Episode 139: Myth Movie Night - The Mummy

We’re breaking into some 90’s CGI and inaccurate Egyptian mythology with this week’s Myth Movie Night - The Mummy! We stan Brendan Frasier, gush over Rachel Weisz, poke holes in plot, and remind you that “no harm ever came from reading a book”.

Check out the first round of Head Heart Gut by joining the MultiCrew! This week, Amanda recommends The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory.

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about racism, suicide, mummification, death, gun violence, hanging, spiders/bugs, nonconsensual kissing, brainwashing, 


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Transcript

Amanda:            Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends and folklore. Every week we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.

Julia:                    And I'm Julia.

Amanda:            This is Episode 139 Myth Movie Night, The Mummy.

Julia:                    This is Amanda's first time watching The Mummy. I love that we keep-

Amanda:            Iconic.

Julia:                    … picking films that you haven't seen before. It's very important to me.

Amanda:            Yeah, I have hardly seen any films. I hardly know what film is.

Julia:                    You're like a sweet, innocent babe when it comes to film.

Amanda:            It was entirely entertaining. I really enjoyed this film. However, if you don't like us talking about the resoundingly poor effects of colonialism on the world, maybe not the episode for you. I'm not going to lie.

Julia:                    Nope. There's a lot of that. It's a lot of us saying the opposite of Indiana Jones, so it doesn't belong in a museum. Please return it back to the place that it's supposed to be.

Amanda:            Listen, Spirits Podcast, show up for the ghosts, stay for the restorative justice. That's all I'm saying.

Julia:                    That's all we're here for.

Amanda:            Julia, do you know who would never patron a museum with stolen artifacts?

Julia:                    Would it be our new patrons?

Amanda:            Our new patrons; Jen, Cheyenne, Tristan, and Lynn Amanda.

Julia:                    I really liked that transition, by the way. It's very good.

Amanda:            Thank you so much. And our supporting producer level patrons are those who totally become members of their museum's membership program. Philip, Eeyore, Skyla, Mercedes, Samantha, Danica, Marissa, Sammy, Josie, Neil, Jessica, and Phil Fresh, as well as our legend level patrons whose names are inscribed on the staircase of The Met; Ayla, Cody, Mr. Folk, James, Jess, Sarah, Sandra, Audra, and Jack Marie.

Julia:                    You and I had the same idea for how to embody our legend level patrons and I appreciate it.

Amanda:            Oh, thanks. Speaking of which we are ordering this week, the plaque for our founders wall here in the Multitude office, so excited about it. If you join the MultiCrew at the magnificence level, you too can get your name inscribed forever on the Multitude EO Wall.

Julia:                    Yes, and if you haven't signed up for MultiCrew, you probably haven't heard the first couple of episodes of Head Heart Gut.

Amanda:            Head Heart Gut. Today actually you can hear Julia defend her baby Squirtle the gayest Pokemon on the first round of Head Heart Gut, which is all about debating the best generation one Pokemon starter.

Julia:                    Yeah, you can hear Eric and Mike set me up for a trap and then deduct points because they set me up for a trap.

Amanda:            Listen, it's a very ferocious debate lovingly with some rules and no stakes, Multitude.

Julia:                    Yeah, it's a Pokemon eat Pokemon world out there and it's rough. But Head Heart Gut is hysterical and lovely.

Amanda:            You can sign up for the MultiCrew now to get access to this member exclusive show @multicrew.club.

Julia:                    multicrew.club. You are so good with the new websites. I love it so much.

Amanda:            I try, I try. But speaking of which, you're still good with the drinks, Julia. Please tell us, remind us again what you were drinking, this delicious cocktail.

Julia:                    Well, we did a Blood and Sand, I mentioned it a little bit more in the episode, but it just seems really appropriate just like it for our Sekhmet episode. I just wanted to dive right in there and get in the mood for everything. It does feature scotch and this is one of the few scotch drinks I actually like. So, there we go.

Amanda:            It also has the effect of making me picture a lioness ripping men's throats out in the desert, which it's a mood.

Julia:                    A bonus for any cocktail. Amanda, Amanda, I have a question for you.

Amanda:            Yes.

Julia:                    What you've been reading? What you've been watching? Tell me about things.

Amanda:            Oh, Julia. I would love to tell you about the beautiful novel that I gobble, gobble, gobbled up. The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory. This is continuing my romcom trend. It feels like YA in the best possible way. In the same way that Red, White & Royal Blue does, where it's lovely. It focuses on personalities. There's no boring overly pretentious pros in there. Only the sex is a little bit sexier and it's absolutely wonderful. Guillory also does this Sarah Dessen thing where the books are all set in a shared universe with the paths of the characters intersecting, which you know we love. But each novel does stand on its own and there are two more coming out in 2019 in this universe, like four books in this universe. Went from one to four in the course of the year. Guillory knows we're fans. We need it. We need more books.

Julia:                    Damn. That is incredible. I love your romcoms summer reads list.

Amanda:            Thank you. It's totally wonderful. That's The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory.

Julia:                    I also want to take a quick, hot second because this trailer for this movie just dropped, The Lighthouse by the same guy who did The Witch.

Amanda:            Yes.

Julia:                    And it's all in black and white and it looks like it's a period nautical piece about two dudes in a lighthouse and tar and I'm so excited for it.

Amanda:            Oh, I got excited that it was an adaptation of Virginia Woolf's, The Lighthouse, which is just a dismal book about aging.

Julia:                    I'm sorry it's not that, but there were tentacles and probably a cracking in there, so it's up our alley.

Amanda:            It sounds great. Well, I'll be sure to check that out, Julia, but not before enjoying Spirits Podcast, Episode 139 Myth Movie Night, The Mummy.

Julia:                    Amanda, I know this one is not a tight 90 for you, but this week we watched The Mummy.

Amanda:            We did and my first note was, “Ooh, some 90s CGI baby.”

Julia:                    It's actually not bad CGI, all things considered.

Amanda:            It's not awful, but it is definitely like, "Oh, that's an animated mummy coming at me." Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. There were definitely some moments where I was like, “Oops, with the 90s we were less aware than we are now.” But it was fully entertaining and Brendan Fraser, tall drink of water, man.

Julia:                    Yeah. This movie does go hard into the, “Oh, we'll just cast some white people as Egyptians. It's fine.”

Amanda:            Yeah, and like the looting and colonialism of like “discovering” things and-

Julia:                    It's the 1920s too at this point. It was-

Amanda:            Oh, is it really? I had no concept of time at all.

Julia:                    Really?

Amanda:            Yeah.

Julia:                    I'm so curious. First, let's talk about our cocktail that we're having today though.

