When sifting through lists of upcoming films I can’t help but wonder why certain films are made, especially when it comes to sequels/prequels. A few months ago when reading that a second sequel in the Mummy franchise was in the works and I thought to myself, “Really?” I’m not a huge a fan of series having despised The Mummy, but I do have a soft spot for The Mummy Returns so I thought maybe the third time would be the charm for the series with the release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, especially with addition of Jet Li and Brendan Fraser returning.
I still had my doubts though and for good reasons. The fact that Rachel Weisz would not be resuming her role in the series was very disappointing since her and Fraser had great in-screen chemistry in the previous films and because she’s an amazing actress. But what worried me even more so was that director Stephen Sommers would not be returning to continue the series (due to directing the live action G.I. Joe film) and the duties have been passed onto Rob Cohen, the man responsible for cinematic blunders such as Stealth and xXx. Needless to say, the positives and negatives are evenly matched.
This time around Rick O’Connell (Fraser) and his wife Evie (Maria Bello) have to contend with the resurrected Dragon Emperor (Li) who’s been recently unearthed by their now older son Alex (Luke Ford). The emperor is determined to revive his gigantic army and continue his conquest of the world but not before Rick puts his mummy killing skills to the test. Along for the adventure, Rick’s goofy bother-in-law (once again played by John Hannah), Rick’s pilot friend (Liam Cunningham) and a family of immortals (Michelle Yeoh and Isabella Leong).
From the start the film has it’s problems, reoccurring characteristics have always found their way into the series such as weak special effects, bad editing (the use of the same scene twice) and numerous attempts at comedic relief that succeed only a handful of times. It’s also very easy to see that story is very similar to that of Returns with the last 20 minutes being almost exactly the same, a huge battle ensues between armies and Rick going head-to-head with a mummy with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Some smaller flaws are also noticeable, once such that I found quite irritating is that Alex’s accent is mysteriously missing. You would think somebody involved in the production would have picked-up on it but sadly it goes unresolved.
It’s clear that the film is full of problems big and small but it does have its good qualities. Brendan Fraser (whom I feel is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood) keeps things fun with his witty attitude and overall great acting and though I was weary of Weisz not being in the film, Bello does a good job of handling her character as well as having being Fraser’s love interest. The action sequences are as good as the past films with everyone getting their hands dirty, especially during battle in the Himalayas where even the abominable snowmen have some fun of their own at the expense of the emperor’s flunkies.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is by no means a great film but I won’t go as far as to call it bad either. It’s borderline campy like it predecessors and is enjoyable if you don’t think about it too much while watching it. I will say that one should not be too hasty to spend $10+ to see it; wait to rent it on DVD or just watch on television. I can see this being aired a lot on the FX network in the future.
Director: Rob Cohen
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Lke Ford, Isabella Leong, Liam Cunningham
Rating: 3/5
Popularity: 20% [?]
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