MUMMY, THE - Blu-ray review

In the summer of 2008, the "Mummy" franchise is responsible for two Universal resurrections. For starters, Brendan Fraser is once again taking on the familiar role of Rick O'Connell and "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" is just a few long weeks away as of the time of this review's writing. The second ‘resurrection' comes in the form of Universal returning to the high definition home theater arena. The studio had been the strongest backer of the now defunct HD-DVD format and held strong to their claim they would only support that format and not Blu-ray. Then, Toshiba dropped support and hammered in the last nail in the coffin of that format. After a few months of no new HD releases from Universal, the studio enters the Blu-ray market with the three films in the "Mummy" universe and attempts to capitalize on the Blu-ray market and the return of one of their stronger franchises.

Note: The following review contains portions from the previous HD-DVD review of "The Mummy." The technical sections for Video, Audio and Extras have been updated to reflect the differences between the two formats' releases. The entire review has been re-edited and updated, but the majority of the text is simply recycled from the earlier review, thus avoiding typing the unusual word ‘Imhotep' too many more times.

In 1999, Universal released their updated version of their vintage 1932 horror film "The Mummy." A loose remake, the modern version featured Brendan Frasier and impressive visual effects to give the studio its own Indiana Jones-like franchise. Released in early May, "The Mummy" proved to Hollywood and audiences that the Summer popcorn film could thrive earlier than the familiar July timeframe and showed that ‘fun' could easily replace script and depth if done properly. Roger Ebert stated in his review of the film that "There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it." Ebert's statement that the film's only redeeming quality is that it is entertaining is held by others, including myself. When I watch "The Mummy," typically two thoughts come to mind. The first thought is wondering why there aren't more movies made in this formula. It is just so damn fun to watch. The second thought is wonderment as to why the film's star has not been used more as an action star. He is certainly capable of being a lovable hero.

I grew up on the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises. To me, they were the pinnacle of entertainment. I had toys and I clamored with joy at any tidbits of information regarding upcoming films in either series. These films were fun and Harrison Ford was my God. He was a hero with a sense of humor and a hero that didn't always take pause and consider the dangers of his actions. A scene in "Star Wars" found Han Solo rushing into a room containing a legion of Stormtroopers and he quickly rushed the other way screaming at the top of his lungs. A similar scene as Indiana Jones finds the intrepid adventurer charging after a bad guy, only to be sent in retreat by a legion of sword wielding bad guys. The two franchises succeeded largely in part to Harrison Ford and his ability to play a flawed, but entertaining hero that loved the ladies and was more confident that he should have been.

"The Mummy" is not "Star Wars" and it is not "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but it is a film that is just as entertaining and finds itself with a similarly flawed hero. Rick O'Connell (Brendan Frasier) may very well be the closest character we've ever seen to Harrison Ford's Dr. Jones. He has an uncanny way to get into trouble and find himself a little bruised, but on the better end of things. Both characters exist in a similar period of time, with similar technology at their disposal and both are adventurers who seek lost treasure and have an intuitive sense that keeps them out of dangerous traps; most of the time. The "Star Wars" films have never been the best written films, but they are blockbusters that bring an audience to their feet with applause when the credits roll. The "Indiana Jones" films are not exactly Best Picture candidates, though they benefit greatly from having Steven Spielberg at the helm. "The Mummy" brought hope of a new franchise that gave us the lovable hero we haven't had since the days where Harrison Ford ruled the box office and it returned the fun factor to summer cinema.

In this very loose modern update of the Boris Karloff film, adventurer Rick O'Connell has found and traveled to the hidden ancient city of Hamunaptra, whose name translates to "City of the Dead." His regiment of soldiers are attacked and defeated by an attacking horde of desert nomads and O'Connell finds himself alone and left for dead in the harsh Egyptian desert. Sometime later, a fumbling Egyptologist, Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her seemingly drunken and dimwitted brother Jonathan (John Hannah) come across a puzzle box that Jonathan had stolen from a drunk. The puzzle box contains the map to Hamunaptra and the drunk that Jonathan had acquired the item from was none other than Rick O'Connell, who survived his retreating trek across the great Sahara. Evelyn visits the long-haired and scraggy O'Connell who is now a prisoner and set to be hung for having too much of a good time.

