Rick and Evie O’Connell are back in action

Wake up, losers, there’s a new Mummy movie filming and Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser are back on set! While I am deeply skeptical that we need another Mummy movie—the 1999 The Mummy is nearly perfect and every sequel was a case of diminishing returns—thanks to Brendan Fraser’s career resurgence, it is happening.

The Mummy’s technically untitled legacy sequel is filming now in London, and Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser, who together formed a generation’s bisexual awakening, were seen on set in London as adventuring couple Rick and Evie O’Connell.

One thing I really liked about The Mummy when I was a teenager was how Rick O’Connell obviously and unashamedly loved Evie, how he supported her no matter how hare-brained her schemes, and he never diminished her, admiring her for her intelligence and he was happy to let Evie make plans and take the lead in their adventures. He was the logistics guy there to make Evie’s plans work, he wasn’t there to solve every problem himself and kiss the girl at the end. Evie was as important to the plot as Rick.

In a film landscape littered with teen sex comedies that bordered on outright assault, sitcoms about how much men hated their killjoy wives, and action movies that almost exclusively featured The Girl as a helpless damsel, a killjoy, or a terrible combination of both, The Mummy was a revelation. In fact, Brendan Fraser’s career as a romantic leading man was defined by playing characters who not only fell in love with women, but also loved women, because Fraser is one of those actors you can tell actually likes women. He’s also a good Looker, he has a great romantic gaze on film.

So, while I am skeptical about a Mummy sequel—apparently, this new film will follow the events of The Mummy and The Mummy Returns and ignore everything else, which is a smart decision—I am glad to have Rick and Evie back. Whatever happens with the movie itself, Rick and Evie are always welcome at the movies.

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