Amanda:            Yes, yes.

Julia:                    I chose the Blood and Sand for this episode.

Amanda:            What a classic. I love it so much.

Julia:                    It's so good and it's also basically name dropped in the film.

Amanda:            Yeah, I thought that.

Julia:                    There's a whole section, and I will quote it here, that comes from Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell. He says, “My whole damn garrison believed in this so much that without orders they marched halfway across Libya and into Egypt to find that city. When we got there, all we found was sand and blood.” So, blood and sands for the cocktails.

Amanda:            There you go. I think we drank this for our Linus.

Julia:                    Sekhmet.

Amanda:            Sekhmet. So good, but it's delicious. I love it. Anytime of year, especially good in summer. It's like a lighter take on a Manhattan or something you think of as being more autumnal or wintry.

Julia:                    I definitely think of Manhattan as autumnal and wintry. I'm glad you said it.

Amanda:            Oh, yeah, no. But like the juice component, I think is just delicious.

Julia:                    Yeah.

Amanda:            Patrons of the $4 level or above on patron.com/spiritspodcast, can I get that recipe delivered to you?

Julia:                    Ooh. I wonder if we could next time do this with a lighter juice, like a watermelon juice or something like that to kind of lighten it up and make it more summery.

Amanda:            Tangerine.

Julia:                    Ooh, tan … Blood orange, there we go. That's our answer.

Amanda:            Ooh. That's the one.

Julia:                    Found it, we're very good.

Amanda:            Well, we'll have to make that during our refill.

Julia:                    There we go. Amanda, let's get into the nitty gritty of this because there's a lot of plague with Egyptian mythology and history that is not accurate whatsoever. I will say this is one of Jake's favorite movies of all time like-

Amanda:            I see it. I see it being so entertaining. As I was watching it, I was thinking about how much Jake would enjoy these scenes and also how this would adapt itself to like a ride at Universal or something because I-

Julia:                    It's a ride Universal.

Amanda:            Oh, good. Okay, yes because I was like, “There are so many moments where I could see it being made into like an animatronic moment in a ride.” Listen, I enjoyed the movie even though there are moments where I was like, “Ooh, not quite sure.” I had a really fun time and it did not feel overly long. And there was some good content, so I can't wait to discuss.

Julia:                    Yeah, it's definitely an entertaining film. It was definitely big 90s, early 2000s film. This franchise is how the Rock got into acting.

Amanda:            Is that true? I didn't know that.

Julia:                    Yes. He was in a spinoff called the Scorpion King.

Amanda:            Ooh.

Julia:                    Which he played this Scorpion King.

Amanda:            Well, that might be a good transition, Jules to my first question, which is why is everyone covered in gold paint?

Julia:                    That's a great question. Let's start with the plot and then we'll get there I suppose.

Amanda:            Okay, sure.

Julia:                    We start the movie off with a flashback to Thebes, not the Greek city, the one in Egypt, which they call the City of the Living and it's supposed to be 1290 BC. They show the Sphinx, which is definitely not located in Thebes. They also show the Pyramids of Giza, which are also not located in Thebes. That's interesting.

Amanda:            Just fast and loose, Jules. Fast and loose.

Julia:                    It started out real good.

Amanda:            Just take a lot of coke. Be a man in your mid-30s in LA in 1996 and just get into the head space.

Julia:                    We're introduced to the High Priest, Imhotep, who they call The Keeper of the Dead. He is having a love affair with Anck-Su-Namun who supposedly no other man was allowed to touch her. She was the mistress of Pharaoh Seti I. Not accurate again, she wasn't. I think she ended up being the wife of King Tut, but definitely not King Seti I.

Amanda:            Oh, but she was like a historical figure?

Julia:                    She was a historical figure. I'm like 90% sure about that. Everyone here is named after a historical figure. They're just people who never would have historically met ever.

Amanda:            Got you. They like remixed it. I get the point with these things too because in Greek mythology didn't the Sphinx guard Thebes. So, maybe they were kind of like playing with it by putting it outside the Egyptian City of Thebes-

Julia:                    That's interesting.

Amanda:            … even though it's geographically not right.

Julia:                    Yes. That's interesting. I wouldn't have thought of that. I appreciate you. As you pointed out, Anck-Su-Namun, I'm going to pronounce her name wrong the entire movie. Anck-Su-Namun is just covered in paint for some reason. Also, there's no nipples. I'm glad that pasties were invented in 1290 BC.

Amanda:            Yeah. For her though, I get the painting because she has a little bit of an embrace with Imhotep, the High Priest. Then later when the Pharaoh spots her, he sees a little bit of like a smudge in her arm paint. Listen, it's very hot. Maybe she sweated, but he takes that as like evidence as someone has touched his property.

Julia:                    Maybe she touched her own arms, I don't know.

Amanda:            Maybe she did, maybe she itched, maybe there was like a scarab beetle because there are thousands of them apparently ready to eat your skin at any time.

Julia:                    Yeah. By the way, Imhotep from the sources I could find translates to, he who comes in peace, which is an interesting thing to name your villain but-

Amanda:            Maybe originally.

Julia:                    But he was seemingly named after a Chancellor of the Pharaoh, Djoser, who was later deified as the High Priest of Ra in Heliopolis.

Amanda:            Cool.

Julia:                    The Pharaoh as you pointed out, discovers the affair. Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun assassinate him, which is wild. Imhotep fleas. Anck-Su-Namun commits suicide intending for Imhotep to resurrect her instead of her being taken by the Medjay, which is the bodyguards of the Pharaoh. Imhotep and his priest steal her corpse and they traveled to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, which is also not actually a thing and is the name of an Indian city, not an Egyptian one. The resurrection ritual is stopped by Seti's guards, the Medjay as I said before.

                             Not the Magi because I was thinking like the wise men who came to Jesus. Two different thing, spelled differently. Imhotep's priests were all mummified alive while Imhotep himself was sentenced to suffer the Hom Dai, which according to the movie is the worst of the Egyptian curses. His tongue is cut out. He's buried alive with flesh eating scarab beetles. So, he's-

Amanda:            It does kind of sound like the worst one, right?

Julia:                    Yes. I'll get to the accuracy of that in a second.

Amanda:            Okay. Okay.

Julia:                    He is then sealed away in a sarcophagus at the feet of the god Anubis who is the god of the mummification and partially the underworld. And is kept under strict surveillance by the Medjay to prevent his return. He's using, during the resurrection thing, the Black Book of the Dead, they called it, which I did a Google too. It's supposed to be made of pure obsidian, which is nonsense.

Amanda:            Yeah. That's, ooh.

