The Mummy trilogy is a trilogy of movies that features mummies. (1999, 2001, 2008)The first movie was a loose remake of the original film. Instead of being straight horror, it was more of an action-adventure with a dash of comedy - not unlike the Indiana Jones style of action movies. It featured Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), and Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah) on a quest to find ancient artifacts and treasure, ending up having to stop an awakened mummy named Imhotep.Ultimately the movies owe more to Indiana Jones than anything else, however they are very Genre Savvy and just run with it, making for effective light entertainment.The sequel, The Mummy Returns, featured Jonathan Carnahan, the now-married Rick and Evelyn and their inquisitive son Alex. Imhotep returns and tries to steal a magical army from the Scorpion King (Dwayne Johnson, give or take some Special Effects Failures).During the long wait for a third, we got the Spin-Off/PrequelThe Scorpion King. It had The Rock fight Egyptians and sorcerers and stuff like that. The Scorpion King itself got a direct-to-DVD pre-prequel, The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior.The third movie, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, was not as well received. Stephen Sommers neither wrote nor directed it. Rachel Weisz was replaced by Maria Bello. Imhotep was gone in favor of a new villain played by Jet Li. And there were yetis. Who kicked field goals. On the other hand, it had a scene where the villain tore his own face off and threw it at someone. And King Ghidorah.Most recently, The Scorpion King got a second sequel that is due to be released in early 2012 on video. This time, however, it's a sequel to the first Scorpion King film, making it a sequel to a prequel (to the original Scorpion King) of the prologue of a sequel (The Mummy Returns). Is your head hurting yet?An animated series loosely based on the films, set shortly after The Mummy Returns, debuted in 2001 on KidsWB and ran for two seasons.Not to be confused with the aforementioned 1932 film featuring Boris Karloff as Imhotep, or the 1959 Hammer Horror film featuring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, or the 1969 Egyptian art film more usually called The Night of Counting the Years (which Martin Scorsese once mentioned really liking).It was recently announced that the series will be rebooted by Universal.
Rick goes from self-absorbed ne'er-do-well to proper Action Hero Love Interest.
Even Jonathan, the comic relief, manages to hold his own several times when challenged, including by Meela.
Adventurer Archaeologist: Kind of. None of them were trained archaeologists; Evy was a librarian, and they had the most experience dealing with Imhotep beside. Ironically, Evy's slacker/con-artist/Plucky Comic Relief brother Jonathan is the only one with any kind of background in archaeology.
By the beginning of the second movie, however, they are running their own full scale digs. The films also take place in the early days of archaeology when training wasn't as important as the personal funds to go tomb hunting.
Aerith and Bob: The institution where Evelyn worked apparently employed a Muhammad, an Abdullah and a Bob.
Given that said institution is located in the Arabic country colonized by British, it is more a case of real-life Melting Pot Nomenclature.
Alas, Poor Villain - In The Mummy Returns, Imhotep sees what True Love is really like. He'd sacrificed everything, his position and his mortality for Ankh Su-Namun, and she abandoned him when the chips were down. Then he got to watch Evy race to Rick's side in his moment of need. To top it off, while he was begging Ankh-Su-Namun to save him, his enemy was begging his beloved to save herself — and she refused, insisting on trying to help him. With this came the realization that his sacrifice and suffering had been pointless and empty, and he let go of the ledge.
Ancient Egypt: The source of the plots for two out of three of the films.
Ancient Order Of Protectors: The Medji, the descendants of Pharaoh's bodyguards who try to keep people away from Hamunaptra, and Imhotep.
And I Must Scream: Imhotep's fate prior to his release by the main protagonists. His tongue was cut out, he was wrapped in bandages to the point of immobilization, and was then locked in a sarcophagus with a bunch of flesh-eating scarabs. To be eaten alive. Forever.
Anti-Villain: The Dragon Emperor's living minions Yang and Choi. Their country has been locked in a vicious civil war for years, and it seems like the only man who can unite China is the one who did it in the first place. Made especially so by their very heroic deaths: Choi trying to pull Yang out of machinery while he yells at her to save herself.
Imhotep himself qualifies as well. All he wanted was to be reunited with his former lover. At the climax of the second movie he willingly falls into the Hell pit, after realizing Ankh Su-Namun had abandoned him. He gives a weak smile at Rick and Evelyn, showing he obviously envies their love.
