In the nineteen-twenties, in a fabled city in the
sands of Egypt, in a hidden tomb, a beefy American
adventurer named O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) goes
looking for buried treasure. With him are a
studious but sultry librarian (Rachel Weisz) and
her dim but cowardly brother (John Hannah). We
already know that the tomb is booby-trapped by all
manner of ancient curses, and, soon enough, the
massed ranks of special effects arrive to take
revenge. Stephen Sommers's movie has the courage
of its own clichés; he piles the silliness on with
such speed that you don't have the time to notice
how dead and dusty most of his themes are. The
characters barely make it to two dimensions, and
the Arab figures that crop up at regular intervals
are a disgrace; this is the most unapologetically
racist comedy that Hollywood has produced in a
long while. What redeems it is the presence of
Fraser, who is having a ball just now; after his
subtle, unshowy performance in "Gods and
Monsters, he now successfully demonstrates how to
be lusty and affable at the same time.
Format size: | Fullscreen, Widescreen |
Languages: | English, Spanish, French |
Runtime: | 125 min. |
Number of discs: | 2 |
Subtitles: | Spanish, French |