The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

From dumb fun to... regular dumb.

It's hard to find a point where Tomb of the Dragon Emperor wasn't hampered by itself. Or a point where it makes any sort of logical sense. Unfortunate that is was no good, lending credence to the need of a reboot, which we now have, but wish we didn't.

Final rating:★½: - Boring/disappointing. Avoid if possible.

Not the same Mummy twice, nor thrice for that matter.

Well it's been pretty much universally panned has this third Brendan Fraser led instalment of the new age Mummy series. So lets not beat around the bush here, it's not very good, but it's hardly deserving of the 1/10 ratings it has been given by amateur on line reviewers.

The plot (for what it's worth) sees young Alex O'Connell, now amazingly a grown man in a short space of time, unearth evil old Chinese Emperor Han and his accursed Terracotta Army. Naturally some bonehead is going to bring him back from the dead, and naturally the now retired O'Connell's are forced back into their Mummy fighting ways. Can Rick, Evelyn and poor Jonathan save the day? Will Alex prove his credentials as the offspring of such daring-do parents? Will anybody care come the finale?

Rachael Weisz has (wisely) bailed and into her shoes comes a woeful Maria Bello, with fluctuating accents and zero chemistry with her leading man, Bello has undone the promise shown in World Trade Center & A History Of Violence. Steer clear of action movies dear. Fraser looks bored and can barely muster the energy to deliver the now tired and stilted lines. He admitted once that The Mummy 2 was basically a cheeky remake of the first film, quite what he has to say about this one I await with much interest. John Hannah is merely a bystander and it's probably the easiest money he will ever earn, an utter waste it be. Luke Ford does OK as Alex and Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li (the Emperor) & the beautiful Isabella Leong make do with what the unimaginative script gives them to do.

What saves the film from being a bottom of the barrel feeder is the action quota. Even though the spectre of poor CGI hangs around every corner, the sequences come thick and fast and they at least keep the blood pumping, thus stopping the audience themselves from drifting into a centuries long sleep. There's some good gags too (you will yearn for more of Liam Cunningham), while the choreography for the fights involving the Asian stars is not to be sniffed at. Stephen Sommers left the directors chair for this one, handing over to Rob Cohen, which explains why the film is more concerned with action accelerate over substance. But Sommers, who gave us a genuine genre delight with the first film, has a writing credit and was on production duties for this effort. I trust he now feels saddened by what his franchise has now become. 4/10

High adventure in China, albeit totally overdone

In 1946 Rick & Evy (Brendan Fraser & Maria Bello) are bored in their middle age in England and so take an assignment to China where they meet Evelyn's brother (John Hannah) and their son (Luke Ford) who has discovered the tomb of a tyrannical ancient emperor (Jet Li). Unfortunately, there’s a secret plot to resurrect the mummified remains of the Emperor and all hell naturally breaks loose. Michelle Yeoh and Isabella Leong are also on hand.

"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" (2008) is an overblown action/adventure horror/comedy popcorn blockbuster, just like the first two flicks. It's not as good as “The Mummy” (1999), yet it's better than the unabsorbing “The Mummy Returns” (2001). Yes, it's overdone like the second one, but the story is more compelling.

While it's regrettable that Rachel Weisz opted out of this third film in order to be with her one year-old son, Maria Bello is a solid replacement and actually looks better in tight pants (as she's curvier and therefore more physically appealing).

Of course the film’s preposterous in the tradition of the previous two and the Indiana Jones flicks. But let's give credit where credit is due: “Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” bends over backwards to entertain with tombs, priceless artifacts, mummies, Shanghai, the Great Wall, the Himalayas, yetis, Shangri-La, zombies, a three-headed dragon and martial arts.

If you can get past the absence of Weisz and embrace Bello (which, let’s face it, isn’t that hard to do), this is easily the second best of the trilogy. Interestingly, Roger Ebert maintained that it was the best and he ain't no slouch when it comes to appraising pictures, whatever the genre. Yet my wife zeroed-in on the film’s flaw, which is the same as the previous flick: It tries too hard. It frantically throws in everything but the kitchen sink and is the lesser for it. (Yetis, seriously?)

The movie runs 1 hour, 52 minutes, and was shot in Buckinghamshire, England; Montréal, Québec; and China (Beijing, Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, Tianmo, Heng Dian, Dongguan & Terracotta Warriors Museum, Xi'an, Shaanxi).

GRADE: B-

'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' is the weakest of the trilogy, even if it does have arguably the best title of the three. I do think there is enough positive about it that it is worth watching, though admittedly the plot does feel threadbare - it's nowt enthralling either.

I do appreciate the refresh of sorts we get, however. It doesn't feel connected much to the prior installments, which I guess would be a negative for some (many?) but to me the lore change from Egyptian to Chinese (plus cities/mountains) made it slightly more interesting than a proper rehash would've.

The special effects are just about passable, probably better than the original two films - I should hope so too, given the time difference in release. With that said, I wasn't a big fan of the Yetis, they didn't quite work for me visually and also in terms of how they work with the plot.

Brendan Fraser returns, which is good. Jet Li (albeit as a lame character; not helped by the boring effects used for the Dragon Emperor) and Michelle Yeoh are welcomed additions, Yeoh is the standout in my opinion. Luke Ford is solid enough as Alex.

Maria Bello replaces Rachel Weisz, unfortunately. That's not a rejection of Bello, at all. More so that I dislike recasts and Weisz was perfect for the role, so any replacement was always going to fall short. Bello is an actress I do enjoy though and she herself is fine throughout.

I could very easily be rating this a notch lower, to be honest. For some reason, the rating I've chosen feels more befitting. It produces good and less than good things, the former just narrowly outdoes the latter.