The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 08.03.2008

A franchise rises from the grave once again...and is nearly kicked back in by that XXX guy.

Directed by: Rob Cohen
Written by: Alfred Gough & Miles Millar

Starring:
Brendan Fraser - Richard "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
Russell Wong - Ming Guo
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang - General Yang
Liam Cunningham - Mad Dog Maguire
David Calder - Roger Wilson
Jessey Meng - Choi
Tian Liang - Li Zhou
Albert Kwan - Chu Wah



Running Time: 112 minutes
Rated PG-13 for adventure action and violence.

It’s been seven years since a Mummy graced the silver screen. In May of 2001, The Mummy Returns, the sequel to the action-adventure remake of Universal’s classic horror icon The Mummy, bowed on screens to the tune of a nearly seventy million-dollar opening weekend. While notable for many reasons, not the least of which was the beginning of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s movie career, the most notable to Universal Pictures was the films eventual $419 million gross, making it just as financially successful as its predecessor. Of course, this virtually guaranteed that the studio would start developing a sequel, despite statements by the stars, particularly Rachel Weisz who played Evelyn “Evie” O’Connell, that they were not interested in returning. Ideas were bandied about—one point, there was discussion of Arnold Vosloo reprising the role of Imhotep several years after the events in Returns and coming up against a new cadre of good guys—but nothing solidified.

Flash forward seven years, and the studio finally hit upon an idea. They got the majority of the necessary actors back and recast the role of Evie with Maria Bello of A History of Violence and World Trade Center fame. The final key became transplanting the O’Connells from Egypt to China, set perfectly to coincide with this year’s Summer Olympics in Beijing. And viola—The Mummy: Tome of the Dragon Emperor was born.

The film is set in 1947, eleven years after the events of The Mummy Returns. Rick (Fraser) and Evie have retired after working espionage for England during World War II and are now living together in their Oxfordshire estate. Evelyn has written two fiction novels based on their Mummy experiences, but is having writer’s block coming up with a third book to deliver to her publisher. Meanwhile, Rick is attempting to settle into retired life with activities like fly fishing, with disastrous results. They’re both obviously bored with their lives and wish for the excitement of their earlier days, but are bound by a promise to each other to enjoy retired life. Meanwhile, their son Alex (Ford) is a bit of a troublemaker, having developed Evie’s fondness for discovering tombs and Rick’s fondness for guns and fisticuffs. While heading up a dig in China instead of being at school where his parents believe him to be, he makes his first great discovery: the tomb of China’s infamous Dragon Emperor (Li). The Dragon Emperor was a ruthless warlord who, after uniting the warring kingdoms into one nation, sought immortality. He betrayed the sorceress Xi Juan (Yeoh), who he conscripted to make him immortal, and his general Ming (Wong) who had fallen in love with her, but not before Xi Juan cursed him and his army to an eternity as stone figures.

Of course, an eternity isn’t what it used to be, and soon after Alex makes his discovery, he is betrayed. A ruthless militia general named Yang (Chau-Sang) is bent on returning the Dragon Emperor to life, and when Rick and Evie accept one last mission to return an item known as the Eye of Shangri-La back to China, the chaos that follows results in the Emperor coming back in the flesh—or rather, in the stone. If he touches the waters of Shangri-La he will be immortal, and so it falls on Evie, Rick, Alex, Evie’s brother Jonathon (Hannah) and a mysterious woman named Lin (Leong) to stop the Emperor before he has the power to conquer the entire world.

The move of the setting from Egypt to China was a smart one for this movie, as it breathes some life into a franchise that would otherwise look to be approaching its last legs. The rich history of the Orient is ample ground for the kinds of mystery and magic that the Mummy franchise is known for, and there is a lot of possibility here. The screenwriting team of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, best known for their work on Spider-Man 2, Lethal Weapon 4 and the creation of the hit television show Smallville, do some great work in drawing from that history to create a feel that is very similar to the first film. Along the way, they bring in Yetis, a dragon, sorcery and soldiers rising from their resting places inside the Great Wall of China, among other things. The writing of the characters we’re familiar with—namely Evie, Rick, Jonathon and to a lesser extend Alex, seem very true to the previous films. Moreover, the script delivers the kinds of adventuring thrills that ironically, the very series that influenced this one—Indiana Jones—failed to deliver this summer. Unfortunately, whereas Steven Spielberg took a weaker script and made it better, director Rob Cohen takes what is a fairly interesting script with a new take on the mummy concept and makes directorial decisions that weaken the film. Cohen, who is best known for duds like Stealth, XXX, and The Skulls—and the more tolerable The Fast and the Furious—commits several missteps in trying to bring this third film to the screen. He throws comedic elements in that are entirely unnecessary and make no sense, such as a Yeti tossing one Chinese soldier over an ancient structure shaped vaguely like a goal-post and then another putting his hands up like he’s a referee. These kinds of moments elicit not laughs from the audience, but out-and-out groans. The Mummy movies have never been without their cheese-ball factors, but in this, Cohen goes too far.

