The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) starring Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, and Michelle Yeoh.

Before...although I had initially heard bad things about this film, I hoped that they were all very very wrong. I have a soft spot for Rick O'Connell and his amusingly mummy-filled adventures. They are tongue in cheek and in my view a VERY clever take on the Mummy franchise that was long lost to the depths of horror mythology. So with a whole variety of magazines, and more importantly for me, friends that felt it was rubbish I went into this film with a whole lot of fear and a wee bit of hope.

It’s 1947, and retired adventurers Rick O’Connell (Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (Bello) are summoned to China for one last job. But things get complicated when they turn up to find that their archaeologist son, Alex (Luke Ford), has found the mummified remains of Emperor Han (Li), a despot who wished to rule the world. And when he is resurrected, the O’Connells have to save the day with the help of Jonathan (Hannah) and Zi Juan (Yeoh), guardian to Han's tomb.

So where to start...first things first plot...a film that has already had two prequels surely should not need 40 minutes of introduction until you first get to see a Mummy. Although we are in a different country and have to be introduced to new characters surely that amount of background knowledge is just not needed. I know how I have moaned in the past about character exposition but this is a film that requires minimal brain processing, like the other two, and therefore delaying the excitement of seeing the Mummy by 40 minutes...YES 40 minutes is ridiculous. I felt thoroughly annoyed and if I had seen it in the cinema I would have been tempted to try and get my money back...once I had sat through the whole film...which is not possible but it would have made me feel better for trying! I particularly disliked the last visual line of the film, onscreen they put "And they found mummies there 1 year later". Wasn't it obvious from the way he said it, do they like treating their audience like idiots...grrrr! I hate films that treat me like an idiot!

Another problem I have with this film was the overuse of slapstick comedy. My first example is from the character of Jonathan. Although he was always the comic relief in the other two films, in this film he took it to new heights of stupidity. Until 40 minutes into the film, I was seeing myself giving it a higher mark than I have ended up doing but then Jonathan got his bum caught on fire and he remarked “SPANK MY ASS, RICK! SPANK MY ASS!!” My second example is when a yak later throws him up on and he then comments, “The yak yacked!”. His then bizarre conversations with the Yak further confirmed my disappointment in his part in the film. My third is when he has to say goodbye to his beloved yak, yes by this time he has had conversations that involve him saying something like I wish I had made you earlier in my life” “Go girl, Go on Geraldine! (the Yak) Live free!” Dear oh dear…it was a bad mistake to bring him back maybe! Then again who could have replaced him!

*SPOILER*




My fourth example is the Yeti’s (Yes you saw that right Yeti’s!) use of a touchdown celebration when they kicked a man over an arch.




*SPOILER*

My fifth example is...well I think you get the idea. This film severely disappointed me in way of humour.

Thirdly the acting in this film was truly atrocious, some of the line delivery was over the top to the point of cringe worthy and just felt completely out of place, and the shameful thing about it is that it is the Western actors who let the side down, specifically John Hannah. His comic timing and altogether delivery of lines in this film is atrocious. Bello is an awful replacement for Weisz. You can see why Weisz decided not to return, particularly after reading the script no doubt! Anyway back to Bello, there is none of the warmth that Weisz had. Admittedly it is a hard job to do to replace someone who has been a character in two previous movies but surely the better thing to do would be to write the character out, rather than replace them.

So good things now...although a small thing I thoroughly enjoyed a change of scenery. Having seen Egypt in the last two films it was a pleasure to be shown around China. The use of the different locations around China for me made a real big impression on me. Seeing the Terracotta warriors Museum, filming in Dongguan...all of these are beautiful locations and it is fantastic they got to film there. Not surprising when you have one of China's most famous exports, Jet Li.

The other stunning thing about this film that I couldn't fault was the CGI. It was a MASSIVE improvement since we had the AWFUL CGI of the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns. I really couldn't fault it. There were times when I was questioning whether it was CGI or not, and yet part of my brain told me it was impossible for it not to be CGI.

Set against the stunning backdrops, and the CGI it makes this film one that I would recommend to you. However on the other hand I was truly truly disappointed with it. Just goes to show that if you change directors you run the risk of really messing up on a franchise. With this film I feel that a franchise has died. For the first forty minutes I would give the film 4 which is impressive as there aren't any mummies in it yet. The really unfortunate thing for me was that it was when the mummies were introduced that we were shown the true likeness of this film. It was awful, which was a real shame and that is why this film gets...

★★☆☆☆