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Review by E.C. McMullen Jr. |
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THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR- 2008USA Release: AUG! 1, 2008 Universal Pictures Rating: USA: PG-13 |
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Back in 1999, I enjoyed THE MUMMY. In 2001, I really hated THE MUMMY RETURNS. So where do I stand on THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR?
Well let me tell you the bad before I get to the good.
It begins with a sequence of events that are narrated. There is far more narration than is necessary since we are actually seeing what is being explained.
Gahh!
Jet Li proved he could turn in a good performance as we saw in Romeo Must Die, Unleashed, and Hero. In this film, he's little more than a scowling statue, mostly rendered in cgi. How bad is the cgi? Recall the "Scorpion King" in THE MUMMY RETURNS? It's Stephen Sommers bad. Universal Pictures bad.
That's how bad it is.
Actor Maria Bello replaced Rachel Weisz as Evelyn O'Connell (Rachel apparently didn't like the script) and the story suffers greatly for it. She has nothing to work with here, script-wise, nothing to help the new actor blend into the established character, and has zero chemistry with her lead, Brendan Frasier: her husband Rick. This is odd again because I know Bello is a fine actor, as I saw in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE.
Michelle Yeoh (THE HEROIC TRIO, THE HEROIC TRIO 2) amazingly rises to the occasion, but like the rest of the cast, there just isn't much here for her to do.
John Hannah (THE MUMMY, THE MUMMY RETURNS) returns as Evelyn's wheeler dealer brother, Jonathan Carnahan. For the last two movies, he's been counted on to provide the comedy relief. Unfortunately, he's not given anything funny to do. So he delivers the presumed jokes in loud exclamation points. Witness this exchange where Jonathan's butt catches fire and burns huge and bright for an unusually long time.
Rick: "Jonathan! Your ass is on fire!"
Jonathan: "My ass is on fire?"
Rick: "Your ass is on fire!"
Jonathan: "Ah! My ass is on fire! My ass is on fire! Spank my ass, Rick! Spank my ass!"
I guess I'm missing the humor on such on-the-nose jewels, and I love the Three Stooges.
Nearly every joke flops and the film makers chose to give some pause time after the punch lines for the expected laughs that never come. Ugh!
On the plus side, the action sequences are done well. There are unexpected twists, and the ridiculous is thrown into the film in a way that is both believable within the logic of the movie, and is fun to boot.
TRIVIA1. Rachel Weisz wasn't the only one who didn't like the script. Actor Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep) hated the script and refused to return without Stephen Sommers directing, which called for another change in plan for the story. Actor Oded Fehr (Ardeth Bay) didn't like the script and if there wasn't going to be an Imhotep, there was no point to his Ardeth character and he refused to return. That called for another change of plan regarding this movie. As long as I'm on the subject of movies wrecked by producers, at the start of the end credits we're shown screen text that omniously says, "Soon after, mummies were found in Peru" Do you know what that was a set-up for? Universal planned to have a 3rd sequel called THE MUMMY 4: RISE OF THE AZTECS. AZTECS? In PERU?!? |
In short, THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR is really a mixed bag. There is just so much that needs to be cut and so much else that needs to be re-written. The funniest moments were delivered by Mad Dog Maguire (Liam Cunningham: DOG SOLDIERS), but the editing around such humor was terrible, fully ruining the timing of the jokes.
Even with the bad editing Director Rob Cohen, working on the biggest movie budget of his career, directed all of his actors poorly.
The writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles Miller (SPIDER-MAN 2) have a good resume behind them and they've written wonderful comedies. The only thing I can think of here is that their work was torpedoed by the producers and Rob.1
The Producers include Sean Daniel (THE MUMMY, THE MUMMY RETURNS, THE SCORPION KING) who has a record that has been going downhill since the first THE MUMMY in 1999. Bob Ducsay (VAN HELSING), and James Jacks (THE MUMMY, THE GIFT, THE MUMMY RETURNS, THE SCORPION KING) round out the production slot along with creator of the new franchise Stephen Sommers (THE MUMMY, THE SCORPION KING, VAN HELSING, THE SCORPION KING 2). That's really not much of a resume there.
Mediocre comes to mind.
Mediocre also comes to mind with the new stars in this film: the ones who are set to carry on this franchise. I was uninspired by Rick and Evelyn's son, Alex (Luke Ford), but considering how everyone else fared in this, I'm giving Luke slack here. I've never seen any of his other films. The same goes for Lin (Isabella Leong: THE EYE 3). Their roles could have been performed by sock puppets and would not have been less entertaining.
Yet with all of that said, THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR had its entertaining moments. The costumes, production design, and sets were nothing short of magnificent, when they weren't being butchered by bad cgi graft, and I've often been fooled by matte paintings and scale models.
In the end it wasn't so bad as to make me demand the theater manager give me a refund, something I considered after THE MUMMY RETURNS.
So Two Shriek Girls.
This review copyright 2008 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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