Factual error: When Brendan Fraser & his son are running to reach the pyramid before the sun hits it, the sunrise line approaches the pyramid along the ground, but the sun would naturally have hit the pyramid at the top first and worked its way down to the ground. [Some people insist on trying to correct this - think of it this way. If the sun's illuminating the ground from way up in the sky, what's keeping something higher up than the ground in darkness?] (01:34:40)
The Mummy Returns (2001)
Plot summary
Directed by: Stephen Sommers
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velasquez
The movie begins with a prologue set in ancient Egypt, where the Scorpion King (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) leads his armies against the warlord, Mathayus (Patricia Velasquez).
In the present day, ten years after the events of the first film, adventurer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his wife, Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), are living a relatively normal life in London with their young son, Alex (Freddie Boath). Meanwhile, in the Egyptian desert, a cult known as the Cult of Imhotep is resurrecting the mummy of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) in an attempt to gain his immortality and unleash his powers.
Rick and Evelyn receive a mysterious artifact known as the Bracelet of Anubis, which they later discover is the key to finding the Scorpion King's tomb, containing the powerful Spear of Osiris. Imhotep, seeking to resurrect his lost beloved, Anck-su-Namun (Patricia Velasquez), learns about the Bracelet of Anubis and kidnaps Alex, as he possesses a tattoo resembling the key needed to open the tomb.
Rick and Evelyn, accompanied by their old ally, Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr), and their comedic sidekick, Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah), embark on a journey to rescue their son. They follow clues to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, and reach the ruins just as the sun's rays align with the Bracelet, revealing the location of the Scorpion King's tomb.
However, the group finds that there is another faction, led by Lock-Nah (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who is also after the Bracelet and the Spear of Osiris. Chaos ensues as multiple groups clash, and Imhotep is finally able to open the tomb using Alex's blood. With the Spear of Osiris in hand, the Scorpion King awakens, and Imhotep betrays his former allies, seeking to become a god himself.
Rick, Evelyn, and their friends barely escape with their lives, and they continue to pursue Imhotep and the Scorpion King. They reach an ancient temple, where they form an alliance with reanimated soldiers, who are loyal to the current Pharaoh and oppose Imhotep's reign. Ardeth Bay and his Medjai warriors join the fight, creating a battle for the ages.
As Imhotep battles against the Scorpion King, Rick and Evelyn make their way into the temple to save Alex. They encounter Anck-su-Namun, who betrays Imhotep and attempts to kill Evelyn. In the midst of the chaos, Evelyn sacrifices herself to save her son, which unleashes a powerful curse that engulfs the temple.
Imhotep, realizing his love for Evelyn, helps Rick and Alex escape the collapsing temple, but he is ultimately consumed by the curse and is destroyed. Back outside, the group mourns Evelyn's death, but she is resurrected thanks to the power of the Book of Amun-Ra, which she had accidentally stolen earlier. They are happily reunited.
In the final moments, Rick and Evelyn decide to retire from adventuring and live a peaceful life with their family, while Ardeth Bay reveals a new tattoo, symbolizing his ongoing duty to protect the world from evil forces. The film concludes with the O'Connell family sailing off into the sunset, leaving their adventures behind.
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Suggested correction: Despite the additional comments this posting is wrong. The terminator line - the distinct boundary between sunlit day and dark night - moves horizontally across the surface of the earth, from east to west. It is perfectly feasible for the land behind Rick (i.e. to the east) to be in bright sunlight while the pyramid - to the west - is still in darkness. What is not feasible is anyone outrunning the terminator line, which moves at around 1500 kmh in the latitudes they are in.
Try it for yourself - get a round object, such as a basketball, a map tack and a flashlight. As you shine the flashlight on the ball you will see the equivalent of the day/night terminator line. Now stick the map tack into the ball and slowly rotate the ball with the light still shining on it. As it moves, the terminator moves and the map tack will become illuminated before the surface of the ball at the base of the tack. The light will move down from the top of the tack. The only way it would work as shown in the movie is if everything is exactly flat - with no differences in altitude above the ground. Obviously that is not the case. (Of course, if you don't want to poke holes in your basketball, you can use any combination of something round and something to stick to it.)
The original post is correct. Because of its sheer height, the top of the pyramid would receive direct sunlight first, just as a mountaintop receives sunlight before it appears on level ground.
It is perfectly possible for a mountain to be in complete darkness and the low lying land nearby to be brightly sunlit if the mountain is to the west and has not yet been reached by the terminator line. I repeat, the terminator line moves horizontally (in all practical terms) across the surface of the earth and as a result anything west of the line will be in darkness regardless of its height and will stay that way until the line reaches it.
Look, you're talking about mountains miles away beyond the terminator (so far away that they would be beyond the range of sight anyway). We are talking about a pyramid, easily the tallest thing in the immediate vicinity, in the near background, only a mile away at most. Under the physical conditions and locations present in this film, the pyramid should be illuminated top-down. Period.
Rick O'Connell: Knowing my brother in law, he probably deserves whatever you're about to do to him. But this is my house, and I have certain rules about snakes and dismemberment.
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