Brendan Fraser’s New WWII Movie Pressure Debuts With Strong Rotten Tomatoes Score


A new World War II movie starring Brendan Fraser has debuted with a strong Rotten Tomatoes score.

Between The Whale, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, the crime comedy Brothers, and the comedy-drama Rental Family, Brendan Fraser’s movies have covered a wide range of genres in recent years. The popular actor, who won an Academy Award for his performance in The Whale, has also been generating a great deal of buzz since he is reprising his role as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy 4, the long-awaited sequel that is scheduled to release in theaters on October 15, 2027.



















City of the Dead · Expedition Briefing
How Well Do You Know The Mummy?
“It’s just a book. No harm ever came from reading a book.”

🏫The Mummy
(1999)
City of the Dead

The
Returns
Imhotep rises again

🦂Scorpion
King
Army of Anubis

🌍Adven­tureAcross the desert

🎞Brendan
Fraser
Rick O’Connell

01

What is the name of the ancient Egyptian city of the dead where Rick O’Connell and the other characters discover Imhotep’s tomb?




✓ Correct! Hamunaptra, the legendary City of the Dead, is the mythical lost city hidden beneath the Egyptian desert where the treasure of Egypt is said to be buried. It serves as the central location for the entire first film and is where Imhotep was entombed alive with the Hom-Dai curse over three thousand years ago.

✗ Cursed! The answer is Hamunaptra. Thebes, Alexandria, and Memphis are all real ancient Egyptian cities, but Hamunaptra is the fictional City of the Dead created for the film. Rick O’Connell first stumbles upon it while serving in the French Foreign Legion, and its location is so secret that it vanishes beneath the desert sands.

02

Who plays Evelyn Carnahan, the librarian and Egyptologist who becomes Rick’s love interest?




✓ Correct! Rachel Weisz brought Evelyn Carnahan to life in both The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001), perfectly balancing bookish charm with action-heroine bravery. Her chemistry with Brendan Fraser was a key ingredient in making the franchise such a beloved adventure series.

✗ Cursed! The answer is Rachel Weisz. She played the brilliant and determined Evelyn in the first two Mummy films before being replaced by Maria Bello in Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). Weisz won an Academy Award for The Constant Gardener in 2006, cementing her status as one of the finest actresses of her generation.

03

Imhotep was cursed with the Hom-Dai, the worst of all ancient Egyptian curses, for murdering which Pharaoh?




✓ Correct! Imhotep, the high priest of Osiris, murdered Pharaoh Seti I after beginning a forbidden affair with Seti’s mistress, Anck-su-namun. For this ultimate act of sacrilege, the Medjai condemned him to the Hom-Dai — mummified alive with flesh-eating scarabs, sealed in a sarcophagus for all eternity.

✗ Cursed! The answer is Pharaoh Seti I. Imhotep and Anck-su-namun, the Pharaoh’s mistress, conspired to murder Seti I so they could be together. The Hom-Dai curse was so feared that it had never been performed before, because it would give the cursed one the power to bring about the ten plagues of Egypt if ever resurrected.

04

What is the name of the magical book that Evelyn reads from, accidentally resurrecting Imhotep?




✓ Correct! The Book of the Dead (the Black Book) is the ancient text bound in black that Evelyn reads aloud at Hamunaptra, unwittingly awakening Imhotep from his three-thousand-year slumber. The Book of Amun-Ra (the Gold Book) is its counterpart, which can be used to kill Imhotep and send him back to the underworld.

✗ Cursed! The answer is The Book of the Dead. Don’t confuse it with the Book of Amun-Ra, which is the golden book that can reverse the curse and destroy Imhotep. Evelyn famously defended her actions by insisting “it’s just a book,” only to realize too late that reading its incantations brought a world of ancient terror roaring back to life.

05

In The Mummy Returns (2001), Rick and Evelyn’s son Alex is kidnapped. What ancient artifact has attached itself to Alex’s wrist?




✓ Correct! The Bracelet of Anubis is the powerful artifact that locks onto young Alex O’Connell’s wrist and reveals the path to the Scorpion King’s hidden oasis. The bracelet acts as a countdown timer — if not removed before the golden pyramid of Ahm Shere is reached, it will suck the life from its wearer.

✗ Cursed! The answer is The Bracelet of Anubis. This ancient relic was the key to finding the Scorpion King’s lair at the oasis of Ahm Shere. Once Alex put it on, it projected holographic visions of Egyptian landmarks guiding the way to the oasis, making him both the key to ultimate power and a target for Imhotep and his followers.

06

Which professional wrestling star made his film debut as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns before getting his own spinoff?




✓ Correct! Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made his feature film debut as the Scorpion King, Mathayus, in The Mummy Returns. His brief but memorable role led directly to the 2002 spinoff film The Scorpion King, which launched Johnson’s massive acting career and eventually made him Hollywood’s highest-paid star.

