Another franchise is risen from the dead.
Director: Rob Cohen
Notable Cast: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong
There doesn’t seem to be a great way to dive into a review of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The film is just kind of there. It isn’t good or bad, it is just blah. Sure there’s action and humor and some decent special effects, but it still stands as an unnecessary (and quite belated) sequel to the moderately satisfying Mummy franchise. As such, in honor of this new installment’s episodic, whatever-strikes-the-writers next pacing the following is a random list of whatever comes to mind about the movie.
The film starts out almost exactly like The Mummy Returns with Jet Li in place of The Rock which is an interesting thought to begin with considering Li starred in The One after The Rock passed on it. Irrelevant maybe, but clearly some folks in Hollywood think they are comparable action stars.
Then, as in The Mummy Returns, Li’s risen mummy is played by a computer image for most of the remainder of the film. It seems odd that the producers of both Mummy sequels would bother to cast an action star in the first place if the character they play is predominantly computer generated.
Speaking of substitutions, Maria Bello eases into the role of Evelyn O’Connell (originally Rachel Weisz) surprisingly well. The film gives the recasting a not so subtle wink upon her introduction to which I say “we all know that Maria Bello is not Rachel Weisz no need to draw attention to the fact”. While Bello is serviceable in the role (she even sounds remarkably like Weisz) she does not have a fraction of the chemistry with Brendan Fraser that Weisz did.
That lack of spark would be problematic if The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor focused on them for more than a couple scenes. Instead the film moves seamlessly from chases to fights to epic battles none of which appear urgent in any way whatsoever. But the franchise still capitalizes on its breezy nature to the best of its abilities. The central characters in The Mummy have been appealing since the very beginning and somehow every movie has managed to make the Neanderthal-like Fraser seem like a true action hero.
Unfortunately, he is not as appealing as a father figure, but that is another perfunctory detail that is addressed as needed and just as quickly dismissed. Sadly, with the loss of Weisz, the relationships between the characters don’t seem as important. The movie’s relevancy would be about the same if Luke Ford played Fraser and Bello’s friend instead of their son. Besides the most sympathetic characters in the entire film are the Yeti’s called upon during a skirmish in the Himalayas. They look like giant, white, man kitties.
That statement should sum up the impact of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor fairly well, actually. With everything thrown on screen over the course of two adventure-filled hours, the most fun I had was thinking about how great it would be to befriend a gorilla cat.
FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS):
