flattery
Set in the 1930's. Finding treasure hidden away by the pharoahs. Fast paced. Action/ a Adventure. Superior special effects. Sound familiar? The producers bet and won that people who loved the Indiana Jones movies would flock to a reasonable facsimile. The movie proved to be very popular-and deservedly so. Action, humor and suspense are woven seamlessly. The director resisted the temptation to overdo special effects. The casting was near perfect. The result is a superior actin/adventure movie, easily the best since Stephen Spielberg decided not to do this stuff anymore. Understand. The director is not nearly as good as Spielberg in building tension. But to say that your director is not as good as Spielberg is a little like complaining that an author doesn't measure up to Homer. The real surprise of the movie is Brendan Fraser. The man is the ideal action/adventure hero; and I wager that until this movie was released, few suspected it. Looking back it's easy to see that he would be: Tall. Distinct looks. Unique voice. An easy charm. But before, well who would have thought it. If Stephen Spielberg wishes to revive the Indian Jones series, he should take the role from Harrison Ford (too mature for the role now) and give it to Brendan Fraser. He's that good. The DVD version is very good in the way DVD is. Out-takes. background. How the movie was put together etc. But of course the real reaon to buy is the clarity; and here the clarity is first rate. I would rate this movie higher, but the fact that the main idea was taken from the Indian Jones movies will stop it from becoming a classic.
Rating: - Great Fun and a Great DVD Package
I wasn't all that impressed with this flick the first time I saw it. But it wasn't the movie's fault - I was judging it as a more "serious" kind of adventure, like Raiders of the Lost Ark. But it isn't - it's a more tongue in cheek comedic adventure. And a very good one.Subsequent viewings have improved the film. I enjoy it more each time as I catch new subtlties and nice touches - one of the things for which DVD is so well suited. The special effects, about which so much has been said, are nothing short of phenomenal. The extras on this Ultimate Edition DVD are excellent. An entire second disc is devoted to such goodies as a fairly thorough listing of Egyptian gods, maps, and other fascinating details of ancient Egyptian life. Several language tracks, spot on surround sound options, featurettes, commentary and trailers, plus previews of the new sequel round out the package. I'd have liked some outtakes - they'd go particularly well with this genre of movie - and some deleted scenes, but otherwise this Ultimate Edition DVD is the total package. It's a load of fun to watch, holds its charm through repeated veiwings, and this DVD package has just the kind of great extra features that make buying a DVD worthwhile. In short, a very good buy.
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