The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor «««
PG-13, 114m. 2008
Cast & Credits: Brendan Fraser (Rick O’Connell), Jet Li (Emperor Han), Maria Bello (Evelyn O’Connell), John Hannah (Jonathan Carnahan), Michelle Yeoh (Zi Juan), Luke Ford (Alex O’Connell), Isabella Leong (Lin), Anthony Wong Chau-Sang (General Yang), Liam Cunningham (Mad Dog Maguire). Directed by Rob Cohen. Screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
I can't quite remember what it was I didn't like about The Mummy Returns (2001), the sequel to the unexpected box office hit of 1999, The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser as an Indiana Jones type archeologist who battles a deposed 2000 year-old pharaoh awakened by greedy explorers.
I know I had a hard time convincing myself that it was a large scorpion that Fraser and his pals battled in The Mummy Returns because every time I saw the large beast on screen, instead of looking at a giant scorpion (which it was), I was looking at a scorpion boasting the familiar face of wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in his movie debut. This was on top of the fact I found the digital visual effects awkward when it came to incorporating The Rock’s face onto the scorpion. The moving image just didn’t look real.
I also found the addition of Fraser’s young son to be annoying. He was like the younger sibling whose parents allow him to tag along with his older brother, despite the older one’s protests.
Thankfully, that young kid is now grown up in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. As the son of both Rick (Fraser) and Evelyn O’Connell (Maria Bello), Alex (Luke Ford), now a fly-by-night archeologist since he dropped out of college, unearths an ancient tomb in China that will no doubt raise supernatural consequences.
I predictably knew it wouldn't be long before the O’Connell family was back again on another adventure that included joining forces with undead warriors to battle the Dragon Emperor, a trio of Yetis (abominable snowmen), an ancient warrior (Isabella Leong) who actually speaks “Yeti” if there is such a language, and a trip to Shangri-La where apparently there is a special power available where one can become immortal, if one is lucky to find it.
If Tomb of the Dragon Emperor had been the second film to come out two years after the first one instead of seven years later, I probably would have been more prone to giving it a negative review. Like the first one where we learned about the rise and fall of the first mummy, this third installment wreaks of déjà vu as it opens with a brief background story about a Dragon Emperor (Jet Li) who is damned to Hell along with his army after refusing to keep his promise to an ancient witch (Michelle Yeoh).
The good news is like The Incredible Hulk (2008), the visual effects here don’t look as unrealistic as they did in The Mummy Returns. At least when Jet Li turns into a three-headed fire breathing flying dragon, it doesn’t have his face transposed onto the creature. It’s real enough to have one drunken pilot ask Rick in one memorably humorous scene if he should stop drinking.
I liked the father/son bonding relationship between Rick and Alex where the only thing the two have in common is comparing who has the better guns. And Maria Bello, taking over the role abandoned by Rachel Weisz who declined to star in this one, shows she is just as capable of holding her own against the mummies as her husband.
What it boils down to is Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, like the first one, is a fun, senseless popcorn movie that doesn’t require any thinking to be able to enjoy it. I suppose I could debate the plot saying the possibility that abominable snowmen exist is as much an urban legend as Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster. I also doubt there is such a heavenly place as Shangri-La where immortality can be achieved but hey, it is nice to dream.
Some days, I just don’t care to be that critical. It’s either that, or maybe on the day I saw Dragon Emperor, I just happened to be in a good mood.
©8/6/08
PG-13, 114m. 2008
Cast & Credits: Brendan Fraser (Rick O’Connell), Jet Li (Emperor Han), Maria Bello (Evelyn O’Connell), John Hannah (Jonathan Carnahan), Michelle Yeoh (Zi Juan), Luke Ford (Alex O’Connell), Isabella Leong (Lin), Anthony Wong Chau-Sang (General Yang), Liam Cunningham (Mad Dog Maguire). Directed by Rob Cohen. Screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
I know I had a hard time convincing myself that it was a large scorpion that Fraser and his pals battled in The Mummy Returns because every time I saw the large beast on screen, instead of looking at a giant scorpion (which it was), I was looking at a scorpion boasting the familiar face of wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in his movie debut. This was on top of the fact I found the digital visual effects awkward when it came to incorporating The Rock’s face onto the scorpion. The moving image just didn’t look real.
I also found the addition of Fraser’s young son to be annoying. He was like the younger sibling whose parents allow him to tag along with his older brother, despite the older one’s protests.
Thankfully, that young kid is now grown up in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. As the son of both Rick (Fraser) and Evelyn O’Connell (Maria Bello), Alex (Luke Ford), now a fly-by-night archeologist since he dropped out of college, unearths an ancient tomb in China that will no doubt raise supernatural consequences.
I predictably knew it wouldn't be long before the O’Connell family was back again on another adventure that included joining forces with undead warriors to battle the Dragon Emperor, a trio of Yetis (abominable snowmen), an ancient warrior (Isabella Leong) who actually speaks “Yeti” if there is such a language, and a trip to Shangri-La where apparently there is a special power available where one can become immortal, if one is lucky to find it.
If Tomb of the Dragon Emperor had been the second film to come out two years after the first one instead of seven years later, I probably would have been more prone to giving it a negative review. Like the first one where we learned about the rise and fall of the first mummy, this third installment wreaks of déjà vu as it opens with a brief background story about a Dragon Emperor (Jet Li) who is damned to Hell along with his army after refusing to keep his promise to an ancient witch (Michelle Yeoh).
The good news is like The Incredible Hulk (2008), the visual effects here don’t look as unrealistic as they did in The Mummy Returns. At least when Jet Li turns into a three-headed fire breathing flying dragon, it doesn’t have his face transposed onto the creature. It’s real enough to have one drunken pilot ask Rick in one memorably humorous scene if he should stop drinking.
I liked the father/son bonding relationship between Rick and Alex where the only thing the two have in common is comparing who has the better guns. And Maria Bello, taking over the role abandoned by Rachel Weisz who declined to star in this one, shows she is just as capable of holding her own against the mummies as her husband.
What it boils down to is Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, like the first one, is a fun, senseless popcorn movie that doesn’t require any thinking to be able to enjoy it. I suppose I could debate the plot saying the possibility that abominable snowmen exist is as much an urban legend as Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster. I also doubt there is such a heavenly place as Shangri-La where immortality can be achieved but hey, it is nice to dream.
Some days, I just don’t care to be that critical. It’s either that, or maybe on the day I saw Dragon Emperor, I just happened to be in a good mood.
©8/6/08
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