The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
The third installment in the Mummy franchise takes archaeologist Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) all the way to China, pitting him against an emperor (Jet Li) from the 2,000-year-old Han dynasty, who's returned from the dead to pursue an evil quest for world domination. This time, O'Connell enlists the help of his family -- including his wife, son and brother-in-law -- to quash the so-called Dragon Emperor and his abuse of supernatural power.
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While watching this movie I found myself screaming silently, "Why? Why was this movie made? Why was I there?" And only silence and self-loathing were there to answer.- simplygreg
The Mummy as a franchise was in trouble from the moment corporate decided to inject the Scorpion King into scenes of the Mummy Returns. Creative arts rarely succeed when they are generated by non-creative committees. A great writing team can work magic. A good production team can make miracles. But put together a gaggle of accountants and middle managers and you get... This latest addition to the Mummy series fails on so many levels. It has the look and feel of the franchise but thats where the similarity ends. The chemistry between Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz is, well, theres no Rachel Weisz! Maria Bello is on my favorite actor list (as is Weisz). Bello is smart, clever, brave and talented. Shes also a beautiful woman. One line in one scene could have taken Weisz out of the equation and opened the way for Maria to do her thing. Instead they take this great talent and try to make her over as another great talent. Reality check: You cant make Bello into Weisz with a wig and a dialect coach. When the creative team exercises this kind of bad judgment with on screen issues, makes unfortunate choices like hiring Rob Cohen as director, you can be sure other stupidity went into this project! The result looks like everybody involved left their A-Game at home. This is just another summer action movie. When you think of how this series began, thats sad. Even sadder, it probably wont end here. Oh, did I say three stars? Thats not to say I did or didnt like it. Im just being fair and fairly generous. I hope my thoughts are helpful 08/16/08 ~~~Wingz
- Wingz
This predictably suffered from what most but not all sequels suffer from, a downgrading of the writing and acting and an excess of special effects and whatever else made the first one good, but to the point of overkill. Of course I was already expecting that, after having seen the first sequel, "The Mummy Returns". I loved the first "The Mummy". It was funny, had a great story and lots of action plus great effects (and Rachel Weisz). Yes, I too missed her in this one. I like Maria Bello and I think she is a good actress, but It was hard not to compare the two versions of the same character and they were like two different people. After I got over that and the old son, I managed to enjoy the movie for what it is, a fantasy adventure. Michelle Yeoh was a pleasure to watch and Jet Li was okay. The legions of dead (then undead, then dead) were kind of funny, as were the the good guy yetis. The monsters were over the top ridiculous. For mummies, Egypt is hard to beat but it was hinted that the next sequel will be in Peru. I'm sure I will watch it too when it comes out because I'm a sucker for these kinds of movies, even when they are cheesy.
- couchdog53
The third installment of the dreadfully awful Mummy series is no exception to the standard of poor screenplays and even worse acting that the previous installments have set. Brenden Frasier returns as the Indiana Jones styled adventurer drawn into China by circumstances beyond his control to fight the undead one last time (at least we hope this is the last time). The film begins as Frasiers son discovers the lost tomb of the Chinas first emperor, the man who built the great wall and destroyed countless numbers of civilians in his raids across the country. As they unearth the tomb of the Dragon Emperor a secret group of militants upsets their plans to put the mummified Dragon Emperor into a museum and raises him from the dead. The next hour of the film is spent following Frasier and co. as they try to beat the un dead Jet Li across China before he reaches some form of the fountain of youth so that he can raise his army from the dead. The film is one sprawling disaster after another. Horrible one-liners punctuate inane plot turns, all surrounding a fairly mindless central story of a father and son coming together after years of interacting across a divide. There is nothing in this film that is really working to redeem any of its myriad short comings. Please, Mr. Cohen, spare us from a fourth installment, how many legions of the undead can you raise before you realize that you cannot even realistically raise Frasiers career from the dead?
- Dlukenelson
While still moderately fun, fast-paced and visually fancy, the narration, plot mechanics and creativity present in this third mummy movie just seem... stale. There is more than a passing resemblance to the last Indiana Jones movie with the inclusion of Fraser's wayward son and abundance of action cliche. And Maria Bello struggles to replace Rachel Weisz as the adventurous wife of the square-jawed oaf we've come to recognize as whatever character Fraser plays. Jet Li was fine in his role but like Forbidden Kingdom, he is underused and seems more a reinforcement of cliche than anything else. The Ray Harryhausen inspired visual FX are a saving grace with yetis, three-headed monsters and an undead army for viewers to ogle while sipping soda as sugary and empty as the movie's plot. But the CGI quality is strictly middle-of-the-road and frankly, it's not enough to overcome the crumby dialogue and superficial story. As two hours of popcorn movie fun, this third entry into the Mummy franchise isn't a complete waste of time but in a summer of big movie standouts this one just gets by.
- Creeper
It's like they were sick of people asking for more Mummy movies so they took everything that made the first two good and overdid it all so much that no one would ever ask them to try again. I imagine conversations like these: "Jonathan needs to be loud and annoying! Let's have him yell all his lines! Oh, and can he be incompetent?" "Nah, it's been done - but we can set him on fire, and have him yell about it for a while!" "We need some sort of air transportation ..." "We can just shoehorn a crazy pilot in for no reason! He doesn't need a personality or a consistent accent because he's funny! It'll be great!" "The kid needs to be brash and annoying, but older. What should we do?" "Oh, I know! Luke Ford!" Feh.
- pathar