Julia:                    Also the book of the dead it's a thing, but it wasn't actually like a book. It was a set of scrolls that had spells and passages of texts that were designed to help the dead navigate the afterlife.

Amanda:            Yes, Julia. Book binding invented definitely in the BCE era.

Julia:                    Much later.

Amanda:            Yeah. Also, I love this idea that there could be like a single worst curse of like all of Egypt, which is like a civilization spanning thousands and thousands of years with like multiple areas and religions and epics and goodness.

Julia:                    To answer the question that I'm sure is on everyone's mind about the Hom Dai and the living mummification. Mummification was a privilege. It wasn't like a thing that was done to everyone because it granted immortality in the afterlife. It granted you a life after death so-

Amanda:            And I'm assuming extremely expensive. It took days and days and days.

Julia:                    Yeah, exactly. So, you wouldn't do that to someone who did a murder. You didn't do that to someone who's assassinated your Pharaoh. The Hom Dai is basically nonsense. Other than the fact that being buried alive or decapitated were traditional ways of punishing someone who committed assassination like Imhotep. They wouldn't have mummified them. They would have just buried them alive or cut their heads off.

Amanda:            Yeah, that makes much more sense to me.

Julia:                    Also in that scene we see a bunch of people wearing Anubis heads. Like all of the people doing modification are wearing Anubis heads, which wouldn't happen because you only had one person wear the head at the time because they were embodying the god and clearly you can't have everyone doing that at the same time.

Amanda:            It makes sense.

Julia:                    I'll also talk a little bit about the Medjay here. Just I'm getting the stuff out of the way now so that we don't have to talk about it later. The Medjay ere a thing. They were a paramilitary police force for Pharaoh's since the new kingdom. Interestingly though the Medjay I didn't exist after 1077, which is less than 200 years after this movie is supposed to take place, which is interesting to say the least. There was no mention of them after that period. During the 18th dynasty they were known to protect the royal palaces and tombs of Thebes, but they could be found all across the Egyptian kingdom. That's a little interesting, fun fact about the Medjay. After all of this stuff goes down and Imhotep has been buried and whatnot, we flash forward to 1923, I believe.

Amanda:            That makes sense. Definitely like, “Hey, if we can just like go to any country and just take stuff, and that's called discovery.” God, it's the worst.

Julia:                    We open with the French Foreign Legion fighting some sort of native force. I'm not entirely sure what's going on here because like as-

Amanda:            I was not either.

Julia:                    … much research as I did, there was no armed conflict in this area at this time. There's nothing going on. The French Foreign Legion wouldn't have been fighting anyone. There's also no explanation why as to Brendan Fraser aka Rick O'Connell is fighting with the French Foreign Legion.

Amanda:            Yeah, no, none at all. My general assumption was that it was alluding versus local either protectors or local looters and everyone just wants to get in on this and they're fighting it out and/or maybe French colonizers were here to try to claim land or claim stuff and folks in the area are like, “No thank you.”

Julia:                    Yes and they're fighting at the site of Hamunaptra, which is the City of the Dead according to the movie. I genuinely forgot how high the body count in this film is, just right off the bat.

Amanda:            It's a lot.

Julia:                    It's a lot. I also forgot how big an asshole Beni was. I was like, “You figure it out later because he does some real, real gnarly things.” But right off the bat he is a dick.

Amanda:            Yeah.

Julia:                    Brendan Fraser is leading these troops because the lieutenant or whatever ran away. He is not having a very good day. He is saved when he decides to take shelter right underneath the statue of Anubis where Imhotep is buried. It scares off of the native people. The sand kind of turns into a sort of face with a gaping mouth and Rick gets the hell out of there and the Medjay-

Amanda:            Yeah. Julia, excuse me, excuse me.

Julia:                    Yes.

Amanda:            Wind sand faces? No, no thank you. Don't like it. Don't want it. Extremely bad.

Julia:                    That's where you draw the line.

Amanda:            Extremely bad, no, no, no.

Julia:                    Starting off real strong. We saw people literally get mummified alive and get covered in scarabs before, but this is where Amanda draws the line.

Amanda:            Yeah. It's just, I do not like that idea of things that don't have faces suddenly rising up with unseen forces and getting faces.

Julia:                    Just hates the elementals, I got you.

Amanda:            Well, we're in the sidebar of my own creation, by the way. I would love … As I was watching this battle happening, I was like, “I have no idea what the mechanics are of actually doing this battling.” Do you just run at each other? Do you start on go? Every time I see a Henry V style battle or a like Game of Thrones finale battle, which actually that one was interesting because he started with like arrows and then he did other stuff. Anyway, but if anybody has good book recommendations on like the mechanics of pre-World War II, I'm interested in it because I want to get a jump on my retired dad who only reads war nonfiction phase.

Julia:                    Oh, God. But retired dads they only read World War II because that's the real shit.

Amanda:            I'm going to jump on it, Julia. I gotta go deeper.

Julia:                    Appreciate it. Good, good, good. That sounds really interesting and a good question that I don't really have the answer to or is not relevant to the conversation for the rest of this-

Amanda:            No, not relevant at all.

Julia:                    We'll talk about it later.

Amanda:            Brendan Fraser, tall drink of water, man. He looks great just diving around. Those like pot shot explosive effects are super cool and the sand is really photogenic. It's very beautiful and even though like if you can for a moment put aside like Beni's high  concept is problematic, it is entertaining to watch for sure.

Julia:                    Yes. Also, this was the movie that he did right after doing George of the Jungle.

Amanda:            Yeah.

Julia:                    He was just like so hot then.

Amanda:            He was extremely hot. I realized as I watched this, that I never seen him just like right out of the shower. Like I've always seen him either very dusty or highly oiled. That was a weird thought to have.

Julia:                    We see him, he like gets out of prison later and we see him like dolled up for the first time and we're like, “Mm, yes. Acceptable.”

Amanda:            Yeah, he's wonderful. And his activism too in recent years around assault and speaking out, it's just he's a wonderful human being and I wish him happiness and satisfaction in life.

Julia:                    We stand Brendan Fraser on this podcast.

Amanda:            Absolutely.

Julia:                    The Medjay are watching Rick leave the city and they decide that the creature remains undisturbed so they're just going to let him go and they're like, “Should we kill him before he leaves?” And they're like, “The desert will kill him. It's fine.”

Amanda:            I mean, fair assumption. But also this happens again later on too, like classic bad guy. You have to end it. They come back later and they say, “Okay, everybody now clear out in the next day.” I'm like, “No, chase the boys right now.”

Julia:                    No. They're not going to listen to you. They're white men, they're white adventurers. God.