Artistic License - History: The Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun-Ra are both made to look like a bunch of black stone and gold (respectively) tablets put together in a form resembling a modern-day book. The Ancient Egyptians would have written their books on papyrus scrolls.
Not to mention, even if they could make the books the way they're depicted, the Book of Amun-Ra would never have been made out of pure gold - it would have become obscenely heavy as a result.
Artistic License - Physics: In the second film, when the jets on the sides of the dirigible are activated, there is no drag on the balloon itself.
And the balloon somehow manages to rise immediately after being soaked with probably many hundreds of pounds of water.
Asskicking Equals Authority: Whomever slays the Scorpion King with the Scepter of Osiris automatically gains the authority to command the Army of Anubis.
Author Appeal: The Mummy 1932 is Stephen Sommers' favorite movie, and he worked for years to get a crack at making his own version of it. This is the result.
Imhotep twice. In fact, Rick lampshades this in Dragon Emperor:
Rick: I've put down more mummies than you have!
Alex: Dad, you've only put down one mummy!
Rick: Yeah, same mummy: twice! [emphatic two-fingered hand gestures]
Ankh-Su-Namun
The Scorpion King
The Dragon Emperor. Let's just say it's a prerequisite for the villains in these things, huh?
Evy
Back-to-Back Badasses: Evy and Rick in Dragon Emperor, first with rifles, then pistols, then swiped swords, until eventually they're exhausted, leaning back to back to keep each other standing up.
Bare-Handed Blade Block: Michelle Yeoh's character in Tomb of the Dragon Emperor manages to catch the Emperor's sword thrust. She then lets go and sacrifices herself to grab the cursed dagger from the Emperor's belt.
The Baroness: Choi. The ressurrected Anck-Su-Namun in the second film too.
Because Destiny Says So: The Medji tattoo on O'Connel's wrist in the second movie. The tattoo was there in the first movie as well, visible in a few scenes. Just no big deal was made about it.
Being Evil Sucks: Benny serves Imhotep purely out of fear and greed, and he clearly loathes every minute of it. By the end of the movie he finds out being the toadie for an undead dark wizard is really not all it's cracked up to be.
Big Damn Heroes: Jonathan arrives at the final battle in Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to take on the Emperor's terra cotta army with a pair of WWII planes.
Evy: Jonathan certainly knows how to make an entrance.
Bigger Bad: Mathayus aka The Scorpian King, but the prequels kind of Avert this.
Big "NO!": One particularly notable one happens at the end of "The Mummy Returns" where Imhotep runs into shot, poses, then screams. Rick and Evelyn both get more meaningful ones when they see each other in mortal danger, or being fatally stabbed
In Universe in The Mummy: Beni Gabor can apparently pray in several different languages, so any available gods passing can hear.
In Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor, when the title villain's Terracotta Warriors shoots a barrage of arrows into an opposing army of heroic skeletons. While this naturally had no effect on the already dead targets, one of the skeletons accidentally knocks another one's head off with his shovel. He then goes to say in perfect and completely unsubtitled Chinese to his comrade "Oh sorry! Sorry! Your head's over here."
Black Vikings: Some of the actors have, shall we say, improbable racial backgrounds for a tale set in Ancient Egypt. The Rock is half Samoan, which is a bit hard to rationalize. Plus, Patricia Velasqez is part Amerind, which would seem to indicate that Ancient Egypt was in contact with the New World thousands of years ago.
Dr. Bey: We are part of an ancient secret society. For over three thousand years we have guarded the City of the Dead. We are sworn at manhood to do any and all in our power to stop the High Priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world.
Ardeth Bay: Now, because of you, we have failed.
Evelyn: And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?
Rick: (Upon stabbing the Scorpion King) Go to hell! And take your friends with you!
Amusingly, he actually meant what he was saying, as killing the King gave him control over the undead army, or in this case, the authority to banish it.
Seems to run in the family, Alex does it with freaking giant stone pillars in the sequel. Although it makes you wonder what exactly those pillars were holding up.
Bottomless Magazines: In the real-world 1930's, six shooters shot six times. In fact the Single-Action Army revolvers they were using had to be loaded and unloaded one shot at a time. In the film you get a full twelve shots with one of those bad boys.
