The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Review

Overall 3.75 of 5 view all 8 reviews

LauraBelle
South Elgin, IL

Soap Opera Aging of Characters

one that didn't pay attn. in History, Movie Reviewer, a storyteller, a martial artist

Pros

Brendan Fraser, Great back story

Cons

Luke Ford, Hit or miss dialogue writing

AUG

2008

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor —

2008 must be my lucky year, not just one, but two Brendan Fraser movies. Last month we had Journey to the Center of the Earth, and this month The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the third in The Mummy series. While I enjoy much of the movie, it was the dialogue that sometimes seem lacking, that and the way they aged the characters too quickly, similar to how they do on soap operas.

Fraser picks up again with the role of Rick O'Connell, who is now retired from the mummy-chasing business. Semi-retired is his wife, Evelyn (previously played by Rachel Weisz, but now by Maria Bello), who is writing The Mummy adventure novels, but she seems to be lacking inspiration without any real adventures to draw from. By the second movie they had gotten married and had an 8 year old child, Alex, and now this child is suddenly in college, despite the fact the character development doesn't quite lay out for that to work, and while technically Fraser and Bello are old enough, they just don't appear like parents of an 18 - 22 year old, especially from all that we know Rick O'Connell experienced before meeting Evelyn.

It doesn't matter anyway, as Alex (Luke Ford) has left school and entered into the family business of mummy sleuthing, without his parents' knowledge. He's following up on the legend of the Dragon Emperor. 2000 years ago in Ancient China, Emperor Han (Jet Li) defeated all, burying any that stood in his way underneath the Great Wall of China as they built it. He had great powers in that he had control of the five elements, yet he couldn't defeat death. When he went back on his word to a witch (Michelle Yeoh) who was casting a spell of immortality for him, she double-crossed him and turned him and his entire army (including the horse he rode in on) to clay statues, aka the Terra Cotta Army.

Alex finds the clay statue of Emperor Han and brings it back to Shanghai to collect from his employer. Unbeknownst to him, his parents have also been hired by the same man. They came out of retirement for one last caper, to deliver the Eye of Shangri-La to Shanghai. It was all an elaborate ruse to get all the O'Connells, Emperor Han, and the Eye of Shangri-La together. A current general of the Chinese army has plans to use the Eye of Shangri-La to bring Emperor Han the immortality he has always desired, then use him and his army to enforce his rule. Things go badly, of course, and after Emperor Han is brought partially back to life, a wild chase ensues.

The action in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the type that keeps you on the edge of your seat, whether it's in the tomb as Alex is digging up Emperor Han and fighting off a ninja, in the race down the streets of China, or into the Himalayas, fighting off the yetis. Absolutely mind-blowing is the CGI, especially with the big fight scene at the end. The only failure of this movie was in the dialogue writing, and while someone like Fraser has the chops to pull off bad lines and make them work, Ford just doesn't have it in him. If the dialogue would have been more clever, this movie would have been five-star quality for sure.