Amanda:            Very true.

Julia:                    We then cut to our next scene where we meet the best character in the entire film who is my entire heart and soul, Evie.

Amanda:            Aka, Julia, that's fucking Rachel Weisz.

Julia:                    I know, she's so hot.

Amanda:            Amazing.

Julia:                    This movie is just like a bisexual nightmare for me because everyone is very attractive.

Amanda:            It super is. She looks like such a baby gay. Like, “Wait until, honey, you see yourself in the favorite. You're such a badass, you're babe. You're going to go from those 90s pencil brows to the full natural beauty.”

Julia:                    So good.

Amanda:            Oh, she's so wonderful. I do appreciate that she's just obviously a hot librarian. They pan up from the feet and I'm like, “Well, obviously she's going to be hot.” That's the end of the shot. There is a ton of like extremely funny talking to herself, a lot of humor. She is so charismatic. She really, really is.

Julia:                    She's got good physical comedy too.

Amanda:            Very good physical comedy. Then as I texted you during my viewing of the film I think it's a step too far to have the entire library cataloging system just destroyed in one full swoop.

Julia:                    I was saying that there's no reason those shelves shouldn't be stabilized in some way and also set up in a domino effect. That just seems like poor planning.

Amanda:            It's very sad, but that does draw out her boss-

Julia:                    The curator.

Amanda:            … at the library/archive who is not Jeff Goldblum.

Julia:                    No, he's not. He has some very good lines though.

Amanda:            He does.

Julia:                    He goes, “Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy.” She's like, “Oh, it was an accident.” He goes, “When Ramses destroyed Syria, that was an accident. You're a catastrophe.” I'm like, “Oh my God.”

Amanda:            It's like extremely good. This is Erick Avari.

Julia:                    Yes.

Amanda:            He is just a wonderful actor.

Julia:                    He's good in other stuff. What else-

Amanda:            Mr. Deeds IMDb tells me.

Julia:                    Yes, you would know him from Mr. Deeds.

Amanda:            And Stargate.

Julia:                    He's like, “Why do I keep you around?” Evie's like, “I do so many things. I can read all the languages.” I'm like, “You tell him.”

Amanda:            Exposition.

Julia:                    “You tell him, don't let that man tell you that you're not qualified. Go.”

Amanda:            Yeah, no, she does a great kind of advocacy for herself. Then when he sort of like dismisses her anyway, she storms off and there's just like a shit load of mummies back there, man.

Julia:                    Yeah because it was a museum and that's what they did back then I guess. We meet her brother, Jonathan, who has taken a nap in one of the sarcophaguses with the Mummy, sarcophagus-

Amanda:            Yeah, just destroying archeological evidence. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Julia:                    Yeah. He gives her this cool thing that he found, “found”. There's a lot of stealing in this movie, both culturally and physically stealing from other people.

Amanda:            John Hannah, by the way, the actor who plays her brother is so famous and so Scottish. It is extremely funny to see him play like a stereotypical Englishman. A couple of times you can kind of hear the Scottish accent come out, and I love that. I just had that context because he comes off as like a huge dick when we first meet him, but I get kind of endeared to him over the course of the film.

Julia:                    Yeah. We discovered that this box has a map in it and it's a map that will lead them to Hamunaptra.

Amanda:            As I said, “Oh no, don't open the box. Oh no, it's a map. Oh no, that's worse.”

Julia:                    Also, she opens this map that's supposed to be over 3000 years old and just kind of snaps it open. I'm like, “Girl”

Amanda:            You would definitely have on your linen gloves an or cotton gloves. Also, it is so vibrant and that's just like the Egyptians rolled paper. They didn't fold it.

Julia:                    Yeah, no. I'm just like, “Oh no, that's nonsense.” She shows it to the curator who accidentally burns it, “accidentally.” We find out later he's one of the Medjay, so he didn't want them going to the place.

Amanda:            Yeah, but even as just like a curator who is there and knows what's good and bad for himself, that was an extremely good move. It was like the first smart decision of the whole film so far.

Julia:                    Yeah, no, it was good. It was very well planned. I appreciate it. They decide they want to find out how to get to the city now that their map is partially destroyed. Jonathan reveals that he stole the box from Rick O'Connell, American adventurer, who had discovered the city three years earlier while with the French Foreign Legion. Jonathan is just a drunk mess 90% of this film, which is great. Genuinely just spirits vibes all around.

Amanda:            Yeah.

Julia:                    They go to a local prison where Rick is being held and they're not very specific as to why he's being held in the prison. They said he was looking for a good time and he found it. I was like, “Oh no, don't know what that means. Don't like it, like the implications.” Rick makes a deal with Evelyn that he will lead them there if they are able to get him released from prison. However, he is scheduled to be hung or hanged that day. I always forget which one is grammatically correct. Evie convinces the warden of the prison that they'll give him 25% of the Hamunaptra treasure in exchange for Rick's life, which he agrees to and he shows up the next day to make sure that his investment goes through.

                             They decide they are boarding a boat, I guess either up or down the Nile. I'm not sure which direction they went in. We see that the boat is being approached by the Medjay. Jonathan is up there hanging around with some American adventures who are also heading to the hidden city as well saying they have a guy that's been there before and Rick looks suspicious. Evie reveals to Rick that she has been looking for the Book of Amun-Ra, which is again not a thing, it's made out of pure gold. That's not why she wants it. She's just a good librarian who really wants to discover books and I appreciate her. The American guide is revealed to be Beni the asshole from earlier who Rick then tosses overboard, but he notices watermarks on the deck meaning someone has come out of the water and come onboard.

Amanda:            Yes, extremely scary and of course we have our obligatory shot of Rachel Weisz in lingerie as she is getting ready for bed. Then we turn around and op, nope. Scary guy in a black robe.

Julia:                    Yeah, it's the Medjay. They are in Evie's room. They are looking for the map and the key, which they don't realize that the puzzle box is a key. Rick shows up to save her. He causes chaos in the process because he basically lights the boat on fire. Jonathan tries to grab the key/box as the ship begins to burn down. There's a fantastic shot as they're fleeing where there's a big gunfight and stuff like that. Rick is reloading his gun as boats start to get closer and closer. Evie at the last second pulls him out. He's just extremely calm and then Evie pulls him out of the way. He looks at her like, “What? I had it.” Se's like, “No, you would've died.”

Amanda:            It was so good. While I sort of want to resist the like ooh, he kissed her unconsensually and she's going to like fall for him anyway. Okay, it's happening but-

Julia:                    I skipped right over it to be fair.

Amanda:            I mean, yes, but also extremely sexy as he like unrolls his ammo role, not going to lie.

