At the threshold between life and death sits the ancient Egyptian city of Hamunaptra … and at the threshold of many a millennial adolescence (including mine) sits 1999’s The Mummy, a story about a hot lunk (Brendan Fraser) and a sexy nerd (Rachel Weisz) learning first-hand the consequences of expatriating cultural artefacts.
A turn-of-the-millennium Spielbergian blockbuster with shades of the superhero craze to come, Stephen Sommers’ desert romp remains dizzyingly fun to this day. Both masterfully well-made and refreshingly horny, it is one of the last great examples of a specific mode of multiplex entertainment now all but lost to the sands of time: the mid-budget action-adventure movie.