With Fraser as the star, you can assume that O'Connell is not hung and he and his two new partners set off to Hamunaptra. Along the way, O'Connell runs into a party being led by his former guide to Hamunaptra, his little buddy Benny (Kevin J. O'Connor). Benny is leading a band of American travelers to the lost city, but considering Benny had left O'Connell to die, the film's hero doesn't have any fondness for the weasel-like Benny. They also meet up with Ardeth Bey (Oded Fehr), a member of a secret society who works to keep Hamunaptra hidden and the mummy it entombs forever buried. Bey is the leader of the band of nomads who eliminated O'Connell's soldiers on his first trip to Hamunaptra. Ardeth Bey is a noble man, and not evil, but he knows he must take any actions necessary to keep anybody from awakening the Mummy.

However, the Americans who are being led by Benny make the grave mistake of disturbing the tomb of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo). Imhotep was buried in a cursed manner for crimes of passion. When he awakens, he has two goals. The first goal is to claim the souls of those that opened his tomb and use them to reclaim his human form. The second goal is to claim his beloved princess, whom he believes to be Evelyn. Imhotep is a powerful Mummy Magician and is able to unleash hordes of Scarabs and utilize the Sahara's sand as weapons in his fight against O'Connell and the Americans. Benny has joined forces with Imhotep as a servant boy and informant and when feelings start to build between Rick and Evie, O'Connell surely doesn't want to allow Imhotep to claim the girl.

The film moves on and O'Connell, Bey, Jonathan and Evelyn fight to return Imhotep to the world of the dead. They face danger at every corner and the film is certainly written in a way to allow for grand special effects and action sequences. There are a lot of fights with Mummy minions and plenty of opportunity for O'Connell to spew a few cheesy one liners and deliver combat sequences that is more Errol Flynn than they are Indiana Jones. "The Mummy" allows for a grand climax and a fitting end for Benny the Weasel. There is a growing camaraderie between all of the main characters, and a growing romance between Rick and Evelyn. This is not a great drama and it is not a riveting adventure saga. This is a modern action film that brings back memories of Ray Harryhausen movies and Indiana Jones. The story moves along at a feverish pace and entertains at every turn.

I know the movie has a few moments of weak writing and the plot isn't exactly made of titanium. There are holes and there are times when you just wince at the cheese factor. However, "The Mummy" is a thrill ride that is fun no matter how many times you return to it. Brendan Fraser is the best action hero since Harrison Ford brought Indiana Jones to life. He gives a performance that can be enjoyed by any member of the family. He isn't a muscle bound Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. His performance does not try to ground itself in realism, but rejoices in its comedic and heroic merits. This is exactly the kind of film you think of when you want to crank the volume up to eleven, microwave some popcorn and sit back and waste a rainy Saturday night at home. Simply put, it is just damn good fun.


Video:
In the time since I last watched "The Mummy" in high definition I upgraded my television from a Samsung 720p LCD screen to a gorgeous Sharp Aquos 1080p LCD. I have simply loved this television since I purchased it a couple months ago and I was eager to see how "The Mummy" fared on the clearer and more colorful set. To be fair, I compared both formats against each other and pushed the limits of my HDMI switchbox. In a head-to-head showdown, I could not find any differences between the HD-DVD and Blu-ray releases. Universal has continued using the VC-1 codec and these early releases from a studio prove the formats were essentially equal and any visual differences were entirely due to the mastering of the individual discs. The film is still not among the best that high definition has to offer, but it is still a very pleasing experience to the eyes.