Julia:                    They have very good chemistry, genuinely.

Amanda:            They do.

Julia:                    As the movie progresses, they have very good chemistry and in the sequel they're married and have a child. It is like the most marriage goals movie I think I've ever seen in my entire life.

Amanda:            Wow. I think I will actually have to watch that. I also really loved his line, “I only gamble with my life, never my money.” Respect man, really appreciate that. Yeah.

Julia:                    Yeah. They all wind up going overboard. Jonathan is in the possession of the key, which is good because they'll need that later.

Amanda:            Yeah. I didn't see them grab it, but I'm glad that they did because there were a couple sort of like near misses as they had to leave it behind.

Julia:                    Yeah, I agree. They wind up on a different side of the river from Beni and his American adventurers. Beni has all of the horses because someone was smart and grabbed all the horses from below deck. Rick and their crew, however, are on the right side of the river, so they don't have to cross it again. They'd been where they needed to be.

Amanda:            I mean, listen, this is an action movie that was definitely trying to like go for the laughs plus the action. But I enjoy that there were some good moments of humor. It felt actually a lot to me reminiscent of the modern superhero movies that we are all enjoying.

Julia:                    Yes, I was just about to say.

Amanda:            Where there is good old fashioned shoot them ups. There is genuine character development. There's like a larger plot that we're going after and then there are just like nice laughter moments.

Julia:                    Yeah. So, they ended up in a nearby town. They buy some camels and they set off. The Medjay are watching as they approach the city, but decided to do nothing. I don't know why. The two groups that are heading into Hamunaptra meetup and the city is revealed when the sun rises.

Amanda:            Beautiful.

Julia:                    Which I was reading an interesting article that was pointing out, they're like, "Why would the City of the Dead be revealed when the sun is rising in the east when the Egyptians associate the west with the dead?" I was like, “Good fucking point.”

Amanda:            Good point, y'all.

Julia:                    The two groups race to the city to settle a bet that was placed on the boat about who would get their first. Evie wins it for them because of course she does. She's fantastic. In the city they start excavating the site. Evie's able to light up one of the mummy preparation chambers by using sun catching mirrors, which is very cool and historically accurate. I appreciate that.

Amanda:            Is it? I was going to ask. It is very cool and much better than the National Treasure like fire to the torch treasure reveal.

Julia:                    I mean yeah. It's so classically everyone used fire and torches and they use it later on in the film. But I really liked the idea of the Egyptians understood the power of the sun. Of course, they're going to use the mirrors and used that light as a way of lighting up their world.

Amanda:            Well, I thought it was extremely neat.

Julia:                    Yeah. They reach the foot of the Anubis statue where Evie thinks that the Book of Amun-Ra is located based on her studies. The Americans also show up at the same time and they have this showdown where Evie is like, “Okay, I know that there's …” She's kind of sussed out there's a chamber underneath that, so they're going to go dig elsewhere. She tells the crew and so they go to a chamber underneath and decided to dig up instead of digging down like the other crew is doing. Meanwhile, the warden sneaks off and steals a bunch of these scarab gems that are on a wall. The Americans attempt to open up a compartment beneath the statue. The diggers that they have do it are burned with acid, salt acid, like a booby trap. Appreciate it. It's very good.

Amanda:            Yeah. I'm not extremely happy to know that salt acid is a thing besides like the beginning of Samin Nosrat's wonderful cookbook and TV show. But I don't want to live in a world where that's actually a thing.

Julia:                    I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your worldview.

Amanda:            Oh, that's okay, Julia. I visited my mom at her workplace this past weekend at the beach. She's a professional lifeguard. It's very neat and there's an adorable little frog sitting next to me in my chair. I looked down little froggy guy there in the shade with me. I was like, “What an adorable frog.”

Julia:                    I saw those pictures.

Amanda:            Yes. Like do your thing, babe. Then later one of her colleagues jumped up and I was like, “Oh, a frog.” He was like, “No, sand spider.” I was like, “Oh, no.”

Julia:                    Don't like that. Don't like that.

Amanda:            How did I grow up for 27 years on an island and not know that sand spiders were a thing?

Julia:                    Nope. Nope, nope. I don't want to think about it anymore. Thank you for that.

Amanda:            All right, moving on. Think of Brendan Fraser's pecs.

Julia:                    Yes, thank God. Rick and his crew accidentally managed to get to Imhotep's sarcophagus. It just kind of falls out of the ceiling while they're talking. The warden, while he's looting elsewhere, drops the scarab gem in the sand and it turns into an actual scarab beetle that then digs into his skin and kills him. They read on the sarcophagus that the name of the person buried in there is he that shall not be named because it's Voldemort apparently. Evie realizes that their puzzle box is actually the key and is about to use it to open up the lock, but is distracted by the dying screams of the warden because of course.

Amanda:            Yeah. Also, why are we doing this? Why are we doing this? Why are we going to open a sarcophagus that obviously looks cursed? Why are we going to use this key that was deliberately stored somewhere else to do this? It's also an awful lot of ceremony for a guy that killed a pharaoh. Surely lots of people killed lots of pharaohs over the years. Like you were saying earlier, it doesn't make sense to me to like venerate and immortalize him in this way.

Julia:                    I agree 100%. Also they're doing all of this because they're dumb white people.

Amanda:            Yeah, I guess, but come on.

Julia:                    I know that we love moving into haunted houses.

Amanda:            That's true.

Julia:                    And subjecting all of our families to getting possessed, that kind of thing.

Amanda:            Fair.

Julia:                    Typical. Later that night, they wonder about how he died. They find some Glenlivet in his bag and they start drinking it and then the Medjay attack because why not. The Medjay warn them to leave this place or die and now they have one day to leave. Again, pointing out the flaw that the Medjay have where they should actually be doing things rather than-

Amanda:            Yes, should.

Julia:                    … rather than just letting white men take reign for another day anyway.

Amanda:            I mean maybe they're being merciful and kind of restrained if they have truly been around for 3,000 years, like maintaining that descendantship and the stewardship of this area. Clearly, they're not just like slashing and burning anytime someone comes close to them.

Julia:                    Right.

Amanda:            But at the same time these folks clearly don't know what is good for them. Yeah, they definitely should've just chased them out or escorted them away.

Julia:                    Yeah. That would've been the smart thing to do, but then we would have no plot. Evie gets drunk on that Glenlivet and tells the story about her history, how her parents were explorers. Her mother was Egyptian, her father was English. She has this great line, she goes, “But I'm proud of what I am.” And Richard goes, “And what is that?” She goes, “I am a librarian.”

Amanda:            I would say that every day if I had the God-given honor to be a librarian.

