Tale of the Mummy

Rating:
Summary: A Tribute To Hammer That Just Doesn't Work
Review: "Tale of the Mummy" starts like most all mummy movies should. In the mid '40's, bunch of greedy archeologists stumble on the tomb of an cursed old guy and pay for it. Then, the story moves to the 1990's where (using high tech devices) some other scientists find the tomb again, and take their findings back to London. But, instead of a mummy, they find just the rappings of an ancient witch doctor named Talos. The wrappings come to life, and start their rampage. The wrappings! Seriously, just a bunch of bandages come alive and shape-shift around London, killing a bunch of people we hadn't seen previously. The victims will come on screen and after three of so sentences of diolague and two minutes of screen time, those whiley bandages come in and band-aid them to death! It's quite boring and VERY drawn out. The main characters aren't much better. Jason Scott Lee looks pretty bored as Detective Riley, protecting some dame archeologist caught up in it all because her great grandfather accidentally opened the damn tomb. Still with me? Eventually though, we see an actual creature, but it has nothing to do with a mummy! Or what Talos looked like before! Is it Talos? I was pretty sure the bandages were, but I've forgotten now. I think it had to do with the alignment of the planets or something. Don't ask me! All I'll say further is that this movie is pretty boring. The ending makes even less sense then the rest of the movie and the visual effects are really third rate. If you are seriously bored, and have nothing better to do with the couple bucks in your wallet, then go out and rent it. Just to give yourself a bit of a brain teaser.

Rating:
Summary: A good idea gone horribly wrong...
Review: "Tale of the Mummy" attempts to shake up the typical methodology of "mummy" movies by intertwining a murder mystery along with the evil one's approaching re-birth. The FX of the regenerating mummy's wrappings is the best part of the movie. Jason Scott Lee's pedestrian performance drags down each and every scene that he stumbles into. The flash-back sequences of the how the "mummy" came into being is so confusing and stupid that it makes the entire movie utterly pointless. Although the ending was somewhat original, it left me wondering why I had endured an hour and half of this tripe.

Rating:
Summary: A Tribute To Hammer That Just Doesn't Work
Review: "Tale of the Mummy" starts like most all mummy movies should. In the mid '40's, bunch of greedy archeologists stumble on the tomb of an cursed old guy and pay for it. Then, the story moves to the 1990's where (using high tech devices) some other scientists find the tomb again, and take their findings back to London. But, instead of a mummy, they find just the rappings of an ancient witch doctor named Talos. The wrappings come to life, and start their rampage. The wrappings! Seriously, just a bunch of bandages come alive and shape-shift around London, killing a bunch of people we hadn't seen previously. The victims will come on screen and after three of so sentences of diolague and two minutes of screen time, those whiley bandages come in and band-aid them to death! It's quite boring and VERY drawn out. The main characters aren't much better. Jason Scott Lee looks pretty bored as Detective Riley, protecting some dame archeologist caught up in it all because her great grandfather accidentally opened the damn tomb. Still with me? Eventually though, we see an actual creature, but it has nothing to do with a mummy! Or what Talos looked like before! Is it Talos? I was pretty sure the bandages were, but I've forgotten now. I think it had to do with the alignment of the planets or something. Don't ask me! All I'll say further is that this movie is pretty boring. The ending makes even less sense then the rest of the movie and the visual effects are really third rate. If you are seriously bored, and have nothing better to do with the couple bucks in your wallet, then go out and rent it. Just to give yourself a bit of a brain teaser.

Rating:
Summary: Underated British Horror, With A Twist!!!
Review: Being released at around the same time as Brendan Fraser's 'The Mummy' put this British offering at an imediate disadvantage. It might not have had the flashey special effects of it's mainstream Hollywood counterpart, but it was I felt superior in every other way. The digital morphing effects of the mummy wrapping were excellent, but some of the physical effects were a little disapointing. But in general the engaging storyline made up for this. Released in the UK as Talos The Mummy, it was out here before 'The Mummy' but went by mostly unnoticed, (not even being available to buy on DVD) and probably would have done no better in America if it had been released earlier. I, myself only rented it becasue I was a fan of Louise Lombard's earlier television appearance in the 1920's period drama 'The House Of Eliot'.

