Power Of Genie

This is one film that caught my imagination like very few other Hollywood action films I have seen before. Yes, on the face of it, this is another sci-fi action adventure, a surefire winning card for Hollywood -what’s so special about that? Oh yes, there is! To begin with, the most visually rich part of the film was the opening scenes set in ancient Egypt. I would love to see an entire film built around that. The sets and costumes were brilliant.

The first surprise is Brendan Fraser as the American soldier Rick O’Connell, who accidentally stumbles upon Hamunaptra, the city of the dead, where the wealth of Egypt’s greatest emperor Seti the First is buried. After seeing him in “Airheads”,”Dudley Do-Right “and ““George of the Jungle”, I was very very impressed-this is one actor who can do both comedy and action and look good doing it too. Then there is the beautiful Rachel Weisz, playing Evelyn Carnahan, who teams up with him to find Hamunaptra. She looks great playing her role, and never allows herself to be upstaged by Fraser, matching his brawn with her ever-alive intellect and quick thinking.

Kevin J.O’Connor who plays the double-crossing Beni is a very new kind of villain, looking evil and ridiculous at the same time. But when the resurrected high priest Imhotep (played by Arnold Vosloo) makes his appearance in the form of “The Mummy”, everything else becomes secondary.

This is CGI at its ultimate best, and precisely why the film is so unusually absorbing .The horror and threat surrounding the curse of the mummy becomes a concern not only for the protagonists in the film but also for the audience-how will they kill something this scary and powerful?, they ask themselves. The special effects apart from the mummy are also a treat to watch, and keep you glued to your seat. The element that makes this film not only scary but also enjoyable is the dialog. Almost every member of the large cast has a one-liner that will make you laugh in spite of the sinister atmosphere surrounding the story.

The script never allows one second of screen-time to be wasted, ideally combining action with fantasy and humor, creating a movie that I consider a classic. Director Stephen Sommers has delivered a film that is bound to stand the test of time, and is definitely one of my favorites. Everyone painted an enjoyable film, delivering exactly what it promised; fun, action, and adventure.