Well, this is just sad, if there’s a sequel that makes you hope the franchise would stop right there and then once and for all, it’s this one. THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR is like an unpleasant thrill ride. You’re treated with… CG’s and brief, unintelligent action sequence that neither impresses nor keeps you at the edge of your seat. You’ll be watching from one scene to another, fully aware that they put no effort whatsoever into the story and if they think explosives and fireworks could be the headliner, then they should think again.
Doomed by a double-crossing sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) to spend eternity in suspended animation, China’s ruthless Dragon Emperor and his 10,000 warriors have laid forgotten for eons, entombed in clay as a vast, silent terra cotta army. But when dashing adventurer Alex O’Connell is tricked into awakening the ruler from eternal slumber, the reckless young archaeologist must seek the help of the only people who know more than he does about taking down the undead: his parents.
I knew it! The moment this movie was attached to the name director Rob Cohen, I knew it was headed for a major let down!
I liked the first two MUMMY Movie but this third installment is only for those who are easily amused by big budget summer movies that have No good quality written all over it.
You would think that after a series of greatness, from Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and The Dark Knight.. you would think that the Mummy Franchise would stand up to the plate and give something worthy to show to its contenders. But the result is very far from that possibility.
The Aussie Luke Ford who plays the son is not convincing at all. He would still have a big future ahead of him in the acting business but this role is not going to be the monumental one, it’s certainly not anything worth noticing.
Sometimes recasting can be a good thing.. not in this case. Maria Bello doesn’t have the zing and the magic that Rachel Weisz had in the previous movies.
The visual effects aren’t that spectacular. This is one of those movies that would bombard you with lots of CG stuff so much so that every other aspect gets neglected. The action scenes go by so quickly and in between there’d be cheesy dialogue and unnecessary, irrelevant conversations with puns and humor that are anything but funny. The jokes might be funny to the younger audiences, but not to those of us who’ve watched better action/adventure movies. I blame that on screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
Jet Li plays a character who can become any kind of monster. One of the monsters that he turns into looks a lot like the creature from Where the Wild Things Are.
Ya know what I hated the most… the original score by Randy Edelman, he failed to come up with a memorable, catchy and adrenaline-pumping main theme music.
Brendan Fraser needs to find another genre to do. This whole gig has become way too over the top, it’s gotten ludacrous. Rob Cohen may not be as bad as Uwe Boll, but he’s definitely in the same level as Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, X-Men 3)
The difference between Stephen Sommers’ MUMMY Movies and Rob Cohen’s MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR is that… the first ones have more breathtaking images and they only focused on the romance between the characters Rick O’Conell and his girlfriend. Whereas this one has too many people involved in separate romance stories of their own, ya see.. more is not always better, plus the movie overall looks cartoony.
* Place the cursor on the image below to check my grade for this film
