Rick O'Connell: Brendan Fraser's Hero in the Mummy Films

Rick O'Connell is the soldier of fortune who guides the heroes through all three main Mummy films, and Brendan Fraser plays him each time. He first appears in the mummy 1999, directed by Stephen Sommers, as an adventurer who once saw the lost city of Hamunaptra. The librarian Evelyn Carnahan and her brother Jonathan free him from a Cairo prison so that he can lead them there.

TMDB credits the character as Rick O'Connell in every film, with no alternate name. He appears in the three main films: The Mummy (1999), the mummy returns (2001), also directed by Sommers, and the mummy tomb of the dragon emperor (2008), directed by Rob Cohen.

He is not in the Universal original, the mummy 1932, or in the mummy 2017, where Tom Cruise plays a different lead, Nick Morton.

In The Mummy (1999) Rick is the practical one in a group of scholars and treasure hunters. Evelyn reads from the golden book against his advice, which wakes Imhotep, and much of his role afterward is to keep the others alive. Across the saga he moves from guide for hire to husband and father, and by 2008 he is a retired adventurer pulled back into action. Our the mummy characters page places him next to the rest of the ensemble.

Rick's closest bond is with Evelyn, and the films show them going from strangers to a married couple raising a son. In 1999 she is Evelyn Carnahan, the librarian who needs a guide to Hamunaptra. In 2001 she is Evelyn O'Connell, and the film also links her to an Egyptian princess from Anck-Su-Namun's past. Rachel Weisz plays her in both films, and Maria Bello takes over in 2008, a change Variety reported in 2007. Read more on evelyn the mummy.

So, do Rick and Evelyn get together? Yes, by the second film they are married, and in 2008 the two are drawn back into action together.

Jonathan Carnahan, Evelyn's reckless brother and played by John Hannah in all three films, is Rick's constant companion and brother in law. See jonathan the mummy.

Alex is Rick's son. Freddie Boath plays him as a boy in 2001 and Luke Ford as the grown son in 2008. Read more on alex o'connell the mummy.

Rick's allies and opponents round out his circle. ardeth bay, played by Oded Fehr, fights beside him in the first two films. His main enemy in those films is imhotep mummy, played by Arnold Vosloo. In 2001 the Scorpion King is played by Dwayne Johnson, and that role led to the spin-off the scorpion king. The 2008 villain is the emperor, covered at dragon emperor mummy.

In my opinion, Rick works because he is the one character in these films who treats the supernatural as a problem to solve rather than a mystery to admire. These are my picks of his best moments, so treat them as opinion.

1. Driving the blade into Imhotep in 1999. The film sets this up well. Evelyn makes Imhotep mortal first, so the kill is earned by a team and Rick lands the blow. It is a clean payoff for a character who spent the film cleaning up after other people's mistakes, including the golden book Evelyn read aloud against his advice.

2. Using the spear on the Scorpion King in 2001. Rick finds the weapon in the pyramid and uses it to destroy the creature and send its army back to the underworld. In my opinion it is the biggest set piece in the saga, and it gives Rick the finishing blow against something far larger than Imhotep. It could be argued that the sequel peaks here, with the airship rescue not far behind.

3. Stabbing the emperor beside Alex in 2008. Perhaps the quietest of the three, but it matters, because the hero who once guided strangers through a desert now finishes a fight alongside his own son.

That being said, if you only have time for one film to see Fraser's Rick at his best, start with the mummy 1999. The full list is in the mummy movies in order.