Julia:                    Oh, it's so true. Oh, gosh.

Amanda:            Ah, so wonderful. I also definitely have a head cannon that John Hannah insisted they used Glenlivet, which is a wonderful Scottish whiskey.

Julia:                    That's probably correct. That's why he's drinking it straight from the bottle. It's fantastic.

Amanda:            Yes.

Julia:                    The next day the Americans open up the statue of Anubis. They find a box with a curse on it. I wrote down the whole curse. Are we ready for this?

Amanda:            I think I might have to first get a refill. Is that okay?

Julia:                    Oh, yeah. Hell yeah. Let's go get a refill and then I'll tell you about a curse. Amanda, you know how you love cooking at home but sometimes there's just dishes that you want real bad and you can't recreate in your own kitchen, so you got to order it out, right?

Amanda:            Absolutely. My pad thai game is strong, not as strong as ordering it.

Julia:                    It's true. Well, thankfully you can order in with DoorDash. DoorDash connects you with all your favorite restaurants in your city. Ordering is super easy. You just open up the DoorDash app, you choose what you want to eat and then the dasher brings it right to you. Wherever you are, your food's coming to you.

Amanda:            I'm also moving today, Julia. So, I have been really hitting up that DoorDash because all my dishes are packed.

Julia:                    Absolutely. It's easier that way too. I love the ease of DoorDash. Not only is that awesome pad thai place that you want available on DoorDash, but over 310,000 other amazing restaurants are too. DoorDash connects you with door to door delivery in over 3,300 cities and all 50 states across the United States and Canada. Don't worry about dinner tonight, Amanda. Let dinner come to you with DoorDash.

                             Right now our listeners can get $5 off their first order of $15 or more when they download the DoorDash app and enter the promo code spirits.

Amanda:            Beautiful. That's DoorDash in the app store and use the promo code spirits, checkout for $5 off.

Julia:                    Yeah. Again, promo code spirits, $5 off your first order with DoorDash. Thank you, DoorDash. I want that pad thai now.

Amanda:            Well, we're going to have to pause for just a couple of minutes more because our next sponsor is something I rely on all the time as a small business owner. It's HoneyBook and if you run your own business, whether that's like a side gig you do a couple of hours a week or a small business full fledged that you run as your job, you are used to doing it all. But if you're struggling to get through your to-do list and dreading those administrative tasks, HoneyBook can help. I certainly did not picture sitting at my laptop yelling at my accounting software as I tried to reconcile all the invoices on the last day of the month, which today is.

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Julia:                    Yeah. Honestly, Amanda, it does such amazing work with all of your business stuff. I don't even know the correct terms for it as you can tell.

Amanda:            Thank you.

Julia:                    But HoneyBook has, I know been helping you quite a bit with all of that.

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Julia:                    Again, that is honeybook.com/spirits and you get 50% off.

Amanda:            Julia, we're finally sponsored this week by Skillshare. I was on a call with a client the other day who was asking for some help in thinking about their podcast, making sure they're on the right track for sustainability going forward in the future. I was really happy to refer them to the free resource of my Skillshare class, all about podcast marketing. It very much is something that all of us in Multitude have contributed to in that like this really summarizes a lot of the lessons that we have come to really believe in and talk about over the course of our few years in podcasting, about stuff like how you have to treat your kind of peers, the people who run shows similar to yours like colleagues and not competition.

                             How on social media, the best way to grow the show and reach an audience is to be genuinely friendly to contribute to your community instead of trying to take stuff away from it. It's stuff that we have discovered together over the last four years and stuff that I'm super happy to teach other folks about in the course of their podcast marketing.

Julia:                    Yeah. Skillshare is great because not only is it offering Amanda's amazing class on podcast marketing, but it's an online learning community for creators and they now have over 25,000 classes that will help fuel your curiosity, creativity, and your career.

Amanda:            Absolutely, and you can get access to every single class that Skillshare has to offer by joining Skillshare premium. You can get two months for free by going to Skillshare.com/spirits2.

Julia:                    Yep. Again, that is Skillshare.com/spirits2 for two free months of Skillshare.

Amanda:            Two free months of learning. All right, go ahead and learn something new. Thanks, Skillshare. Now, let's get back to the show.

Julia:                    Okay. We're back, Amanda. We made our-

Amanda:            I'm fortified.

Julia:                    We've made our blood and sands with blood orange juice this time. We ran down to the Bodega and they had some, it's great.

Amanda:            Delicious, A+.

Julia:                    Let me tell you about this curse that the Americans found and they still open the box like idiots.

Amanda:            Now, Julia, I will permit you to read this curse because you are not reading from a book of the dead outside the sarcophagus of a definitely cursed like primeval power.

Julia:                    Correct. We're not going to open the box that is telling us about this curse.

Amanda:            Okay, let's do it.

Julia:                    Death will come on swift wings to whomsoever opens this chest. Okay. Whomsoever, really? In ancient Egyptian? God-

Amanda:            I mean, it could have been taking some kind of translation liberties, but yeah. Whoms, indeed.

Julia:                    There is one, the undead who if brought back to life is bound by sacred law to consummate this curse. He will kill all who open this chest and assimilate their organs and fluids. In doing so he will regenerate and no longer be the undead, but a plague upon this earth.

Amanda:            Assimilate their organs and fluids.

Julia:                    Yes, the best part.

Amanda:            The best part. Why couldn't it be absorb? Are they just, oh boy-

Julia:                    They got assimilated, it theirs now.

Amanda:            It's extremely poetic and evocative. I think it's a great piece of writing, but it's just like it's squirmingly specific.

Julia:                    Yeah, back. They open it up obviously, and they find the book inside.

Amanda:            Yeah.

Julia:                    Also the like copic, I kept calling them vessels in my notes, but the things that you would put the organs in during mummification.

Amanda:            Exactly.

Julia:                    They're like, “Ooh, treasure.” And they're really happy with that.

Amanda:            Yeah. They're like the vessels.

Julia:                    Back at the sarcophagus is Imhotep, which we don't know is Imhotep yet. It's fine. Evie points out that the sacred spells have been chiseled off, which means these are spells that would help a person into the afterlife navigate what their next steps are. This is actually a legit thing. I've seen sarcophagi where instead of the open eye of Ra, which allows either the car, I think it's the car to leave. I've seen closed eyes of Ra, which basically trap the person in the sarcophagus, so they can't leave it.

Amanda:            Now, what is the logic here of putting so much time and expense into mummifying somebody if you don't want them to proceed to the afterlife?

Julia:                    I don't know. I don't get it. That's the point of the movie.

