From TV Tropes: "These are characters that have no real grudge against the heroes, but are simply doing a job they're getting paid for." Granted, you can't really pay museum exhibits. However, you can "[offer them] the world, literally." If you're new to this blog, this is the offer Kahmunrah makes to Al, Ivan, and Napoleon as he recruits them to replace men he lost to the V-J Day photograph and Larry and Amelia's "good, old-fashioned American ingenuity" (or complete desperation to catch a break, depending on your perspective). If you're not new to the blog but need a recap anyway, there it is. After all, as my chemistry teacher says, "A recap is always a good thing."
Though our first introduction to Al, Ivan, and Napoleon is through their meet and greet with Kahmunrah several minutes into the second act, we can learn a lot about their general motivations through the way this first meeting plays out. They don't seem to take Kahmunrah very seriously at first, two out of three inquiring about the dress (tunic) and the third planning on doing so. However, the offer of sections of the world must sound very appealing to them, otherwise they wouldn't have climbed aboard. (One wonders how these three guys were even recruited individually. Did Kahmunrah question each one and go through, like, thirty historic bad guys before deciding on these three?) As Ivan said, "If we're talking about world domination, than of course, I'm interested."
Who, by show of hands, wouldn't be interested by the prospect of being in charge of at the very least a huge section of the world, if only for a little while? Though I can't be entirely sure of this, the majority of us can say that at one point or another, we thought about what it would be like if we were in charge. The same is very likely true for Al, Ivan, and Napoleon, and that's why they signed up for Kahmunrah's bid for world domination.
However, though they work for the movie's main bad guy, they are only "evil" in their own right when serving this capacity. Otherwise, at the very most they would probably individually cause some mischief, start small-scale museum wars with each other, or simply ignore each other entirely and go about their own individual business. Though we don't see them (or any of the Smithsonian's exhibits) the first night the tablet is there, it's a reasonable guess that one of those three dynamics existed between Al, Ivan, and Napoleon, possibly the last if they had to be brought together by Kahmunrah in order to even come to know each other.
And while they do agree for various reasons, possibly just out of boredom, to work for Kahmunrah and help him take over the world, they clearly show with their shock at the opening of the gate to the Underworld and the appearance of the bird-headed warriors that they got much more than they bargained for. In truth, only Kahmunrah and Larry seem genuinely unfazed by the appearance of the creatures, and if Ahkmenrah were to see them, it's likely he would be just as unsurprised by their appearance. Not so for a 1930s gangster, a Middle Ages Russian Czar, and an eighteenth-century French general/Emperor. Having no cultural familiarity with the concept of a gate to the Underworld or birdmen, or no familiarity with Egyptian magic in general, seeing it actually happen would be a huge shock. (Also, there's an element of "Oh, shit, he was serious" in their surprise and terror as well, indicating that perhaps the three generals figured they just found something to kill a night or so indulging a madman, rather than actually helping him bring back an army of freakish zombies which he would actually use to conquer the world.)
Left on their own, Al, Ivan, and Napoleon would very likely have no grudge against Larry or Amelia, but because they were tapped by Kahmunrah after the good guys trapped his men in the V-J Day Photograph, they now have to try to stop the good guys. They may be interested in taking slices out of the world after Kahmunrah conquers it, or they may just be bored out of their minds, but Kahmunrah "pays them", and therefore if they live up to their end, they have no reason to believe he won't live up to his.
Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": I go into considerably greater detail about why I have reason to fear for the lives of Al Capone, Ivan the Terrible, and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Countdown: 325 Days to NATM 3.
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