Weirdly enough it also contains a notable inversion in the opening shootout. Rick draws twin Colt M1911s, fires about four shots and they both run dry (slides locked back and all) he throws them aside and draws two more Colt .45s. A strange case of Limited Magazines, as the Colt M1911 typically carries 7 rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber.
Brick Joke: Jonathan hides in a sarcophagus in the museum and makes one of the mummies pop out to scare Evy. Later on when they open Imhotep's sarcophagus his mummy pops out at them and Evy yells "I hate it when these things do that!"
Broken Aesop: "Where is your honor?" Says Rick to Shihuangdi "Fight me like a man!" — As his son creeps up behind the emperor to stab the man in the back.
He was probably referring to the Emperor's use of magic.
Buffy Speak: The Spear of Osiris is referred to by the characters as the "Golden Stick Thing".
Bug Buzz: The sounds the scarabs make are seriously scary, especially when closing in on somebody.
Call Back: The hieroglyphic that Evy tells Jonathan about in the first film is the same one Jonathan tells Alex in the second. For an added bonus, the character that knows the hieroglyphic is trying to fight off Ankh Su-Namun at the same time.
In The Mummy Returns, the Scorpion King was as well, though the spinoff expanded him into a heroic role, making his actions in Returns seem rather out of character.
Cats Are Magic: At one point in The Mummy, a normal cat is able to ward off Imhotep because "cats are the guardians of the underworld". This is exploited only the once, because Imhotep completes his regeneration soon after and becomes immune to whatever the cat would supposedly have done to him.
Chekhov's Gun: In The Mummy Returns, Jonathan enters the movie carrying a scepter, and the scene plays out as though it's merely a random trinket he pilfered away like usual. Then Hafez draws attention to it by taking it with great respect and exclaiming "It can't be!" and it's forgotten for the rest of the movie until the end... It turns out to be the ceremonial spear needed to slay the Scorpion King.
Jonathan and Alex are established early on as learning how to read hieroglyphics. This eventually pops up after Evy dies and they need to resurrect her using the Book of the Dead... written in hieroglyphics.
Jonathan picks the key that opens seemingly every locked Egyptian artifact in existence out of Rick's pocket before the start of the first movie, then swipes it again out of Imhotep's robes during a struggle near the end.
Evelyn taught Jonathan to pronounce the symbol that is shaped like a stork near the end of The Mummy. In The Mummy Returns, Alex was stuck at the same symbol, and Jonathan proudly taught him how to pronounce it.
Conveniently Precise Translation: A visual version in The Mummy Returns, where Rick encounters a set of pictograms illustrating precisely how to kill the Scorpion King.
As part of his punishment for murdering Pharaoh Seti I, Imhotep is buried alive in a sarcophagus filled with flesh-eating scarab beetles.
Beni Gabor, who has spent the movie betraying everyone, faces a slow death by dehydration and starvation after being trapped in Hamunaptra's treasure chamber. That's bad enough, especially given that the single torch he has is going out. Cue those self-same flesh-eating scarab beetles.
Some hired locals were sprayed with acid when they pry open a pass in the tomb and trigger a booby trap.
Everybody unlucky enough to be in the vicinity of the chest (that held the Book of the Dead) when it is opened - they get their flesh sucked away by Imhotep.
Some of Imhotep's mooks get drowned in tar.
The priests who helped Imhotep in the prologue are mummified alive.
Anck-Su-Namun in the second movie abandons Imhotep, unwilling to risk her own life to save him. As she is fleeing, she stumbles and falls into a swarm of scorpions (and possibly the flesh-eating scarab beetles). The scorpions/beetles crawl all over and inside her, choking her dying screams.
Curiosity Killed the Cast: Evy reads from a book that sets off the events of the first movie, and that conveniently prevents the production company from having to pay more actors.
Curse Cut Short: When The museum curator is going to burn Evy.
Evy: You Bas-
Cursed with Awesome: Imhotep, whose punishment for having an affair with the Pharaoh's favorite wife, killing the Pharaoh, and trying to raise the dead is to be eaten alive by scarabs. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, once the scarabs are done and he comes back he has all the powers of the Ten Plagues of Egypt.
Cute Monster Girl: Subverted by Ankh Su-Namun in her mummy form. She looks exactly as you'd expect a 3000-year-old mummified corpse to look.
