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The Life and Mind of DamnBlackHeart
This is to help me stay actively writing. So expect to see rants, tips on writing, thoughts on subjects, me complaining of boredom, reviews, anime, movies, video games, conventions, tv shows and whatever life throws at me.
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Book Review: The Mummy by Max Allan Collins |
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Now a major motion picture from Universal Pictures starring Brendan Fraser.
Richard “Rick” O'Connell, dashing American and legionnaire, is in Egypt looking for a good time. His discovery of the Lost City of the Dead is a fluke–but to British librarian Evelyn Carnahan it’s the archaeological find of the century.
The city contains all the treasures of Egypt and possibly the secrets of life and death. Leading Evelyn’s expedition deep into the Sahara isn’t exactly easy money, though, as Rick must dodge death traps, escape the jaws of man-eating beetles, and even duel a hook-handed mercenary. And just when he’s caught his breath, a long ago evil returns from the grave–with a taste for human flesh…
I need to start this off by first reminding people that nearly all film novelizations is based on the early draft of the film’s script and not the finished product we see on screen. So don’t go expecting it to be exactly like the movie in book format because you’ll be disappointed.
However, with that in mind this novelization does a decent job at matching up with what was seen on film. Some of the characters are fleshed out a bit more, certain scenes and storyline are expanded upon. But it does lack some of the charm that makes the film and the characters so great.
Rick in the film was perfect, but the novelization version of him felt off. He still had his sarcastic funny moments, and his protectiveness of Evelyn is clear, but there are times when he seemed arrogant and condescending. It felt very out of place every time he referred to Evelyn as ‘baby’. I could be wrong, but I don’t think that term was used in the 1920’s in such a way.
Evelyn felt uptight and self-centered, while Jonathan was mostly the closest to the film’s portrayal even though his best lines were missing. In the film Rick and Evelyn are arguably both protagonists and their screen time seems to be about the same. But the novel is mostly concentrated on Rick’s point of view.
The book suffers from the male author syndrome because the ‘male gaze’ is very obvious. The male characters are not described in such details as the females. I was constantly being reminded of Evelyn’s womanly curves, several times throughout the novel, even Anck-Su-Namun’s (and yes, even her mummified corpse).
This novelization also showed how just the slight variances in dialogue can changed the whole tone of the narrative. It made me appreciate the film a whole lot more and I’m glad some of those scenes were edited. For example, in the film Evelyn passes out in Rick’s arms before she could kiss him. In the novelization she does kiss him.
She doesn’t remember anything in the morning and Rick teases her that something happened between them and that it’s a shame she’s doesn’t remember it. She’s horrified and embarrassed at what he’s implying, but he assures her that nothing happened.
In the end, I’m still glad I read the novelization because like I said it does a decent job. It fills in a lot of the blanks such where were they staying at in Cairo, where did the white cat come from, how did Evelyn become unconscious on the sacrificial table, why were flesh-eating scarabs used in the Hom-Dai, and so on.
Note: I made a post listing some of the things that the film audience doesn’t know about the characters and scenes that the novelization expanded upon.
 DamnBlackHeart · Thu Mar 10, 2022 @ 12:25am · 0 Comments |
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