Mummy, The: Year of the Scorpion

I always liked this movie which seems like I'm in the minority, but it did have it's flaws which stopped it from being one of my favourite movies. This edit has it's good and bad edits and depending on how you view them this edit might or might not be for you, but for me I liked this edit as it cut out all the unnecessary parts which makes for a much shorter movie, but at the same time some of the scenes especially the action scenes felt rushed and ended to quickly just as the action was starting, also some of the audio cuts were noticeable. I did like the film restoration style of the edit and how the movie starts at the mansion as it makes the movie more mysterious about the object they have, I am also glad the Evy the reincarnation plot is gone as this never really made sense as well as the pygmy attack scenes which off all the attack scenes this one needed to be trimmed. So overall I enjoyed this edit slighty more then the original and would recommended it to anyone that liked the original.

I don’t have enough to say about this movie to write an essay. I saw it once in the theaters and all I remember is the horrible CGI and parts of the finale set piece. This edit was a good little flick, intentionally cheesy without being too terrible, some fun action, good lines, etc. Title cards were a nice gimmick. There were quite a few jarring audio cuts.

If you’re a fan of the first movie I think you’ll enjoy this edit.

A/V Quality - 8
Editing - 8 visual, 5 audio
Narrative - 8
Enjoyment - 7 (original 5)

Recommended drink: Dandy Shandy

Overview - “The Mummy Returns” was a pisspoor sequel to 1999′s “The Mummy.”
The editor intends to reduce the nonsense, minimize the action overload, keep the charm.

Video - 720 X 480p mpg. (Curious, the first mpg I’ve run across here at FE.). Every now and then, scenes concluded with what felt like an axe. Some of the transitions were inspired, especially the use of title cards to make jump cuts.

Audio - 5.1 AC3. The sound is robust and luxurious throughout. The same quibbles I had with the video also apply with the audio.

Narrative - Half the film is cut. Most is action oriented, which was simply padding for an underdeveloped story. To my reckoning, the Alex / Lock-Nah interchanges could have been halved. The original was bad (I have not rewatched it in years). The edit barely makes sense, though it is cohesive. It is jumpy. I don’t even have suggestions to improve. Most of the deleted sequences were not structural, but action.

Enjoyment - Gaith provides an excellent article on the character Meela Nais. His thoughts on her backstory are useful to understanding his edit. His essay was in my thoughts as I watched, and it helped me appreciate his work. I enjoyed this more than the original, but the original was dismal.
Hey! Hang with the credits for an Easter egg.
Since Gaith released his edit (a decade ago), he has mused about reworking a V2.
I would be interested in that.

I commend you for removing the annoying Evey reincarnation and Rick Medjai subplots and other such annoyances. However, I don't feel that your version managed to make "The Mummy Returns" into a better movie. There are too many annoyances to remove, and despite removing many flaws, your edit felt like it somehow made the remaining ones seem even worse. Also, there were too many noticeable cuts, which caused the editing to feel sloppy at many points.

While I like what you tried to do with this edit and feel that some of your changes were improvements, I feel that overall, it didn't work well. I, like you, consider "The Mummy" (1999) the best archeology-themed adventure movie since the original Indiana Jones trilogy, and its sequel far inferior to it. However, while you did remove some of the flaws of "The Mummy Returns", I am sad to say that I enjoyed your edit even less than the original movie.