Deadpan Snarker: Rick, Evy, and Jonathan all have their moments.
Also the prison warden, who steals a wall decoration that's actually a live scarab beetle...which burrows into his skull.
Correction, the scarab burrows into his foot, up his entire body, up his face, then starts eating his brain.
Jonathan nearly ends up this way with the giant diamond on the pyramid in The Mummy Returns. Rick tries to tell him it isn't worth his life, but Jonathan responds, "Yes, it is!" Rick eventually manages to pull both Jonathan and the diamond to safety.
Death As Comedy: A scene in the second movie where Jonathan leads a guy to be killed by pygmy mummies.
Death Seeker: Winston. A pilot who survived the war, when all his buddies died in glorious combat. In fact, when the heroes recruit his assistance against Imhotep, and tell him point blank that he'll probably die as everyone else who got involved has died, he sounds downright giddy.
Designated Girl Fight: Evey and Ankh Su-Namun in the first two films. Justified in both. In the first Ankh Su-Namun needs to kill Evey to become immortal (and then the guards summoned by Jonathan have no qualms about attacking her). And in the second Evey has fought her before in their past lives so she's the best qualified to take her out. Jonathan tries to fight her but backs off after one punch.
Diesel Punk: Like walking into a stylish 1930s pulp novel.
Dirty Coward: Ankh Su-Namun in the second movie: First, she stabs and kills Evelyn (she gets better, however) when her guard is down, then draws sais on an unarmed Jonathan (who STILL manages to hold her off well enough regardless), and ultimately, when both she and Evelyn see their loved ones in mortal danger, she blindly flees while Evelyn charges forward.
Beni from the first movie counts as well. He ran away and left his so-called comrades to be killed by the Tuaregs; he locked himself in the tomb, even shutting out his "friend" Rick; and worst of all, he became Imhotep's servant in order to save his own miserable neck.
The Foreign Legion commander at the beginning of the first film counts as well. He raises his sword to give the order to charge.....and then drops it and gallops away, leaving Rick to give the order to attack.
Disposable Pilot: This happens in the first movie, to the old ennui-ridden war pilot, but then is averted in the second.
Distressed Damsel: Evey a couple of times in the first film. One of the times is actually a subversion since she goes with the villain willingly to save everyone else (though it's not explained how she ended up unconscious and chained to a slab). In the second film she becomes a Badass in Distress as she gets kidnapped while fighting off an army of Mooks.
Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: The British Egyptologist tells Evy "You must not read from the book!" She does anyway. In the second film, whoever disturbs this chest will drink from the Nile. Evy disturbs it anyway, because "that doesn't sound too bad." Subverted in that both of these messages are delivered after she's already done what she wasn't supposed to. Though in fairness, she probably could have spotted the "drink from the Nile" thing sooner than she did.
Eagleland: The Americans in the first film, oh so very much. It's lampshaded a bit, though. The split is that Rick is the only Type One American. All the others were various shades of Type Two.
Elemental Powers: The Emperor in the third film, and they make sure to establish that he uses the Chinese, rather than western, elements.
Evil Is Not a Toy: If only Hafez knew that. He wants to unleash Imhotep in the hope that he can stop the Scorpion King, not taking into account that no matter who wins it will be an evil undead. It works about as well as you'd expect.
On the other hand, the Scorpion King was only going to wake up if someone put on the bracelet. He seemed to be loyal to Imhotep regardless, but with the mummy's Bad Boss tendencies...
In the first movie, when Imhotep is accidentally released he is a rotting corpse, without eyes. Guess how he gets them... not to mention the "My eyes! My eyes!" screams. Imhotep also takes his tongue and then his very life essence the next day.
When the boat is attacked, Evy uses a candle to the eye as self-defense.
Fake Nationality: Almost nothing but Fake Nationalities. Rachel Weisz really is English, Jet Li actually was born in China, and all the 'American cowboys' are played by Americans, but nobody who played an Egyptian character was actually Egyptian, or even Arab or African. Oded Fehr is Israeli, Arnold Vosloo is South African, Patricia Velasquez is Venezuelan, and Dwayne Johnson is an American—of Samoan and African heritage, mind you. O'Connell's actor is Canadian American, Jonathan's is Scottish, Beni (who is supposed to be Hungarian) is played by an Irish-American guy from Chicago. From the third movie we have Maria Bello (American), Michelle Yeoh (Malaysian) and Russel Wong (American). Moreover, Evy and Jonathan's mother was supposedly Egyptian, but neither actor is of Egyptian, or even middle-eastern, descent.
