The Mummy

[ｒａｂｂｉｔ]

Hey guys! So, I'm a crazy Netflix watcher and I just found out that The Mummy is on Netflix! I adore this movie but I haven't watched it in ages, so here I sit, writing this even whilst it plays in the background - I'll probably watch it two more times today, but I need to talk about something!

In the opening monologue, the gorgeous Oded Fehr's character, Ardeth Bay the Medjai cheiftan, narrates the following:

Imhotep's priests were condemned to be mummified alive; as for Imhotep, he was condemned to endure the Hom Dai, the worst of all ancient curses. One so horrible had never been done before. He was to remain sealed inside his sarcophagus, the undead for all eternity. The Medjai would never allow him to be released. For he would arise a walking disease, a plague upon mankind, an unholy flesh-eater with the strength of the ages, power over the sands, and the glory of invincibility.

My gripe is: why would they preform this ancient curse if it would grant this malevolent, revenge-seeking being such power if it were ever released? Surely, perhaps it was the trade for punishing someone so much, since "magic" as we know, requires a trade - power for power, sacrifice, what have you.

So, I turned to the person with whom I frequently go to with film and philosophical questions such as this: my father. His reply? "It was in the script."

Thanks, dad.

And now I turn to you awesome people! Discuss!

[Megilwen]

I think the idea was that they trusted in the Medjai to keep him locked away and protected. I mean they did pretty well considering that they at least did it for 1950ish years. Idk when he was first buried.

Also I love this movie. This is where I got the character name for my mains when I used to play MMOs. Everyone thought it was cause of league of legends. And I was like nope the mummy

[Notty]

I love this movie! It's one of my go-to "I wanna watch a movie...." movies

[Lady Celeste]

Words cannot express how thrilled I was to find this thread! I missed out on the movies for the most part when they first came out, mainly because I was too young at the time. But then I rediscovered them years later after buying the first two movies on iTunes (and later the DVD's of the cartoon series out of sheer curiosity), and I've been a certified Mummy fan ever since.

@Meg :: Seeing how the first movie is set mainly in 1926 A.D., while a subtitle when Imhotep went to resurrect Anck-su-Namun the first time set the date as 1290 B.C., that would mean that the Medjai had been keeping Imhotep buried for about 3,200 years (3,216 years, to be more precise) by that point. Ardeth Bay and Dr. Bey also mentioned on separate occasions that the Medjai have been keeping Imhotep buried for over 3,000 years, which basically confirms this.

[Megilwen]

I haven't seen the movIe in a while to remember the details. I just figured that saying at least 1950 years was a descent guess and still a significant amount of time keeping the dude from rising

[Lady Celeste]

That's true, and you're right that even guarding him for 1,950 years would still have been a really long time, which really says a lot about the Medjai's dedication to guarding Hamunaptra, in which case trusting them to keep Imhotep under wraps (no pun intended) like you mentioned would make perfect sense.

[ｒａｂｂｉｔ]

Why is Brendan Fraser so funny in this movie? Like,


what


are


you


even


doing

[Megilwen]

But he's so hot >.>

[Holeypaladin]

Because he's Brendan Fraser. It's like asking why Robin Williams is funny...

[Crazywolf]

I enjoyed this movie too but I do agree the premise of Imotep's power is rather contrived.

Anyone who liked this movie might also enjoy Big Trouble in Little China which has a similar kind of premise.