For much of the film Jason Scott Lee did seem somewhat out of place, not really pulling off his attempts to make Riley the enigmatic character he seemed to want him to be. Jack Davenport giving a much more rounded preformance as Detective Bartone. Also, much better use could have been made of Honor Blackman as hard-nose Captain Shea. Though it's interesting, perhaps for the benefit of an American audience, that the American police ranking system is used for the chacters rather than the British one. The film benefited from a cameo appearance from Christopher Lee, giving it a very Hammer-esque feel from the start. Sean Pertwee as cocky Bradley Cortese, driven mad by visons of horror is truely unsettling. The flash backs to Talos before he died work for the most part, but at times ditract from the tension of a scene. Visually, they're very striking, and while explaining the origin of the myth Sean Pertwee is all the more unsetteling because we know he's right. Louise Lombard compensates well for Jason Scott Lee's unanimated preformance in the scenes they share, but neither I think gave the best that they're capable of. It was Lysette Anthony's wonderfully understated prefomance that stole the film for me, but unfortunately did fizzle out a bit at the end.

The idea of setting the super-natural aspects of the film against the back drop of a murder mystery was a good one, it gave the film a fresher, more modern feel as opposed to a more Indiana Jones style action-adventure. But it perhaps wasn't excecuted as well as it could have been, because the mummy is such a large presence in itself, as the viewer there was never really a feeling that anyone else could have been responsible. The London setting as well added to that modern feel, and the deaths all taking place in confined places: a nightclub, and underground car park, even on the London underground; it all added intesity and the feeling of no escape. It did seem a little implausible that so many of the characters carried guns, but somehow it all added a sense that these were events taking place in some parallel universe, harder and less inviting than our own. For a British audience there were wonderful camoes by Bill Treacher and Elizabeth Power as Louise Lombard's next door neighbours, unknown in America but famous in Britain for there roles in a weeknight soap opera playing a philandering husband and his mistress. On this DVD some of their scenes which appear in the UK vesion had been cut, as have some other early scenes in favour of a death scene which is only refered to and not seen in the UK version. Which is a shame really, as one of the scenes cut is a lecture on how to preform a post-mortem given by Lysette Anthony's charcter, which provides an important added layer to the charcter. Indeed, the DVD itself might have benefited from some bonus material like deleted scenes. As it is it's a little bare, with just some recommendations of other films. As a viewer used to Hollywood endings I was pleasantly surpised by this film, and the second twist coming so quickly after the first I hardly had time to catch my breath. But personnaly I always perfer to watch a film that keeps me thinking about it after it's finished, rather than have forgotten about it before the end credits have finished.

Having read most of the other reviews given to this film, there seems to have been a genarally negative response. It not ever going to be a cinema classic, and the best advise I can give is rent it before you buy it, but keep an open mind. If you're expecting a carbon copy of 'The Mummy' you'll only be disappointed, but try and put aside any expectations and you might just find a really enjoyable film.

Rating:
Summary: Underated British Horror, With A Twist!!!
Review: Being released at around the same time as Brendan Fraser's 'The Mummy' put this British offering at an imediate disadvantage. It might not have had the flashey special effects of it's mainstream Hollywood counterpart, but it was I felt superior in every other way. The digital morphing effects of the mummy wrapping were excellent, but some of the physical effects were a little disapointing. But in general the engaging storyline made up for this. Released in the UK as Talos The Mummy, it was out here before 'The Mummy' but went by mostly unnoticed, (not even being available to buy on DVD) and probably would have done no better in America if it had been released earlier. I, myself only rented it becasue I was a fan of Louise Lombard's earlier television appearance in the 1920's period drama 'The House Of Eliot'.