Evy in her clingy nightgown, and in the flashback Evy's previous incarnation and Ankh Su-Namun having a girlfight in bikinis.
Ankh Su-Namun's first appearance is in strategically placed cloth and body paint.
Aversion: In the first film, when the boat sinks and everybody comes ashore, Evy's gown was allegedly so sheer that she appeared completely naked. To keep the film's rating around PG-13, Stephen Sommers ordered a full gown be edited in, much to the annoyance of some of the producers.
Fate Worse Than Death: Being mummified and buried alive along with a bunch of flesh-eating scarabs that proceed to eat you from the inside out? And then cursed so that your soul will never rest? Seems to fit the bill.
Finger Wag: Imhotep does this to Alex O'Connell in The Mummy Returns.
Five-Man Band: In the second film, the O'Connells have formed one:
Four Temperament Ensemble: The four Americans in the first film: O'Connell is choleric, while Henderson is sanguine, Daniels is melancholic, and Burns is phlegmatic.
Rick: Right. And if someone doesn't kill him, then he's gonna wipe out the world.
Evelyn: How did you know?
Rick: I didn't, but that's always the story.
Evelyn: The last known expedition to actually reach Ahm Shere was sent by Ramses the Fourth over 3,000 years ago. He sent over a thousand men.
Rick: And none of them was ever seen again.
Evelyn: How did you know?
Rick: I didn't, but that's always the story.
Invoked again in the third, when leaving the museum Rick mention that the emperor "will get stronger as they wait to defeat him" with no one explaining it to them.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: During the chase sequence in Shanghai, Jonathan has this priceless reaction to his burning backside:
Jonathan: Ah! My ass is on fire! My ass is on fire! Spank my ass. Spank my ass!
Godiva Hair: Ankh Su-Namun in Ancient Egypt. Since she's wearing a wig (all Egyptians cropped their hair and wore wigs) the effect was likely intentional.
He Clean Up Nicely: Evy has this reaction the first time she sees Rick clean-shaven and dressed tastefully after bailing him out of prison.
Heroic Bloodshed: The trilogy is basically a pastiche of Hong Kong Action cinema conventions attached to a 1930's Pulp-Novel, with this genre being the most obvious homage in the first two movies.
Heroic Sacrifice: In Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Zi Yuan (who had already sacrificed her immortality to raise General Ming's army) allows the Emperor to mortally wound her with his sword in order to get back the dagger that can kill him.
Historical Villain Upgrade: The Real Life Imhotep was one of the most respected Egyptians who ever lived, the first engineer and architect, inventor of modern medicine (Thousands of years before Hippocrates) a pretty unambiguous good chancellor, and deified after his death (something normally reserved only for the greatest pharaohs). He's the Big Bad of the first two movies.
Except that real Imhotep lived long before the reign of Seti I, so this would have been just some guy named after him.
Hero Stole My Bike: More like "hero's brother-in-law stole my double-decker bus."
Hijacked By Jesus: The Mummy Returns paints Anubis as a Satanic figure who buys souls in exchange for worldly power. The Anubis of actual Egyptian myth was one of the good guys.
Evy in 'The Mummy Returns' and Evy in 'Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'.
Michelle Yeoh as Zi Yuan.
Idiot Ball: As Rick lampshades, what the hell was Alex thinking when he decided to go and uncover the Emperor?! It's not like his family haven't had a long history dealing with curses and mummies... does it ever end well?!
Ironic Echo: In The Mummy, Jonathan needs Evy's help translating a hieroglyph in order to complete a spell; in The Mummy Returns, Alex needs Jonathan's help translating the same hieroglyph in a different spell. And in both cases, the second party is in mortal peril whilst helping. Even better, both of them are under mortal peril from a one on one fight with Ankh Su-Namun.
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Rick says this about his first kiss with Evy, since he was about to be hanged. He seems surprised when she takes offense.
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Rick O'Connell interrogates Beni for information about Imhotep's plan by shoving him just inches away from a ceiling fan.