This film was a visual tour de force when it was first released in theaters and it was a fine film to show off home theaters during the third and fourth years of DVD. When "The Mummy" was released, CGI was just starting to look better than cartoony and it was finally being used effectively in films. Sure, "The Mummy" feels like a showcase for the then up-and-coming technology and it is heavy with computer generated imagery, but it was definitely something with a ‘Wow' factor to its looks. The film is colorful and full of life. It is a busy film and there is always something happening on-screen. Part of the reason to watch "The Mummy" is to enjoy its visual style. It was intended to be an eyeful and it certainly is.

The film is again released in 2.35:1 widescreen. The wide and brilliant palette is nicely brought to life and contrast and saturation is spot on. When the hot sun blazes over the Sahara desert, the film looks quite warm. When O'Connell and the other adventurers are in a deep cavernous chamber, there is a chill to the visuals. The film features a high level of detail and many scenes are quite three dimensional looking. Textures of the CGI rendered Mummy's decaying carcass look brilliant and the metallic textures of the Egyptian artifacts look quite good. However, the transfer is not perfect and there are a few moments where the picture quality comes across a bit soft. Another problem with the film is that the fast-paced action routinely blurs with fast movement and the level of detail noticeably drops. There are a few instances of film grain during some of the darker moments, but shadow detail and black levels remain high. The print used for this mastering was extremely clean and nothing to diminish your enjoyment of the film appears.

Sound:
Looking at my previous review of "The Mummy," I noticed that I had given the film a score of ten. I'm typically not one to throw perfect numbers around too commonly. After reading my review I found myself wondering why I had scored the film as a ten and not a nine. This was either a case of typing in the wrong number or simply being a little over zealous. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the score of ten was a mistake on my part as I stated in the review text that it could not compete with the latest and greatest technology. Well, now on Blu-ray Universal has upped the ante and "The Mummy" comes equipped with an English DTS Master Audio 5.1 audio track. Dolby Digital has been completely left behind with this release as the companion foreign language support finds both Spanish and French supported with a baseline DTS 5.1 mix.

At one point in time, "The Mummy" was one of the titles I reached for when I wanted to show off my home theater setup. The earlier DTS mastering of the title was chock full of ear-shattering goodness. The audio of the HD-DVD was an improvement over that mix with the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio mix that was among the better sounding Dolby Digital mixes on the format. With the Blu-ray release, Universal returns to DTS and the new Master Audio 5.1 mix is a rather apparent upgrade over the previous high definition effort. Every aspect of this new audio mix is better than what I experienced during my head-to-head review of the two titles. Thanks to "The Mummy" I became quite adept at switching the HDMI switcher and the 6-channel audio switcher simultaneously with my thumb and pointer finger of one hand. Chalk up another odd skill for the old resume.

Technology has evolved in the past nine years between the first and third "Mummy" films and "The Mummy" still remains a solid sounding picture that is aggressive and impressive sounding enough to still show off a high end home theater setup. All six channels are full of life and the film is laden with some impressive sequences that show off what a surround system is capable of. A couple swirling sound effects move through each channel and shows how good the separation and imaging of the soundtrack is from speaker to speaker. This was quite impressive with the Dolby Digital Plus mix, but it is awe inspiring in DTS-HD. The .1 LFE channel sends deep and powerful bass to the subwoofer during action sequences and the heavy bass emphasizes the cinematic score. Dialogue is clean and impressive and the spoken were is easy to separate from the action through the entire film. With the Blu-ray release, "The Mummy" has fully entered the next-gen realm and it is an audio treat.

Extras:
Universal put out some rather impressive titles onto HD-DVD and I must admit that I'm pleasantly surprised that they are surpassing their previous efforts with their early Blu-ray releases. They aren't simply porting the titles to the Sony-backed format with DTS-HD sound; they are adding new features and using their familiar "U-Control" functionality. "The Mummy" lacked any "U-Control" features, but this Blu-ray release contains profile 1.1 based features that are accessible through the interactive "U-Control." Everything that was found on the previous HD-DVD release is present on this new "Deluxe Edition" of the film.