For much of the film Jason Scott Lee did seem somewhat out of place, not really pulling off his attempts to make Riley the enigmatic character he seemed to want him to be. Jack Davenport giving a much more rounded preformance as Detective Bartone. Also, much better use could have been made of Honor Blackman as hard-nose Captain Shea. Though it's interesting, perhaps for the benefit of an American audience, that the American police ranking system is used for the chacters rather than the British one. The film benefited from a cameo appearance from Christopher Lee, giving it a very Hammer-esque feel from the start. Sean Pertwee as cocky Bradley Cortese, driven mad by visons of horror is truely unsettling. The flash backs to Talos before he died work for the most part, but at times ditract from the tension of a scene. Visually, they're very striking, and while explaining the origin of the myth Sean Pertwee is all the more unsetteling because we know he's right. Louise Lombard compensates well for Jason Scott Lee's unanimated preformance in the scenes they share, but neither I think gave the best that they're capable of. It was Lysette Anthony's wonderfully understated prefomance that stole the film for me, but unfortunately did fizzle out a bit at the end.

The idea of setting the super-natural aspects of the film against the back drop of a murder mystery was a good one, it gave the film a fresher, more modern feel as opposed to a more Indiana Jones style action-adventure. But it perhaps wasn't excecuted as well as it could have been, because the mummy is such a large presence in itself, as the viewer there was never really a feeling that anyone else could have been responsible. The London setting as well added to that modern feel, and the deaths all taking place in confined places: a nightclub, and underground car park, even on the London underground; it all added intesity and the feeling of no escape. It did seem a little implausible that so many of the characters carried guns, but somehow it all added a sense that these were events taking place in some parallel universe, harder and less inviting than our own. For a British audience there were wonderful camoes by Bill Treacher and Elizabeth Power as Louise Lombard's next door neighbours, unknown in America but famous in Britain for there roles in a weeknight soap opera playing a philandering husband and his mistress. On this DVD some of their scenes which appear in the UK vesion had been cut, as have some other early scenes in favour of a death scene which is only refered to and not seen in the UK version. Which is a shame really, as one of the scenes cut is a lecture on how to preform a post-mortem given by Lysette Anthony's charcter, which provides an important added layer to the charcter. Indeed, the DVD itself might have benefited from some bonus material like deleted scenes. As it is it's a little bare, with just some recommendations of other films. As a viewer used to Hollywood endings I was pleasantly surpised by this film, and the second twist coming so quickly after the first I hardly had time to catch my breath. But personnaly I always perfer to watch a film that keeps me thinking about it after it's finished, rather than have forgotten about it before the end credits have finished.

Having read most of the other reviews given to this film, there seems to have been a genarally negative response. It not ever going to be a cinema classic, and the best advise I can give is rent it before you buy it, but keep an open mind. If you're expecting a carbon copy of 'The Mummy' you'll only be disappointed, but try and put aside any expectations and you might just find a really enjoyable film.

Rating:
Summary: scott berger's view
Review: DO NOT BUY THIS MOVIE!This movie is very hard to follow. The quality of the audio is very poor, you cant understand what the characters are saying. The plot at the end leaves alot to be desired.Scott Berger

Rating:
Summary: completely ... a waste of time
Review: Except for the actress, the movie is totally a soup of nonsense ...thanks to the script writer.

Rating:
Summary: Why wasn't this theatrical?
Review: Forget that shallow eye-candy, George-of-the-Jungle-starring-theatrical piece of fluff; "Tale of the Mummy" is the years best 'mummy' film!!! This has a truely original story, giving the mummy sub-genre a breath of fresh air. The acting is first rate, the script well-written and intelligent, and the special effects are the stuff nightmares are made of. This film is a must-own for anyone who collects genre films... and even for those who don't.

Rating:
Summary: Why wasn't this theatrical?
Review: Forget that shallow eye-candy, George-of-the-Jungle-starring-theatrical piece of fluff; "Tale of the Mummy" is the years best 'mummy' film!!! This has a truely original story, giving the mummy sub-genre a breath of fresh air. The acting is first rate, the script well-written and intelligent, and the special effects are the stuff nightmares are made of. This film is a must-own for anyone who collects genre films... and even for those who don't.

Rating:
Summary: unique and different
Review: FULL OF ACTION AND SUSPENSE THIS IS A MORE SERIOUS MUMMY PICTURE. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SOME SEMI-CUTE MUMMY SLOWLY GROWLING AND ATTACKING, THIS WILL NOT BE YOUR IDEAL MUMMY MOVIE, BUT IF YOU WANT SOMETHING MORE CREATIVE CHECK OUT THIS FILM.