In The Mummy Returns he also grabs Ardeth and shoves him into a post to yell "What the hell are you doing here?" at him. Granted, Evy had just been kidnapped, but it seems a bit harsh of a way to treat your known ally.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the third film, when we meet Maria Bello as Evy, she refers to a character in her novel based on her and Rick's adventures as being "a completely different person."
Legion of Lost Souls: Rick and Beni are in one at the beginning of the first film.
Let's Get Dangerous: Jonathan may be a ridiculously greedy, swindling Plucky Comic Relief, but he is also a crack shot with a Winchester rifle, a skilled pickpocket, and disturbingly competent with a book of ancient spells.
Load-Bearing Boss: Subverted in the first movie; when the heroes finally "kill" Imhotep, the whole place starts coming down on them. It was actually Beni's fault, leading to his Karmic Death.
Played straight in the sequel.
London, England Syndrome: Because apparently we can't figure out that yes, this is the Cairo in Egypt.
Mortality Ensues: It turns out that the companion book to the Book of the Dead doesn't kill the Big Bad when read from. What it does is remove his immortality, allowing him to be killed like a mortal.
Mr. Exposition: For the first half of the sequel, Ardeth is made of this trope. If he's talking, odds are he's giving exposition.
Neck Lift: Imhotep does two in the first film. One to Jonathan, one to O'Connell.
Nerd Glasses: Worn by Evy in the beginning of the first film, and shed for good not long after - which is odd because contacts didn't exist in the 1930's.
New Powers as the Plot Demands: In The Mummy Returns, Imhotep is no longer causing the plagues of Egypt, but he's seemed to pick up a few new tricks like Telekinesis.
the counter-undead raised to fight the Dragon Emperor
Oh Crap: Plenty of instances. For example, Ardeth and the Medjai have just defeated the Army of Anubis at great cost to their forces. They cheer. But that was only the first wave. Cue the entire horizon turning black as the unfathomable hordes of Anubis warriors blanket the sands. To be fair to poor Ardeth, though, he took it rather well, all things considered.
It's not that noticeable at first, but once you know that the actor playing Jonathan is actually Scottish, you can't not hear his natural accent peeking through.
Also, Ankh Su-Namun seems has a small problem with this in the first half of the second movie, that is, until the real Ankh Su-Namun gets resurrected, when she only speaks Ancient Egyptian. The creators consulted a historian to make the Egyptian an approximate representation of what Ancient Egyptian sounded like.
One Handed Shotgun Pump: Done by Rick in the first movie, stating, "I believe in being prepared."
The Order: The Medjai, whose job appears to be guarding all the potentially world-ending crap the ancient Egyptians left lying around. We mostly only see Ardeth Bey in the first movie (other members are present but they aren't really given lines), but they get upgraded to The Cavalry in the second, so they can Hold the Line against Anubis' army.
The Other Darrin: Rachel Weisz, replaced by Maria Bello in the third movie.
Past Life Memories: In the second film, Evy keeps having flashes of insights and memories that make her think she's hallucinating. It turns out, they're memories of her past life in ancient Egypt.
Picky People Eater: Imhotep is probably one of the pickiest people eaters around. He took body parts only from the people who had basically stolen his. Justified in that his curse requires him to consume the specific people who opened the container holding the book in order to regenerate.
The Punishment: Imhotep's being mummified alive in a sarcophagus full of scarabs because he got with the Pharaoh's woman. In reality, not that bad a punishment because he gets Cursed with Awesome and can return from death with very little help from stupid people. Meanwhile, his punishers spend the rest of their lives (as do all of their descendants) keeping him cooped up. Clearly, the punishment was worth it!
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Used by Rick dispatching the Scorpion King ("Go to hell, and take your friends with you!") and Emperor Han ("Now you can rule... in hell!").
Red Shirt: In the first movie, anyone in the expedition that isn't one of the three leads. Even more so in the second where Imhotep's mooks actually wear red!
It's possible the Imhotep of the movies was named after this man (in-universe). Both were highly-regarded priests.
The historical Imhotep was also an architect. He was the designer of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the tomb of the Pharaoh Djoser, and thus the inventor of the Egyptian pyramid.
Some theories contend that Imhotep was the Biblical Joseph.
Also, there were two ancient Egyptian rulers who had each claimed the title of Scorpion King. One was named Osiris Scorpion; this troper forgets who the other one was.