Amanda:            Also, I'm pretty sure that you would have carved the sarcophagi to order, right?

Julia:                    Yeah.

Amanda:            Wouldn't you? Because again, this is probably in reality not being done very often at all. It would make sense that you put it together to order and either blank or a big XO. I mean chiseling it off is a really interesting observation and something that would make sense that she would notice even if they don't put together this sort of like disastrous consequences of it yet. But that was really neat and made me give me little goosebumps because I was like, “Oh no.”

Julia:                    Yeah. I mean at one point she says either this was someone really important or someone did something very naughty. I was like, “It's the later one, you know it.” They open up the sarcophagus and they comment on how the body is still, as the boys say, juicy.

Amanda:            It sure is, Julia. Evie is always like, “I hate it when these things do that.” Like really? Do you have like theatrically pressurized mummy reveals often?

Julia:                    I guess.

Amanda:            Oh, but Julia, please tell me how they made this juicy mummy. It looked horrifying and great. I want to know if it was like practical effects or if you know anything about how this was done.

Julia:                    It was definitely practical effects because later on when we see Imhotep be regenerated and revitalized, he's much drier as CGI than he is as physical jelly zombie.

Amanda:            Yeah. But he looked so bad. I almost couldn't look at him and that's a great effect.

Julia:                    It was very good.

Amanda:            Yeah.

Julia:                    They find that inside the sarcophagus with his fingernails, Imhotep has carved the phrase death is only the beginning. Fantastic.

Amanda:            He sure did and like the fingernail marks on the inside of the coffin are horrible still.

Julia:                    Meanwhile, as they're leaving for the evening, Evie sees that the scholar that is with the Americans has found the black book of the dead. As he falls asleep, she steals it from him and opens it using the key because of course she does.

Amanda:            Not a secure campsite whatsoever.

Julia:                    As she does so she says the phrase, “No harm ever came from reading a book.” Which Evie please.

Amanda:            You know better, girl.

Julia:                    Evie please. She reads the book. She awakens Imhotep as well as summoning a whole plague of locusts. One of the Americans becomes Velma from Scooby-Doo because he can't see without his glasses as they fall off as they run from the locusts. He is cornered by Imhotep who then takes the man's eyes and tongue. It's a good place to start, you need those. Evie falls through a trap door and discovers that the man is now missing his eyes and tongue. She faces down Imhotep who thinks that she is his lost love.

                             Ooh, that's not good. Rick shoots him and then they run and outside they're face-to-face with the Medjay. Beni is left behind, but manages to ally himself with Imhotep because they can both speak a common language, which is Hebrew. That was a really interesting scene too, where he's just going through different prayers and chance to see which one will help him, which very much allies with the character description of just Beni as a whole.

Amanda:            Yeah. I mean I get it. That's the … Not Pascal's wager. But someone's wager, right? Like the sort of best logically attitude toward religion is to believe in the afterlife. Exactly, yeah. If it works out, then great. If not, you've sort of haven't lost much. But I thought it was really interesting and kind of tactical as well.

Julia:                    Yeah. To Beni, Imhotep reveals that he's looking for those vessels that the Americans took. He has one, he needs the other four.

Amanda:            I will say those Americans dress extremely well and I would definitely want to dress like all of them.

Julia:                    You know what, I said the same thing to myself. I was like, “Yeah, I'd wear all of those outfits.” Except the one guy who had like the weird stem D tie.

Amanda:            That's true.

Julia:                    He's the last one to die of the Americans. I was like, “Yeah, I could take it or leave it.” Without the tie it's a very good look though. Meanwhile, Rick wants to get out while they can, while Evie feels responsible, insists that they have to do something because she's a very good person and we love her.

Amanda:            She is.

Julia:                    Imhotep goes after Burns, which is the one he's already taken eyes and a tongue from. Meanwhile, while they're at a bar all the liquid is turned to blood, which lets them know that Imhotep is nearby. Let's talk about this for a second. Let's talk about how Imhotep brings the plagues from exodus.

Amanda:            Yeah. He apparently brings like the 10 plagues down upon them. He has the … Well, originally of course the river's running red, but I guess the fountains and water does as well.

Julia:                    Sure.

Amanda:            But it was an interesting-

Julia:                    Even their alcohol. Their alcohol turned to blood.

Amanda:            Yeah. It was an interesting nod, I guess too, 10 plagues and all that.

Julia:                    Yeah. It was interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about kind of mixing these classic Egyptian mythology and folklore themes with-

Amanda:            Like Passover?

Julia:                    Yeah. I don't know about it. I have weird feelings about it, but either way it's happening. We're just going to deal with it and move on.

Amanda:            Here we go.

Julia:                    Imhotep is revealed to be more formed now because he has sucked the life energy out of Burns. He has like actual muscle mass and whatnot. No skin yet, but there's like kind of muscle there.

Amanda:            Yeah. It is kind of a cool progression as he gets more energy and becomes more like corporeal.

Julia:                    Yes. But Imhotep is scared away by the presence of Evie's cat. According to the movie it's because the guardians of the underworld, which they're not guardians of the underworld, but Bast was a goddess of protection and whatnot. It makes sense kind of. I don't know. We'll see.

Amanda:            Yeah. Weren't cats really present in religious and cultural practice in ancient Egypt?

Julia:                    Yeah. Bast was an incredibly important goddess and she was associated with cats.

Amanda:            Yeah, and like good stuff like fertility and power, justice.

Julia:                    Yes. The good girl. Meanwhile, Imhotep collects another one of the jars. He kills the Egyptologist, the scholar that was with the Americans and unleashes a swarm of flies that attack the crowd.

Amanda:            Fun, very exciting.

Julia:                    Yeah. The remaining two Americans hide out, but one is killed by Imhotep in the form of a sand storm, which is a very cool death. Really liked that one. He then enters Evie's bedroom in the form of sand like fucking Zeus. I don't appreciate it.

Amanda:            No.

Julia:                    Kisses her while she's sleeping. There's a lot of non-consensual kissing of Evie in this film that I don't like it. Rick bursts in. He uses the cat again to scare him away and they move on. Imhotep has also created this army of brainwashed folks that are going after the survivors and also he wants to capture Evie because he wants to use her as part of the sacrifice to bring back his loved one. Evie realizes that the scholars, the Egyptian scholars in England have messed up where the location of the two books is. They were able to find the Black Book of the Dead, but she's looking for the Book of Amun-Ra. That one is in the statue of Horace instead.

Amanda:            Nice.

