How It Rewrote Action Movie Rules In The 2000s

Brendan Fraser starred in a hit action movie that’s so good that it rewrote the rules of action movies in the 2000s. Brendan Fraser’s career is currently going through a long-awaited renaissance after first peaking in the 1990s and into the 2000s. Fraser’s career on the big screen began in 1991, but he became widely known after starring in George of the Jungle in 1997.

George of the Jungle opened many doors for Fraser, who won the audience over with his natural charm, sense of humor, and acting range. In 1999, Fraser starred in the action-adventure movie The Mummy, which, even though it wasn’t a critical hit, is now one of the most beloved action movies of the 1990s – and, even better, it rewrote the rules of action movies moving into the 2000s.

How The Mummy Changed Action Movies

Directed by Stephen Sommers, The Mummy takes the audience to 1926 AD Cairo, where librarian Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah) recruit treasure hunter Rick O’Connell (Fraser) to help them find the mythical City of the Dead of Hamunaptra. However, they accidentally awaken the cursed high priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo).

1999’s The Mummy is a loose remake of the 1932 horror classic of the same name, but it’s a franchise of its own.

As mentioned above, The Mummy wasn’t the critics’ favorite during its release, though it was a huge box-office hit, but the real legacy of The Mummy is its impact on action movies. The Mummy is a period action movie, and it came out at a time when this type of movie wasn’t succeeding (with a couple of exceptions, of course), but The Mummy broke that streak.

The Mummy’s blend of period, action, comedy, and horror made it stand out and succeed, and, of course, its charming lead actors and the incredible chemistry between the entire cast added to that success and popularity. The Mummy was unique within all those genres, as it has a good dose of action, enough drama to hook the audience, and its horror elements don’t rely on gore and brutality.

The Mummy wasn’t looking to be groundbreaking, instead just being a very fun movie, but it left its mark on the action genre. Fraser’s character was a different type of action hero that wasn’t seen often in the 1990s, drifting away from the muscular, cold, and sometimes expressionless action heroes and, instead, being charming, vulnerable, smart, and funny.

Rachel Weisz’s character also made an impact on the action genre, breaking the mold of a damsel-in-distress and using her expertise, intelligence, and strength while working alongside Fraser’s character. Of course, the love story between these two changed the action genre, too, being more of a slow-burn that doesn’t take the attention away from the action and mythology.

The Mummy Spawned A Franchise That Couldn’t Keep Up

The box office success of The Mummy led to it spawning a franchise that, perhaps unsurprisingly, couldn’t keep up with the original movie. First was The Mummy Returns, which was a commercial hit as well, but wasn’t well-received by critics (even worse than the first movie). Once again, its performance numbers allowed it to get a continuation.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor closed the trilogy with negative reviews but, once more, was a box office success. Although there wasn’t a sequel right away, the franchise expanded with the prequel The Scorpion King, which isn’t fondly remembered by fans.

The movies that followed 1999’s The Mummy failed because of their poor visual effects, trying too hard to be serious (and thus completely missing the point of the first movie), and not being able to replicate the charm of the first movie. Luckily, there’s a new chance to make this right for the Mummy franchise.

What The Mummy 4 Needs To Do To Save The Franchise

Jonathan Evelyn and O'Connell in The Mummy 1999 — Jonathan Evelyn and O’Connell in The Mummy 1999

A fourth Mummy movie is now in development, and it’s confirmed to bring Fraser, Weisz, and Hannah back as O’Connell, Evelyn, and Jonathan. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are set to direct, and the movie has a projected release date of May 2028.

With two failed sequels and a prequel, and a big gap between the third movie and the upcoming one, one would like to think that the team behind The Mummy 4 has taken note of what the movie needs to succeed. The Mummy 4 doesn’t need to be deep and complex, and will be a lot better if it goes back to the first movie’s formula of prioritizing fun over everything else.

The Mummy 4 already has the chemistry of its main cast guaranteed, so it just needs a good story that does justice to the characters and lets them shine, just like the first movie did. The Mummy 4 has big chances of succeeding, but it must learn from the mistakes of the past sequels.