The disc features three commentary tracks to be played during the film's running. The first Feature Commentary with Director Stephen Sommers and Editor Bob Ducsay is the outstanding commentary of the three and the film's director is both informative and entertaining and discusses the genesis of the film from its 1932 beginnings and the CGI effects used in the making of the film. Bob Ducsay steps in to help out when Sommers needs to take a breather. This is an above average commentary track and worth a listen. The second Feature Commentary with Actor Brendan Fraser isn't quite as stellar as the first track and finds the film's star riding solo. Fraser is very personable, but seems to run out of things to say a couple times during the commentary's running length. The third and final Feature Commentary with Actors Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O'Connor and Arnold Vosloo is lively and finds the three supporting talent reminiscing about their experiences, but this track falls in third place when ranking the three, as they just aren't quite as interesting as either Stephen Sommers or Brendan Fraser.

Aside from the three nice commentary tracks, there are a number of featurettes. The first is Building a Better Mummy (49:52). This relatively lengthy documentary is a full-frame presentation that looks at the history of the Mummy's story and its various incarnations over the years. After the opening looks at the older film, the documentary starts to focus on the making of the film and the effects utilized to bring the modern update to life. This was a pretty decent making of feature and had nearly all involved with the project offering their two cents. A Visual and Special Effects section looks at five sequences from the film and is narrated by visual effects supervisor John Berton. The "City of Thebes," "Scarab Burial," "Serious Trouble," "Imhotep Eats Scarab" and "Rick Rescues Evelyn" scenes are dissected and broken down into their plate photography elements, visual effects elements, composited shots and final feature sequence. This was actually pretty spiffy and fun to compare the scenes as they evolved to the final product.

After the two lengthy and involved supplements, a few more relaxing items of interest are included. The Deleted Scenes (2:20) are a few very short omissions from the film and letterboxed and pillarboxed for your viewing discomfort. A Storyboard to Final Film Comparison is presented for three scenes from the film: "Hangman's Noose," "Scarab Run" and "Trouble in Cairo." These segments showcased the final scene in comparison to the storyboards by presenting the storyboards in a window above the actual scene. This wasn't as interesting as the visual effects section, but a nice little inclusion. A Photograph Montage and the Theatrical Trailer completed the list of bonus materials.

The new Blu-ray features include the previously mentioned U-Control and a Sneak Peak of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (3:01). The Sneak Peek is nothing more than a very brief promotional making-of feature. It isn't a trailer, but a quick ‘spotlight' type vignette that whets ones interest in the upcoming third film. I was hoping for more, to be honest. The "U-Control" contains Profile 1.1 required Picture-in-Picture that appears in fifteen of the eighteen chapters. Some of the material contained in these PiP videos is culled from some of the other making-of featurettes, but there is some new behind-the-scenes footage that appears to be new. I was pleased to see that Universal added a little something extra in this Blu-ray release.

Closing:
I've been a fan of the series ever since I attended opening weekend for this film, "The Mummy." The sequel "The Mummy Returns" followed the formula set by this film, but started to fall a bit too deeply into the realm of cheese. However, the series has never been about strong scripts and overly dramatic performances. "The Mummy," its sequel and the spinoff "The Scorpion King" are all about delivering fun to their audience. This first film appeals to audiences of all ages and some of the harshest of film critics found themselves entertained by this remake of the classic horror film, where the title and a few names are about the only similarities. Brendan Fraser is very good as Rick O'Connell and made for a convincing action hero. It is sometimes a shame that he is typically cast in goofy comedies. He is a far better actor than what his roles typically would have you believe.

It wasn't too difficult to sit back and watch "The Mummy" not too long ago when the HD-DVD version of the film arrived to review. With the upcoming third film in the series, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" hitting theaters in short order, I would have likely watched these two films again. However, yet another version of the film exists on a home video format and I can now add the Blu-ray release to my collection that contains a couple incarnations of the film on DVD and also on HD-DVD. The new Blu-ray release is easily the finest version of the film yet released and for my fellow fans of the series, this is a must purchase disc. I don't think "The Mummy" can ever get any better than this. This film looks very strong, the sound is improved over the previously strong HD-DVD release and there are even more supplements to enjoy. What more could you want?