Also applies to the prologue of The Mummy Returns. Anubis is not an evil god, not by a long shot. The closest thing late Egyptian mythology had to an evil god would probably be Seth, the villain of the Osirian cult and formerly a benign god in his own right; before Set there was Apep, the Immortal Serpent who would battle Ra every night for all eternity, explaining the shift between day and night. Then again, Rule Of Cool is in full effect, and Anubis is certainly one of the cooler gods: he essentially was a dying man's best friend, keeping carrion beasts away from your corpse, was present at the Opening of the Mouth ceremony marking a dead soul's entrance into the afterlife, and admitted the worthy into paradise. All around a pretty swell guy, and doesn't fall under Evil Is Cool by any stretch of the imagination. Oh well, everybody hates Anubis.
In the prologue to the second movie, Scorpion King offers his soul to Anubis in exchange for glorious life. The idea of selling a soul to an evil power (which Anubis isn't) is a purely folk Christian concept (it's not even Christian proper as Satan does not rule the damned). To make it more ridiculous, the offer itself had no sense as all deceased were destined to meet Anubis. You had to cross the desert after death first, to reach Anubis and have your soul deemed worthy. Not all made it through the trip, since there was dangers to be met on the way.
Imhotep is scared by cats in the movie due to the claim that cats are the guardians of the doors of the the Egyptian underworld. While there are a few cat deities in Egyptian mythology (one of them (Sekhmet) is actually pretty terrifying), they were associated with other aspects, to be specific, war, disease, hunting, fertility, and motherly love, it would have made much more sense to have him be afraid of snakes, since most of the deities assigned with duties like punishing the damned in the afterlife were horrific snakes, such as Khetti, or the servants of Seker, who's job was essentially to punish people like Imhotep. Plus, then Imhotep would have had an excuse to say "Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?" as a Shout Out.
Say Your Prayers: Beni's prayers are played humorously, as he prays to several gods in several different languages before praying in Hebrew actually winds up saving him, because its a language Imhotep understands.
Scary Black Man: Lock-nah, who is also the first named villain to die. Averted with Izzy.
Sequel Hook: The third movie ends with John resolving to move to Peru. As he drives off, "Mummies were later discovered in Peru" appears on the screen.
Sequel Escalation: The first film was mostly an adventure film in the spirit of Indiana Jones but works on the same level as a comedy. The sequels were still tongue-in-cheek but had more chase scenes and action scenes with entire supernatural armies being raised.
Shooting Superman: People will not stop shooting Imhotep even though he is Immune to Bullets. Even after Ardeth has told people "No mortal weapons can harm that creature!" they shoot Imhotep. At least they slow him down. Probably also a case of When All You Have Is a Hammer.
Shoot The Shaggy Dog Story: In-universe example, Imhotep's life. In The Mummy Returns, Imhotep sees what True Love is really like. He'd sacrificed everything, his position, his mortality, and his soul for Ankh Su-Namun, and she abandoned him when the chips were down. Then he got to watch Evy race to Rick's side in his moment of need. To top it off, while he was begging Ankh-Su-Namun to save him, his enemy was begging his beloved to save herself — and she refused, insisting on trying to help him. With this came the realization that his sacrifice and suffering had been pointless and empty, and he let go of the ledge.
Shout Out: When they first meet and Rick is in prison, Jonathan claims to Rick that he's a man preaching Christianity in Egypt and introduces Evy as his sister (although she actually is). Given Steven Sommers' reported love of old adventure movies, this is almost certainly a reference to The African Queen.
And in the third film, the Dragon Emperor turns into a three-headed gold dragon that looks just like Ghidorah.
Sidekick: Jonathan. Similarly, Izzy in the second film, who is a cowardly sidekick who is black (and not, mercifully, a Black Cowardly Sidekick).
Soft Water: In the second movie. When they "drink the Nile" they aren't crushed into the wall behind them, and the airship is later pushed by the wall of water rather than harmed.
Spanner in the Works: The people who sealed the Emperor away in the third film put his mummy in a statue, the idea being that anyone who tries to raise him would instead raise a eunuch, which was in the coffin as decoy. This plan almost works... till the mummy raising water is accidently splashed on the emperor's statue.
Spinning out of Here: In The Mummy Returns, Imhotep starts spinning and then turns into a whirlwind to travel.