He also employs an absolutely infuriating filming process by relying on a shaky-cam feel far too much. The film is chaotic enough, particularly in scenes such as the giant battle scene, but with the camera shaking left and right like the audience has vertigo, he makes the chaos nearly intolerable to watch instead of enhancing it. The quick-edits in the fight scenes are badly done and distracting and, frankly, unnecessary. Such techniques make sense when masking the use of stunt doubles, or when concealing the lesser physical skills of actors. But Brendan Fraser has proven himself capable with action in many movies, particularly the very predecessors of these films. When the same quick cuts are utilized in fight scenes between Yeoh and Li, two of the pre-eminent martial arts movie stars known to mainstream America, it is no longer a tool, but a reliance on the technique for no good reason. Stephen Sommers may not be everyone’s favorite director, but he knows what he’s doing with action. Cohen is clearly out of his depth, and the film suffers under his heavy hand.

Luckily, Cohen has an able cast to back him up. For Brendan Fraser, Rick O’Connell is a character he’s clearly in his element playing. Fraser carries his part in the film capably, making Rick feel a little older in the mannerisms he uses and staying true to his previous portrayals throughout. He’s able to make even some of the cheesier lines sound perfectly natural throughout the film. Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh also perform with their usual capability, though Li spends most of the time, much like his predecessor Arnold Vosloo did in the first film, as a motion-capture exercise. John Hannah, returning as greedy brother Jonathon, is able to conjure up some of the usual laughs, even when given some iffy lines to work with. He truly elevates his part where a lesser comedic actor would have failed. Luke Ford is somewhat less capable as Alex, seeming to pale in comparison to his more seasoned colleagues, though he’s able to combined the Rick swagger with the Evie intellect very nicely, and it is believable that he’s the child of the two. His best moments are when Alex clashes with his father, such as a scene where they argue about what the best guns on the market and what tactics they should use to stop their undying adversary. The chemistry works in spades…and far better than Ford’s chemistry with Leong as Lin, a romance that seems forced and very stilted.

And what of Evie? Maria Bello is still one of the more under-rated actresses working in Hollywood, and seems just on the verge of truly breaking out after a long career of supporting performances. In the initial parts of the film, she seems rather uncomfortable as Evelyn. It is, to be fair, very difficult to imagine the character as anyone but Rachel Weisz, and Weisz’s presence seems to hang over the role like a vengeful ghost. Once the set-up is out of the way and the plot kicks it up a notch, Bello seems to settle into the role better, and she performs capably; it’s only in the first twenty minutes or so that her performance seems off-key with what we’ve come to know and love. It’s certainly more a testament to Weisz then a detraction from Bello.

One thing that Tomb of the Dragon Emperor excels in is the special effects, likely to no one’s surprise. The effects of the previous films, while good, often seemed a bit cartoonish in comparison to other films that came out during their time. This third entry’s efforts are no different, but unlike the army of Anubis in Returns or the mummified priests of The Mummy, everything manages to feel fantastical without seeming distinctly unreal. Digital Domain, previously known for their work in The Day After Tomorrow, Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End create the chaotic but exciting climactic battle sequence, and Rhythm and Hues of The Golden Compass and The Incredible Hulk fame do the yetis and the dragon excellent justice. They combine with some beautiful settings, from snowdrift mountaintops to deserts around the Great Wall of China, to make a film that’s beautiful to look at—at least in those moments when the attention-deficit oriented Cohen gives us enough time to appreciate them.

The 411: The special effects and able acting of Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh, and Jet Li are some of the only things that save The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor from mediocrity. Despite a script that creates a well-paced and engaging story, Rob Cohen is unable to do anything to prove he's a more capable director then his previous blunders have shown. His reliance on quick cuts and dumb cheeseball moments hampers what could have been a far better film. Maria Bello tries hard to be a worthy successor to Rachel Weisz—and succeeds at times—but her performance is much like the movie itself in being efforts that are waylaid by the fact that what lay before them is far more enjoyable. Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has many good moments and isn’t a total loss by any stretch, but in the hands of a better director, it could have been so much more.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]