Julia:                    They're fleeing from this hotel or whatever that they're staying at. The last American is taken by Imhotep during the chase. He's now kind of fully looking good. He's looking good. He's in human form now. There's no holes in his body anymore. They are cornered by Imhotep. Evie corrects Beni's translations. Beni's ancient Egyptian.

Amanda:            It's so satisfying.

Julia:                    Which is very, very funny and very good and I really appreciate it. Evie offers herself up to Imhotep so that the rest of the crew can escape and get the Book of Amun-Ra to kind of Imhotep. The curator is killed in the process of them escaping, which is sad. Don't like that. Sorry, bud. Then they go to Winston, who is a former British air captain who is looking for fame and glory and is just plain bored. They convince him very easily to take them to Hamunaptra.

Amanda:            Yeah. We met him in the bar in one of the previous nights, or I guess that same night, I don't recall.

Julia:                    Yeah, it was the night where all the blood-

Amanda:            Exactly.

Julia:                    … all the drinks became blood.

Amanda:            Oh, yeah, yeah. So, some earlier then when they were just drinking and trying to forget. I was like, “Oh, well this man's face has been lingered on for too long. Like clearly he's going to be useful to the plot in some way.” Indeed, he is able to fly them closer to the statue and then dies when we have another awful, awful face wind contraption. Please stop. It's bad.

Julia:                    It probably would have killed all of them, but Evie breaks Imhotep's concentration for the cool magic spell that he's creating with the sand storm by kissing him.

Amanda:            Hell yeah. Yes.

Julia:                    I love it. At least there's feminine wiles. I appreciate you. The plane is ruined. All of the main characters survive except Winston who is sucked into the ground by quicksand along with the plane.

Amanda:            Sorry, bud.

Julia:                    Sorry, bud. But back in the city, one of the scarabs manages to get into Jonathan, but Rick is quick to cut it out of him, which is-

Amanda:            Horrible, hate it.

Julia:                    … horrible, but also glad he's not dead. However, this alerts Imhotep to their presence and he sends all of his living mummies after them, who the living mummies are basically like his priests that were also mummified alive with him, I think supposedly.

Amanda:            Yes. All those gold painted friends.

Julia:                    Yes, all the gold painted friends. They were no longer covered in gold. The crew though, I'm just going to keep calling them the crew, the three remaining men. They just find the room with all the gold in it, the treasure room or what have you. The room with the gold.

Amanda:            Yeah. Again, not yours for the taking guys. Keep walking.

Julia:                    No. Then the mummies start attacking them. That's not great for them. I kind of zoned out a little bit because the action sequences don't hold my attention very often.

Amanda:            Yeah, it was extremely actiony. I'm fine to kind of hit on the high points here. There were some very good Dementor CGI of the cloak and smoky servants of Imhotep. It was really very good.

Julia:                    Evie is meanwhile tied down to the sacrifice table. Her body's going to be used to bring back Anck-Su-Namun. The boys managed to find the Book of Amun-Ra in the horror statue. Imhotep starts his ritual. Jonathan interrupts it, distracting Imhotep with the fact that he has the Book of Amun-Ra. Meanwhile, Rick is dispatching mummies is able to partially free Evie. At one point there's mummies crawling on the wall like Spiderman. I was so confused.

                             Jonathan attempts to read the Book of Amun-Ra, but they can't get it open. He manages to steal the Black Book of the Dead instead and get control of the mummies, which is also very funny because he doesn't read Egyptian. Evie is basically translating with him while she's doing battle with Anck-Su-Namun's mummy. It's very, very cool and very funny. Jonathan is able to get the mummies to attack Anck-Su-Namun's body, which basically they kill her interrupting the process. Rick goes after Imhotep after Evie opens the book of Amun-Ra.

                             Opening the book of Amun-Ra, we see this ghostly chariot ride through and take Imhotep's soul. That's not how Egyptian after life works, but they took. It's “soul” to the underworld presumably. It makes Imhotep mortal. He's stabbed by Rick. He falls into that weird, creepy soul water stuff and reverts back to his mummified form before slipping under saying to them, “Death is only the beginning.” Because you know.

Amanda:            Indeed, Mhotep's got to come back.

Julia:                    That intense circle have to circle back around to it. Meanwhile, Beni's been looting this whole time, which is typical Beni. He activates a trap, however, which starts to sink the entire temple into the ground. Sucks not good. Jonathan loses the book because he trips and just drops it into the water and Evie's like, “What did you do?” But the boys grab her and pull her away. Beni is trapped inside the temple with all of the gold that he ever wanted. Of course, the scarabs surround him and presumably kill him. The city is destroyed big time as our heroes escape. The movie ends with Rick and Evie kissing.

Amanda:            Evie unfortunately, because she has some kind of like fucked up like wedding night, the bridal dress in black has to ride side saddle on that camel. I was like watching her hold onto the saddle horn and just imagining how tightly Rachel Weisz was grabbing onto that because it looks real. I think they were really writing my camel like, yeah.

Julia:                    Yeah. Rachel Weisz probably learned how to ride a camel and I'm really proud of her. Actually sometimes you got to ride the camel. Sometimes she's got to ride that camel though. That's my takeaway. Amanda, what was your general opinion of The Mummy from 1999?

Amanda:            I enjoyed it. I think it did not age well in some respects, but the action was entertaining and kind of hit a lot of similar notes to Indiana Jones for me in sort of like, well thought out action, like interesting kind of varied methods of fighting. There was some humor. There was a little bit of like romance and intrigue and the mythology was like just put together enough that I think someone who wasn't looking to interrogate it, would find it pretty understandable and like coherent.

Julia:                    Oh, Jake. You mean Jake?

Amanda:            I mean, listen, Jake asks great and critical questions, but I think he's primarily there to enjoy things whereas I'm primarily there to be like, “Ooh, what's wrong with this?”

Julia:                    Yes, same. But yeah, despite it's not great mythology accuracy, I think it's genuinely an enjoyable film. I think it is a good place for people who are interested in Egyptian mythology to kind of wet their whistle a little and dig deeper if they want to know more, which is a good myths movie night film for us in my opinion.

Amanda:            Oh, totally. I was just going to say I love that about the myth movie nights where we can primarily be here to like have fun. We watch a movie, talk about it with the audience, but also it's an invitation and an opportunity. It's hard to just be like, “Let me learn all of Egyptian mythology.”

Julia:                    Yeah.

Amanda:            But being able to say specifically like, “Okay. Well, I wonder what the rules for who gets mummified and who doesn't, what those are.” Then that's a way where you can kind of start diving in, in a way that's manageable.

Julia:                    Yeah, I agree. So, check out more accurate Egyptian mythology besides The Mummy franchise. And remember, listeners, to stay creepy.

Amanda:            Stay cool.