The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

I saw a screening of the movie this week and was not expecting much. I liked the first Mummy a lot, did not like the second Mummy as much. I would say the third Mummy is about as good as the second Mummy. It was an interesting idea to have the movie take place in Asia. The scenery was beautiful and so were the special effects. I wish I could say the same about the acting.

Story has not changed much from the previous movies. Mummy rises, Mummy wants to rule world, must stop Mummy.

The new wife of Brendan Fraser is not as good of an actress or as hot as the previous actress. Brendan Fraser's son was not that great of an actor either. And i was confused with how old Fraser's son was supposed to be. It looked like his son aged 22 years but Fraser only aged 2 years from the last movie, strange.

Overall the movie was okay. If you are looking for a deep story, with great acting,then you chose the wrong movie.If you are looking for something to pass the time and some cool special effects then this is the movie for you.

I enjoyed the first two Mummy movies, they were pretty mindless but very likable. But this one was a big disappointment, and by far the worst of the series. Granted, the scenery and cinematography are very good, the music is good enough(no Jerry Goldsmith and Alan Silvestri though) and Jet Li does try hard in his role. But the direction is uninspired, the story is clichéd(as are the characters), the pacing is uneven, the CGI is superficial and distracting, the script is awful and with the exception of Li(the only actor who tries) the acting is dreadful. Maria Bello is alluring but forgets her acting skills, Brendan Fraser is disappointingly bland and John Hannah's Jonathan is rather tiresome. The comedy and adventure this time around seems rather tired too. Overall, a big disappointment. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I really like the Mummy series for its epic action, sense of humor and great special effects. I was very excited when I started seeing teasers for this sequel to be shown in July, mostly because it was quite unexpected.

This movie has all the required elements of epic action, sense of humor and great special effects. Of course there is still the swashbuckling hero Rick O'Connell played in grand style by Brendan Fraser. He undoubtedly has this action-comedy genre sewn up right in his alley. John Hannah is still around playing his brother-in-law, Jonathan, in his old annoying manner.

For the new stuff, the setting shift to China as the titular "Mummy" now refers to an ancient Chinese emperor who desired immortality, played by Jet Li (who really personified his anti-hero role with relish here). The emperor sought the help of a "witch" (played with much bravado by Michelle Yeoh), with whom he gets attracted to. However, the witch fell in love with his main general (played by Russell Wong, whom you'd wonder why he isn't getting more breaks in Hollywood). From hence starts the conflict and the resultant curse on which the movie stands.

The requisite martial arts you would expect in a movie set in China are of course in full play. Very well choreographed, especially that thrilling sword fight between Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. The exciting action sequences inside the booby-trapped lost tomb, the truck and chariot (!) chase in the streets of Shanghai and the final fight sequence with the "Mummy" are all executed very well as in the two previous installments.

But then there are the drawbacks that for me pulls this one down to a five star rating. The quality of the spoken Mandarin is at times unintelligible. However, the major beef involves what for me are severely miscast actors.

The actor who plays the now college-aged son of the O'Connells, Alex, looks too mature to be the son of Brendan Fraser. I just checked to see that the actor Luke Ford was born in 1981, but he looked older than that, so it was a bit of a stretch to believe that he is Brendan's son. Furthermore, he also does not act like a son, but more like Brendan's younger brother.

But the worst and damaging mistake was the decision to cast Maria Bello in the beloved role of Evelyn O'Connell, which is wholly owned by the more beautiful and credible Rachel Weisz. I felt absolutely NO chemistry between Maria and Brendan. Her acting was also quite wretched when compared to Ms. Weisz, who was able to maintain her intellectuality, demureness and gentility on top of her topnotch fighting skills. Ms. Bello fails miserably in this regard to recapture the unique character of Evie we have loved before, in my opinion.

I was very excited about the movie. I thought the first two mummy films were great and entertaining. Before watching The Mummy 3, I thought it looked bigger and better than the previous two. After walking out of the theater, I completely change my opinion. I was disappointed with the story, acting, and action. Yes, the action.

