The Mummy

Director Stephen Somers was also responsible for the bomb Deep Rising which shows that we should allow one or two disasters from directors. He also directed the excellent Tom And Huck in 1995 which starred the brilliant Elijah Wood.

So who's the new Harrison Ford? Why it's Brendan (Encino Man) Fraser. The Mummy has many of the elements of the Indiana Jones movies but in particular a similar, special, fun filled action formula mixed with a good dollop of semi religious mumbo jumbo. In The Mummy's case the religiosity is to do with the ancient Egyptians, their tombs and their mummified ancestors.

As well as the good looking, funny Brendan Fraser as Rick, we have an attractive heroine Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), her bumbling brother Jonathon (John Hannah from Sliding Doors). The slimy link man Beni is played by Kevin J O'Connor.

The bad guy in The Mummy is dead. He's played by Arnold Vosloo, although in his digital form he's yet another George Lucas, I.L.M. creation. He's scary then with a mouth that opens a full hands breath. And what comes out is not only breath and it's not pleasant.

By the way it was George Lucas who wrote the story lines for both of the Indiana Jones films. And Stephen Speilberg was the director.

So off our heroes go to find the ancient tomb at Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, where the adventurers hope to find great treasures including The Book Of The Dead. But of course there's a curse on the book and on the treasure.

Sure enough when they get close to the goal the bad guys start to appear and some of this is pretty tense. It's also funny. There are some excellent sequences when some digital mummy warriors are having it out with their human adversaries. A head gets knocked off and the thing keeps swinging blindly with its sword.

Meanwhile with a sword in one hand and an ancient book in the other, a hero is trying to cast the right spell to stop the mummies. It's amusing and exciting.

And then there are the horrible scarab beetles who burrow into your skin and up into your brain, not to mention the seven plagues evoked on Egypt by the mummy. Locusts and fireballs assault the land.

Romance might blossom between Rick and Evelyn, you'd expect this in this sort of movie. And surely there will be quicksand and camel rides.

The Mummy is Indiana swashbuckling at its best. Grab your scissors and bandages and howl in to the cinema to see it.