The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Rated PG-13

Running time: 1 hr 52 mins

Cast:

Brendan Fraser
Maria Bello
John Hannah
Luke Ford
Michelle Yeoh
Jet Li

Critical consensus:

*1/2 out of *****

Matt's Take:

B

Mikey @ The Movies Official Rating:

***1/2 out of *****

The premise:

In the Far East, trouble-seeking father-and-son duo Rick and Alex O'Connell unearth the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin -- a shape-shifting entity who was cursed by a woman centuries ago.

MY REVIEW

I am honestly a bit shocked by the extremely low critical rating at Rotten Tomatoes; it has a 9% fresh rating (only 11 positive reviews out of 118 so far). Have we really come to this? Have we resorted to over analyzing and critisizing storylines of fantasy-adventure films? Look, we are no longer in the days of new and original adventure films like Indiana Jones that get nominated for Oscars. These movies are past that form of prime, and now are soley here in our movie world to entertain. Mummy 3 doesn't really fail in that regard, in my opinion.

People say this movie lacks excitement, and just simply doesn't entertain them. Some still argue these types of movies are unbelievable. Thats great for those people, maybe we need more realistic action movies like The Matrix and Wanted to quench those fans thirst for "real" and "true to life" action. That will get their blood pumping right? For me though, a movie like The Mummy 3 will suffice. I found the movie to be quite entertaining. There weren't to many dull moments that I can remember, there was a ton of action scenes. Personally I freaking loved the fact that there were weird Yetti creatures that kicked butt. Unbelievable? OBVIOUSLY! Different and fun? YEP! Heaven forbid a fantasy-adventure film has...fantasy! *cue suprised gasp here* Were people expecting boring creatures? Did you want a trained lion fighting and killing people? Yawn!

The CGI effects weren't brilliant or state of the art by any means. They were on par with a lot of current adventure film effects though. There were many really awesome shots (the skeleton army, the avalanche) and some kind of over the top cheesy effects (Jet Li's creature transformations were a bit over the top and silly). Which I didn't like the fact that Jet Li's character was a shapeshifter. Not as an unbelieable thing, just a bit to much. So the effects were a tad hit and miss, but I think more on the hit side.

The performances were all pretty standard, but no one was considerably bad, nor considerably amazing! Again, no one is going for Oscar gold here. Brendan Fraser (The Mummy, Crash) has proven he has the acting chops to do dramatic performances, namely in Crash. Yet he keeps coming back to this genre. Earlier in the year he did Journey to the Center of the Earth, esentially playing the same type of role. Honestly I think this is his niche in the movie world, it's kind of what he does best. He is a good actor, and he was good here, even with the almost too many smug one liners. At least he is capable of doing drama in cast Hollywood runs out of adventure film ideas.

My main issue with this movie is Oscar nominee snub Maria Bello (A History of Violence). She's actually quite a good actress, and his turned in a few performances that people are still shocked that she didn't receive any Oscar noms for. I thought she was great in A History of Violence. She's proven, but not for this movie. She's playing a character made popular by Oscar winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardner). Weisz has been in numerous films since the original Mummy film including it's sequel, but when it comes down to it, whatever she's in, people recognize her from these films. So to throw in another actress to play her role is dumb. Weisz made this character fun and enjoyable, Bello plays here almost kind of dull, even when she's kicking butt. Again, great actress, just not for this movie.

The rest of the cast was good. Jet Li doesn't have a whole lot of speaking lines, and a good portion of his role is taken up by CGI effects, but when he's on screen, he does command the screen. Again, impressing us with his hand to hand fighting skills. Which by the way, was a fresh look for these movies, and was actually quite exciting. Luke Ford was probably the most bland of all the performances (even moreso than Bello's). He doesn't have that star quality face to him, and he just looks silly doing action stunts (mainly because he resembles Chris O'Donnel WAY to much). Quick question...didn't this character have a british accent in the second Mummy film? Pretty sure he did, but I could be wrong. Maybe he didn't have the ability to pull the accent off even though he IS from Australia...so...yeah. Kind weird.

I'm a sucker for movies in the 30's-40's time era, especially when everything is done right. When the story is outside tombs, I thought the director got the look and feel of the era right. Wonderful costuming and great set designs I thought. At any rate, Mummy 3 isn't as impressive as the original film, and maybe not so much with the second film, but it still entertains on its own merit. I never got bored, I never looked away in frustration. I was glued to the screen and was into the movie the whole time. For me personally, it simply did what it was supposed to do: entertain. What more do you want from a film like this?


CURRENT MIKEY @ THE MOVIES AWARDS NOMINATIONS:

• Best Art Direction & Set Design


• Best Costumes & Makeup

To view this films theatrical trailer, click this link: The Mummy 3

*This is the 76th new film I've seen and reviewed this year.