The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

What can I say about the Mummy franchise that already hasn’t been said? It’s totally awesome. A mix of comedy and action. No unnecessary darkness (unlike a lot of movies these days). These films hearken back to the old days when it was *GASP* fun to watch movies. That being said, the third instalment doesn’t measure up to its predecessors.

Plot: The film begins with a narration about the rise to power of Emperor Han, the Dragon Emperor. He conquered all his enemies, many of whom were buried under the Great Wall of China, and mastered the five elements, but could not conquer death. To that end, he sought the help of Zi Yuan, who knew where to find the secret of immortality. Jin declares to his first in command, General Ming, that no man is to touch her; however, the two fell in love during their search. After Zi Yuan supposedly casts the immortality spell on Jin, he ushers Zi Yuan to the balcony to watch as General Ming is pulled apart by horses. He then stabs Zi Yuan. She reveals that she has in fact cursed the Emperor and his army, turning them into Terra cotta statues, and manages to escape.

The film jumps ahead to 1946. Explorer Rick O’Connell, his wife Evelyn, and brother-in-law Jonathan are now retired. Their son Alex has dropped out of school and become an adventurer like his parents. With the financial backing of Roger Wilson, Alex locates the Dragon Emperor’s tomb. Though he is attacked by a mysterious woman, he avoids harm and successfully brings the Emperor back to Shanghai. In the meantime, the British government entrusts the elder O’Connells to take the Eye of Shangri-La back to China as a good faith gesture from the British to the Chinese. All the O’Connells arrive at Imhotep, a night club in Shanghai owned by Jonathan. Alex gives his parents a tour of the exhibit, where it is revealed that Roger Wilson is in league with a paramilitary group led by General Yang and his second in command Choi. Using the Eye of Shangri-La, which contains water from Shangri-La, they are able to resurrect the Emperor. The mysterious woman from the excavation site tries to kill the Emperor with a dagger cursed by Zi Yuan, but he manages to escape.

The mysterious woman reveals herself to be Lin, a protector of the Dragon Emperor’s tomb. She explains that the path to Shangri-La can be revealed using the Eye. The O’Connells, Jonathan, and Lin trek through the Himalayas with the help of Rick’s pilot friend Mad Dog Maguire and reach the tower that will reveal the path to Shangri-La when the Eye is placed on top of it. General Yang, his soldiers, and the Emperor arrive shortly after. Lin summons a trio of yeti to assist in the battle, but the Emperor ultimately succeeds in placing the Eye atop the golden tower. Rick is stabbed by the Dragon Emperor’s sword while protecting Alex. Alex triggers an avalanche, which buys them time to reach Shangri-La first.

They reach Shangri-La first and Rick is healed by ZiYuan, who was rescued by the yeti after cursing the Emperor. She is revealed to be Lin’s mother, General Ming having fathered her shortly before his death. Using the water, they have become immortal and have guarded the secrets of the Emperor for over 2,000 years. The Emperor arrives and is able to bathe in the pool, restoring his physical form and giving him shape-shifting abilities. He takes the form of a three-headed dragon, kidnaps Lin, and flies to his Terra cotta Army at the excavation site.

The Emperor summons his army, which will become invincible should it cross the Great Wall. To buy time, Zi Yuan sacrifices her immortality and that of her daughter to revive those buried beneath the Great Wall. Led by General Ming, the undead army and the Terra Cotta army fight. A massive battle ensues, during which Zi Yuan and the Emperor fight one-on-one. Zi Yuan sacrifices herself to steal back the cursed dagger. Alex saves Lin and they find Zi Yuan dying soon after. She gives Lin the dagger and tells her to stab the Emperor through the heart.  Alex and Rick head off to face the Emperor who has them outmatched. It takes a strategy of “divide and conquer” in order to finally bring him down, but do they do it? You’ll have to see the movie to find out.

Review: The opening scenes are some of the best of the entire movie. However, when Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh signed on for this playing China’s emperor and his love (roles they have played in a previous film), you have to wonder what that script said (or how much money they were shown) that made them sign on to this. The fight scenes are vintage Mummy…visual spectacles that are short of breathtaking. Of course a giant Terra cotta army vs an army of skeletons will do that.

Jet Li is seriously underused here as the emperor, but considering how Imhotep was used, I can’t say I’m surprised. In all honesty, now that I think about, he has more lines than Imhotep had. The Emperor is also more powerful than the Imhotep. As Rick says, this one has superpowers. He can morph into anything, has the powers of the elements, and has bad attitude. Not exactly a guy you want to cross, you know?

Brendan Fraser is great as always. He is the glue that holds this thing together. John Hannah returns and brings some levity and comic relief in, and keeps this thing from getting too serious. The actor that plays Alex obviously spent some time with him, and this being his first major role, its hard to tell if his shortcomings are the result of the bad script or his skills as an actor.

My biggest qualm, though, is with the actress who tries to replace Rachel Weisz. This woman may be a fine actress in her own right, and I may be a bit prejudiced in my opinion, but she just doesn’t stack up. She’s a sad, sad, replacement. It feels like she was just forced in there.

The script, as I mentioned earlier is the biggest flaw of this whole thing. It just seems like they wrote it on a bus somewhere, took it to the studio, got a green light for it, and hoped that the popularity of the franchise would take care of the rest. That being said, it didn’t totally suck, just needed some tinkering.

The Yeti were awesome, just wish they were in there a bit more, but CGI costs money. Let’s see….did I forget anything…oh…my rating.

As far as Mummy films go, this could have been a lot better. The script is the biggest downfall, along with the waste of Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, and the sup par recasting of Evy. Having said  that, I did enjoy it. Would I pay to go see it again in the theater, no. Would I rent it when it comes out on DVD, yes.

It was good, but could have been better.

3 out of 5 stars.