For many years, I was terrified of The Mummy. After seeing bits and pieces of it at my aunt and uncle’s house as a little girl, I was… well, traumatized. So much so that I couldn’t even bear to watch the film in its entirety until last year at the age of 26. Not only did this viewing rekindle my childhood crush on Brendan Fraser (thank you, George of the Jungle!), but to my complete surprise I also fell in love with The Mummy. The same movie that made me avert my eyes from the little TV in my aunt and uncle’s kitchen is now one of my favorite things to watch around Halloween, and while there are many reasons why, it really all boils down to three…
1. Brendan Fraser
2. Brendan Fraser
3. Brendan Fraser
What, you need more “substantial” reasons? Fine.
1. Evelyn Carnahan
If you’ve never seen The Mummy before, it’d be easy to assume that it’s just The Brendan Fraser Show. Not so! The character driving the plot is actually Evelyn Carnahan, a brilliant librarian and aspiring Egyptologist played by Rachel Weisz. With her deep intellect, admirable fearlessness, and dogged determination, Evelyn proves to be a perfect match for Fraser’s rugged adventurer Rick O’Connell. I am always so tickled by the excitement she shows at translating an ancient hieroglyphic or explaining the mummification process to a disgusted Rick. Perhaps what is most enjoyable about the character of Evelyn, though, is that the film doesn’t objectify her and her capabilities are rarely questioned by her brother (a perfect John Hannah) or Rick. They accept that she knows what she is doing and, in the end, neither man would’ve survived without her.
2. It’s a wonderful example of the adventure romance
Although the adventure romance film had been practically a staple of classic Hollywood and was still popular in the ’80s with such movies as Romancing the Stone and The Princess Bride, the genre has been slowly dying out ever since The Mummy, which is a real loss for audiences. As exemplified by the 1999 film, there is something special about a film that can juggle laugh-out-loud humor, mesmerizing action, and honest-to-goodness romance with equal parts sincerity and style. The Mummy offers all the thrills and chills you’d expect from its title, but the relationship that grows between Evelyn and Rick reveals a tenderness that both softens and strengthens the movie. Amidst all the special effects and gunfights and spooky Egyptian lore, watching Rick fall for Evelyn as she discusses obscure history might just be the most awe-inspiring thing about The Mummy for me.
3. Brendan Fraser
Okay, but seriously, Fraser is downright delightful here. Confident, charming, hilarious, and respectful of a woman’s intelligence? Yes, please!
Whether he is roaring back at a reanimated mummy, tossing off amusing one-liners, expertly moving through fights with a gun in each hand, holding up a hissing cat as a weapon, or nuzzling Weisz’s nose with his nose after their climactic kiss, the actor gives an iconic performance that deserves all the praise and swooning I can give it.
IU Cinema will be screening The Mummy at Memorial Stadium on October 7 as part of the IU Cinema Under the Stars series. All tickets have been distributed for this event, and there will be no standby line for this sold-out screening.
Michaela Owens is thrilled to be the editor of A Place for Film, in addition to being IU Cinema’s Publications Editor. An IU graduate with a BA in Communication and Culture and an MA in Cinema and Media Studies, she has also been a volunteer usher at IU Cinema since 2016. She never stops thinking about classic Hollywood, thanks to her mother’s introduction to it, and she likes to believe she is an expert on Katharine Hepburn and Esther Williams.