Rick O'Connell (Bredan Fraser) is back to fight off a resurrected mummy named Emperor Han (Jet Li). Rick is joined by his son Alex (Luke Ford), wife Evelyn (Maria Bello) and Jonathan (John Hannah). They travel all the way to China and the frigid Himalayas in order to stop the mummy from conquering the world. But in order to complete his mission, Emperor Han awakes a massive 10,000 warriors (Terracota army) to finished the job once and for all. The O'Connells are up against an unstoppable army and an evil Emperor that will do anything to get the job done.

The story was very interesting, but the script was not. I thought they should had focus more on the mummy than Alex's life. I felt like Jet Li didn't have enough screen time or even just the mummy. Another thing that I felt a bit disappointed was the beginning of the movie. I liked how they were introducing Emperor Han and how everything started, but it felt like a documentary after a while.

I had mix reactions about the performance in the movie. I didn't have any problem with Fraser's performance. He fits his character and he was great in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Maria Bello was not as good as I thought she would be. She did okay, but the accent was kind of weird at times though.

The action and special effects was probably the best thing in the movie. The action sequences were very good, but I thought they could have been better though. I wanted to see longer battles. Like a longer version of Jet Li fighting Michelle Yeoh and Brendan Fraser at the end of the movie. I thought Jet Li should off had a big fight with Fraser. It was suppose to be an epic one-on-one fight, but it fell short. The special effects were good and believable. I didn't have no major problem with the effects what so ever.

The Mummy 3 was a fun movie to watch, but the film has it's flaws. If the the script was better, then I would have given the movie higher rating. While I'm not that interested for the next movie, I am curious to see how it turns out.

The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - I liked the first entry to this series. About all I can remember of the second one was that it sucked, and it's loose spin off "The Scorpion King" was merely O.K. in a "I get a kick out of Conan-type movies" sort of way. Compared to the first, the Mummy 3 trades off memorability in it's characters for larger action sequences. Being the 3rd entry to this series, this is somewhat forgivable as most of the characters are already developed. The movie still suffers though as it seems as though they have less to do as characters and more to do as props, and this unfortunately also goes for the new characters introduced.

This movie knows what it is, and as such, carries with it a level of self awareness. There is even one scene where the new actress playing Evelyn addresses the audience, almost winking, and says "I'm an entirely different person", poking fun at the obvious point her character has been recast. It was cool seeing Jet Li as the Emperor, and as a villain. But that's really all he was, the villain. Unlike the first Mummy movie, where they treat the mummy as an actual character with identifiable motivations, the movie does very little to develop The Dragon Emperor as anything but the antagonist for the action set pieces. But Jet Li is good, he somehow makes the few scenes he was given work, his villainous sneers and smirks work well in portraying a one-dimensional popcorn villain... I felt the movie would have been much stronger if he had more screen time than his CG counterpart.

The martial arts and sword fighting sequences were filmed in a typically Hollywood style with far too many cuts and closeups. The action would have benefited from pulling the camera back a bit to see more of the action. There are a few points about the plot where you find yourself asking questions that simply can't be answered, but the movie's plot is the kind you're not supposed to think about, but instead are just supposed to sit back, relax, suspend your disbelief, and enjoy the ride. If you are able to do this, there are a few parts in the movie that will have you cheering.

It would have been a lot better if there were 15-20 minutes more character development and exposition, but that would have put the movie over the 2 hour mark, and it's pacing might have suffered, and it's box office definitely would have. As it is, the Mummy 3 hits it's mark as being mass market (barely) digestible popcorn. The movie's story plays as somewhat of a cross between Dragon Wars and Indiana Jones 4, and with respect to quality, it falls somewhere in between... although is admittedly closer to the Indiana Jones 4 end of the spectrum. The movie is what I would call "well made mediocrity". It managed to entertain me. If the Mummy 1 was 8/10, Dragon Wars: D-War was 5/10, Indiana Jones 4 was 6/10, then I would have to peg The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor at 6/10.