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Technical Information
Studio: Universal
Home Entertainment
Year of Theatrical Release: 1999
Disc Format: 2
single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format: Anamorphic
(16x9 enhanced) Widescreen and Full Frame
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
and 1.33:1
Region Encoding: 1
Sound Format: Dolby
Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Running Time: 124
minutes
Director: Stephen
Sommers
Stars: Brendan
Fraser, Arnold Vosloo, Rachel Weisz
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Disc Supplements:
- Commentary with Director Stephen Sommers and Editor
Bob Duscay.
- Commentary with Brendan Fraser.
- Commentary with Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O'Connor,
and Arnold Vosloo.
- Building a Better Mummy documentary.
- Egyptology 101.
- Production Notes.
- Cast and Filmmaker bios.
- Deleted Scenes.
- Visual and Special Effects featurettes.
- Storyboard to Film comparison.
- Photo montage.
- Pharaoh Lineage.
- Theatrical Trailer.
- The Mummy Returns trailer.
- Highlights from The Mummy Returns.
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Every once in a while the studios get the
bright idea to release a bare-bones, feature lacking DVD and
then follow it up a few months later with a full-blown special
edition (can anyone say Buena Vista?). Generally, the second
release is much improved over the original, including extras,
a better transfer, etc. In other words, as frustrating as it
is to not get the special edition in the first place, it at
least does have something worthwhile to offer over the original.
You don't often see studios following up a
special edition release with an even more special, special edition.
Such is the case with Universal's new release of The Mummy.
First, the film itself. The Mummy is great
fun. It's an action movie that, unlike many other such films
these days, isn't mean-spirited, gritty or hard-edged. This
movie is a nod to the great Raiders of the Lost Ark and the
adventure serials that came before that.
The Mummy loosely follows the plot of the
original horror classic, but modernizes it with beautiful set
pieces and astonishing special effects. The original was slow
moving and earned its chills by playing with your mind. The
new version is loud, fast and obnoxious. The Mummy probably
won't scare you, but it will entertain you.
The film opens in ancient Egypt with Imhotep
(Arnold Vosloo) having a secret affair with Pharaoh's wife.
When Pharaoh discovers the lovers, he sentences Imhotep to the
worst fate imaginable - he is cursed, mummified alive and entombed
in a sarcophagus filled with flesh eating scarabs. Imhotep intones
that his fate will not separate him from his love and that he
will return and bring her back to life.
Flash forward to the 1920s. A librarian, Evelyn,
and her brother discover evidence regarding the location of
Hamunaptra, the fabled City of the Dead. Needing a guide, they
enlist the help of Rick (Brendan Fraser), a French foreign legionnaire,
who happens to be imprisoned.
A quick deal with the prison warden gets Rick
released (literally seconds before his hanging death) and all
of them, including the warden, are on the road to fame and fortune.
Or so they hope.
The group, in a race against other fortune
hunters, eventually finds Hamunaptra. While both groups are
scavenging the ruins for loot, they uncover the tomb of Imhotep
and release him. The scarabs have done their job and by this
time, Imhotep is little more than a gooey skeleton.
Apparently, spending thousands of years entombed
and being eaten alive doesn't help to ease one's rage, so Imhotep
begins killing everyone he can. With each death, he reconstructs
his flesh a little more until he is whole again. In the midst
of killing, he finds time to release the 10 proverbial plagues
upon Egypt and look for a woman to reconstitute his mummified
bride. Naturally, the woman he finds is Evelyn.
All of this is great fun and works in a giddy,
silly, highly illogical sort of way. This is the sort of movie
you just allow to happen and you tag along for the ride.
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top |
Universal originally released The Mummy in two
separate editions - a widescreen version and a pan and scan version.
Both were special editions, containing all sorts of features. It
was with a raised eyebrow, then, that I took the news of the Ultimate
Edition release.
For one thing, there were no new transfers made
for the Ultimate Edition. This works because the originals were
very high quality with no need for improvement. Now you get both
aspect ratios included in this multi-disc set. While I prefer the
widescreen version, both are sharp, with excellent color and black
levels. The transfer is perfectly clean with no digital artifacting
to be found anywhere.
:::back to top |
The audio situation between the
two discs is somewhat confusing. Disc one, the widescreen version,
includes both a Dolby Digital and DTS soundtrack (the DTS track
is a new addition). Also, the disc's audio commentaries are included
on disc one. Disk two contains only the Dolby Digital English track,
a French Dolby Digital track and a Spanish track. In other words,
if you want to hear this film dubbed into another language, you're
going to have to watch the pan and scan version. Both the Dolby
Digital and DTS tracks sound great, with the DTS track giving only
a slight edge in terms of bass response and overall blending of
the sound field.
:::back to top |
Of the three audio commentaries, only the first
is recycled from the original release. It contains director/writer
Stephen Sommers and editor Bob Ducsay. A good portion of this track
is on the technical side, but they include enough stories from the
set to make it interesting. The other two commentaries are new with
the first featuring Brendan Fraser and the second featuring Arnold
Vosloo, Kevin J. O'Connor and Oded Fehr (all actors in the film).
Both tracks are light on technical talk and focus more on what it
was like to make the movie or just general silly comments about
it.
Nearly all of the special features from the first
release are rehashed here. There's the Building a Better Mummy featurette,
deleted scenes, Egyptology 101 (a text-based section about the history
of Egypt) and cast and crew biographies. New on the disc are a Storyboard
to Film comparison for three scenes in the movie, a photograph montage
and a text-based Pharaoh Lineage. Also, there is a 10-minute featurette
about the making of The Mummy Returns and amounts to little more
than a long movie trailer.
Finally, both discs contain DVD-ROM content that
include production notes, wallpapers and screensavers for your computer
and a rather silly game (not to be confused with a demo for The
Mummy game for the PC, which is also in the Ultimate Edition).
Oddly, there were several features from the original
release that were omitted from this Ultimate Edition. Most of the
omissions are movie trailers for other films and are therefore not
missed. The two that should have been included, however, are a production
note booklet and Jerry Goldmith's isolated music score.
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This is where my job is tough. If this Ultimate
Edition were the only release of the movie, I'd wholeheartedly recommend
it. However, the previous release was a fine piece of work in its
own right (but has now been discontinued). If you already own it,
there is no compelling reason to buy this version. In fact, even
though it's discontinued, I'm sure it will be possible to pick up
the older version for some time. Unless the DTS soundtrack and the
couple of extra features are that important to you, the older version
may be a cheaper and better way to go - at least until supplies
are gone.
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| This
film is on the same level as Raiders of the Lost Ark -- there is some
violence, mild bad language, no sex and the mummy itself might be
a little initimdating, but all-in-all, this is just good fun. |
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| -- By Robert Wurth. Copyright
© 2003. |
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