✗ Cursed! The answer is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Before becoming one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, Johnson was still a WWE champion when he was cast as the ancient warrior king Mathayus. The Scorpion King spinoff earned over $180 million worldwide and set the Guinness World Record for the highest salary for a first-time lead actor.

07

In The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), the action moves from Egypt to which country?




✓ Correct! The third film takes the O’Connell family to China, where they face the resurrected Emperor Han, a cursed dragon emperor played by Jet Li. The movie spans locations from 1940s Shanghai to the Himalayas and features the Terracotta Army coming to life in a climactic battle sequence.

✗ Cursed! The answer is China. Tomb of the Dragon Emperor moved away from Egyptian mythology entirely, pitting the O’Connells against a Chinese emperor cursed by a sorceress. Jet Li starred as Emperor Han, and the film featured iconic Chinese settings including the Great Wall, Shanghai, and the legendary Terracotta Army of Xi’an.

08

What secret ancient order is dedicated to protecting Hamunaptra and preventing Imhotep’s resurrection?




✓ Correct! The Medjai are the ancient warriors who have guarded the City of the Dead for over three thousand years, sworn to prevent anyone from disturbing Imhotep’s resting place. Led by Ardeth Bay (played by Oded Fehr), they are fierce desert fighters who become crucial allies to Rick O’Connell across the first two films.

✗ Cursed! The answer is The Medjai. This secret order of desert warriors has protected Hamunaptra for millennia, ensuring that Imhotep’s terrible curse is never unleashed upon the world. Their leader, Ardeth Bay, initially opposes Rick and Evelyn’s expedition but ultimately becomes one of their most trusted allies in the fight against the resurrected priest.

Expedition Complete · Report Filed
Your Expedition Score

/ 8

Medjai warrior — or just another treasure hunter?

Now, Fraser’s new World War II film Pressure has debuted with an 83% critics’ score based on 23 reviews. The score will likely fluctuate as more reviews are added before and after the movie comes to theaters on May 29.

Pressure is a movie about D-Day, but rather than mostly focusing on showing the actual invasion, it is about the 72 hours prior. It tells the real story of how a meteorologist named Captain James Stagg worked to convince General Dwight D. Eisenhower to delay the invasion from June 5, 1944 to June 6 due to perilous weather conditions. Many lives and the outcome of the war were saved as a result of the decision to push it back to June 6. Fraser plays Eisenhower in the film while Emmy Award nominee Andrew Scott plays Stagg.

In ScreenRant‘s Pressure review, Brandon Zachary gives the movie six out of 10 stars and highlights the two actors’ performances: “Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser do terrific work in the lead roles, and they’re magnetic enough to make a movie about debates over weather predictions riveting – even if the script and direction can’t quite match their tone.” He also praises Fraser for doing “a great job at making Eisenhower come across as a man haunted by the potential for disaster.”

IGN‘s review by Jim Vejvoda also gives a “Fresh” score, in this case eight out of 10 stars, because “war movie fans and WWII buffs should appreciate the film’s devotion to detail, while mainstream audiences will be treated to a taut, compelling story about the very real men behind the icons who ensured an Allied victory.”

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Frank Scheck is impressed by the cast, particularly Scott, and how the movie is able to successfully escalate the tension as it progresses: “Featuring an award-worthy performance by Andrew Scott in the lead role and solid supporting turns by Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon and Chris Messina, Pressure lives up to its title with its expert ratcheting up of sustained tension.”

As for the “Rotten” reviews, Alison Foreman at IndieWire expresses frustration at how the director, Anthony Maras, nearly elevates the film, but is ultimately unable to do so despite several promising moments: “There are hints of a far better movie peeking out from Maras’ dull weather drama, and the Australian director nearly finds it on numerous occasions.”

In TheWrap‘s review, William Bibbiani compliments Maras’ direction, but feels it doesn’t do enough to justify the interesting historical background into a full movie: “Maras’ sturdy, competent direction isn’t enough to turn Pressure into anything more than a nifty historical anecdote that can’t sustain a feature-length motion picture.”

If Pressure‘s Tomatometer score stays “Fresh,” it will be Fraser’s third film in a row to achieve this feat. Rental Family‘s positive reviews led to an 88% critics’ score, while Diamond received an 82% after debuting at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. His only “Rotten” critics’ score for a movie since 2020 is Brothers, which sits at 44%. Fraser’s recent movies have generally been receiving high audience scores too, including 95% for Rental Family and 91% for The Whale.

Along with Fraser as Eisenhower and Scott as Stagg, Pressure features Academy Award nominee Kerry Condon as Kay Summersby, Chris Messina as Irving P. Krick, Damian Lewis as Bernard Montgomery, and Henry Ashton as John Eisenhower. The screenplay was co-written by Maras and David Haig, the latter of whom previously wrote the story as a stage play that was first performed in 2014.

Pressure releases in theaters on May 29.



Release Date

May 29, 2026

Runtime

90 Minutes

Director

Anthony Maras




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