10 Great Films From Bad Directors
6. The Mummy - Stephen Sommers
A childhood classic for many and an awakening for bisexuals the world over, 1999’s The Mummy was a swashbuckling take on the classic Universal Monster property that managed to reinvigorate the action-adventure genre at the time.
Following the world’s greatest librarian Evie as she enlists the help of tomb-raiding stallion Rick O’Connell to find the lost fortune of Hamunaptra, the group instead awaken a cursed mummy by the name of Imhotep. Now faced with a world-ending magical threat, the group teams up with a group of ancient Egyptian warriors to slay the monster and end the curse once and for all.
The Mummy is high on the list of ‘greatest films ever’ for 90s kids and we have director Stephen Sommers to thank for that. Much like Paul W.S. Anderson, Sommers makes some really fun movies; Deep Rising and Van Helsing are low-key cult classics in their own right but none of his work has ever reached the heights of this Brendan ‘Literal Angel’ Frasier vehicle.
Sommers doesn’t attempt anything too flashy with The Mummy, instead letting the fun script and excellent cast do the heavy lifting. This isn’t to say his work was complacent as oftentimes it’s very difficult for directors to step back and let their films breathe as Sommers did here.