The "Ancient Egyptian bikinis" Ankh Su-Namun and Nefertiri wear in their fight scene flashback deserve a mention since those outfits are highly impractical for an incredibly violent fight complete with acrobatics.
Taken for Granite: Proably the most horrific origin story of the Terracotta Warriors ever conceived. Explains why every face is unique...
Imhotep somehow became trapped in a block of amber after his defeat in the first movie.
Evy:It's just a chest. No harm ever came from opening a chest.
Rick:Yeah, and "no harm ever came from reading a book". Remember how that one went?
Also done in the ending of Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Jonathan states that he's moving to Peru after selling his bar to a Russian pilot, and states that at least that place doesn't have mummies. A narrative quote then appears stating that after his arrival, mummies were discovered in Peru.
This little gem:
Rick: You're gonna get yours Beni!!! YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURS!!!!
Beni: Oh like I never heard that before!!!
Then later on:
Evy: You know nasty little fellows like you always get their comeuppance.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: If you're Ardeth Bey, Throwing Your Sword From Horseback At Things With A Specific Weak Point Always Works.
The Dragon Emperor throwing his sword at Rick. Although being able to make it fly around on a whim it probably helped.
Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Book of The Dead and the Book of the Living. The Book of the Living gives power over the living and can take life, the Book of the Dead gives power over the dead and can give it.
Too Dumb to Live: Alex in the second film. Given who his parents are, all of the ancient traps and cursed objects they've encountered and that the Temple they found the Bracelet in immediately self-destructed upon its removal... what made him think that putting the damn thing on his arm was at all safe?!
...no harm ever came from putting on a bracelet?
Translation Convention: Imhotep starts a conversation in ancient Egyptian with Alex in the second film. By the time they're finished, they're speaking in English.
Twain's Observation on Originality: The third Mummy film merrily hits every action/adventure movie trope right on the mark. Nothing in the movie is a surprise, but it's not a bad film for it.
Weaksauce Weakness: Imhotep's curse rendered him terrified of cats. It Makes Sense in Context, though, given that cats are the guardians of the underworld, a place which he surely does not wish to return.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yang and Choi. They resurrected the Dragon Emperor only so they could end China's civil war.
We Will Meet Again: In the first installment, Imhotep corners the heroes, and is taking Evie away to be sacrificed. Before the Big Bad can leave, Rick O'Connell looks right into the Big Bad's eyes and says, "I'll be seeing you again." with all the menace and hatred and promise the man can muster. Imhotep, who doesn't understand a word (the man's an ancient Egyptian who doesn't speak English) get's the message anyway, but he's so assured of his near invincibility that he only reacts with mild amusement. Turns out, underestimating O'Connell was a huge mistake.
Especially funny with an Entertainment Weekly cover focused on The Rock, with Brendan Fraser Out of Focus on the side and looking downright pissed about it.
Would Hit a Girl: Jonathan in the second movie, who sucker punches Anck Su Namun at one point. He seemed just as shocked at what he did as she was, however.
Probably more because they were surprised that he actually landed a hit, since they both knew he was completely outmatched.
Writers Cannot Do Math: Alex could not possibly be eight years old in 1933, because his parents didn't meet until 1926. Someone who was eight in 1933 would be born in 1925. And there's no indication he's an adopted child or a child one of them already had; it seems more like they ignored the Three Years Later card in the first movie and went with the whole thing happening in 1923. Possibly it is the year that was miscalculated. One of the Hafez's henchmen says that he heard about "one American who resurrected Imhotep nine years ago".
Imhotep to Rick in The Mummy Returns, when the two meet just after Imhotep's re-awakening.
In The Mummy, Evelyn exclaims "You" to Ardeth when he turns up in the Cairo Museum.
You Said You Would Let Them Go: Without the stock phrase exchange, but in the first movie, Imhotep promises to spare the rest of the party if Evy comes with him so that he can perform the ritual. Naturally, once she's in hand, he orders his followers to kill the rest of them. Of course, the rest of the group had made it extremely clear they planned to follow and try to stop the ritual, so not attacking them would have been fairly silly.
Another one occurs in the second movie, though technically, she actually didn't say it...
Jonathan: I told you what you wanted to know.
Ankh Su-Namun: Your point being...
Jonathan: My point being I told you so you wouldn't kill me.
Ankh Su-Namun: I don't recall making that agreement.
by Universal.
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