The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
3.5 stars out of 5
JOHN GARDNER
This Week on DVD
The Emperor is dead, or is he?
The first emperor (played by martial arts expert Jet Li) of China has it all. He has conquered the seven kingdoms. He has built a system of defences, and can field a million man army, but it all only lasts so long.
Enter the comely witch played by Michelle Yeoh. Lusted after by the emperor, and won by his general. The emperor gets the ultimate prize, eternal life, but at a cost.
Skip ahead a couple thousand years to the late 1940s. Rick and Evelyn O'Connell have retired from the life of excitement they once knew. It's been over 20 years since Rick and Evelyn first battled the mummy in The Mummy. Rick (with Brendan Fraser in his third appearance as the adventurer) is learning how relaxing fishing can be while Evelyn (now played by American actress Maria Bello) is promoting her second book and struggling with her third. Their palatial English manor house is as comfortable a place as you can imagine for relaxing with your feet up, but the couple is bored with the genteel life.
The O'Connell son, Alex, is off at university. Or so his parents think until they run into him in his uncle Jonathan's bar in Shanghai (John Hannah reprises the role, with comedic flare). Alex is now making some very exciting discoveries of his own, and is just about to announce to the world what he has found – a discovery so great that he will no longer be known as Rick and Evelyn's son, but they will be known as his parents.
Now, with all the major players together for the first time in the movie, the real fun begins. The mummy is trying to raise his army again and the O'Connells are trying to stop him.
The chase scene through the crowded streets of Shanghai is made all the more lively by a moving pyrotechnic display, a 2000-year-old emperor driving a cart with killer hubcaps, and a fresh take to the term “headless horse man”.
Director Rob Cohen makes ample use of the classic scenery that is China. The Great Wall, the terra cotta army, even the 1940's style China map. There is no mistaking where this is. That having been said, you also have to remember that although Cohen takes advantage of the history of the region, this story in no way pretends to be historically accurate. The Terra Cotta Army does exist, but was not found until 1974. The Great Wall did exist at the time of Emperor Han, but was rebuilt into what we would recognize today about 1,400 years later. It was also interesting to note that one of the most unbelievable things in the movie was the various traps which protected the tomb, even though they did exist, and to this day slow work on excavating the site.
Although Bello was panned in her role as Evelyn, not having seen the first two mummy movies, I could not compare. Personally I thought she worked very well.
The movie has a very strong flavour of Indiana Jones with it's1940s adventuring spirit. The excavations were monumental in scale, with more weapons built into the scenes than a James Bond Aston Martin. I am giving this movie 3.5 stars, just because of the pilot with no self-respect. Yetis doing happy dances, and a yakking yak.
The movie is listed as PG-13 for violence.
Movies for this week on DVD are provided by Movie Gallery in St. Stephen.
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