After serving in World War II, Rick O’Connell (Fraser) and wife Evie (Maria Bello, taking over for Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz, who is now too good for this franchise) have retired to a plush estate in the English countryside. Stealing a plot point directly from The Jewel of the Nile, Evie is now a famous author with two books based on her adventures with her husband. To take more from The Jewel of the Nile, she can’t get her third book started because she’s settled down to boring domestic life. Rick spends his days trying to fly-fish, and Evie spends her days reading her old books to hordes of romance-starved middle-class ladies in hats and gloves.
Of course, Eve and Rick take a last job for the OSS, transporting a rare jewel back to China, where Alex has uncovered the tomb of the cursed Dragon Emperor, Han (Jet Li), who once ruled all of China with an iron fist until double-crossed by a beautiful sorceress, Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh). The gem is said to have the power to raise the Dragon Emperor from his magical slumber and thus free him to rule the world again. That’s why General Yang (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang) set up all the aforementioned parties. China is in disarray after the war, and he wants his formerly great nation to rise up again thanks to the power of a freedom-crushing dictator.
It’s convoluted, but you see where this is going. The Dragon Emperor is freed, there’s lots of running and flame throwing, Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah) is along for comic relief again, and there’s a cute love interest for Alex in the form of Zi’s daughter Lin (Isabella Leong). Also, as you’ve no doubt seen from the trailers, there are Yetis. Or possibly Yeti. Whatever the plural form is.
Like Indy’s latest, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is more entertaining than it has any right to be. Any excuse to reunite Jet Li with Michelle Yeoh is a good one, after all. Even if there’s not nearly enough of the two of them on the screen, they’re always welcome and they are definitely the highlight of the movie. Brendan Fraser is mostly cashing a paycheck here as he coasts by on his charm, and Maria Bello tries her best while displaying a knack for gun-fu. Isabella Leong is cute, which is about all her role requires, and Luke Ford is about the same.
There’s not a lot of depth required in this movie. It’s all about looking good, shooting guns, and CGI. Rob Cohen, who isn’t the most competent director in history, can at least craft a pretty good fight sequence. The CGI varies wildly, with the Terra cotta warriors looking good and the Yeti looking… not so good. Like all computer graphics, the fancier the special effects department tries to be, the less believable the technological puppet. It’s not as beautiful as Hellboy 2, but the earth-tones hide most of the computerized flaws.
Check out or interview with Rob Cohen.
US correspondent Ron Hogan wants an army of terra cotta Chinese warriors of his very own. Find more by Ron at his blog, Subtle Bluntness, and daily at Shaktronics.
title: “The Mummy Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-14” author: “Landon Smith”
Because otherwise the O’Connells would be utterly out of their depth, the movie throws in a couple more good guys: a 2,000-year-old sorceress, Zi Yuan, who cursed the Emperor and turned him to terracotta in the first place, and her immortal daughter Lin. The two of them guard the tomb, as well as the entrance to Shangri-La and the waters of eternal life… and, also, handily, the one weapon capable of killing the Emperor: a cursed dagger. And because epic battle scenes are de rigeur these days, Zi Yuan raises an undead army of her own to battle the Terracotta Warriors. Supposedly, the Great Wall is built with the bodies of those killed by the Emperor in its foundations – a perfect resource of undead soldiers, all bearing a grudge against the Emperor. What’s great about The Mummy 3 is that it doesn’t spend a huge amount of time setting things up. Instead, the audience is expected to accept that there’s magic everywhere and that undead mummies can return to life to wreak havoc at any moment – after all, they’ve already shown us that for two movies. While it doesn’t escape all of the cliches of the genre, the fact that we’re dealing with all sorts of magical artefacts and ancient people with mystical powers means anything can happen at any time. Just when you think you’ve got the film more or less figured out, a bunch of surprisingly cuddly-looking Yetis show up. It’s unashamedly goofy, but the silliness is part of its charm. Yes, pretty much everything that happens is at least mildly ridiculous, but it’s just too much fun to mar it by worrying about little things like facts. (Although – since when are there more than four “elements”? Earth, air, fire, water, right? That’s why the movie The Fifth Element had such an interesting title. Throwing in other random substances, including wood and, I’m sure at one point, metal, just kind of screws things up a bit.) I can’t help but feel I should be criticising this film more. It’s obviously not high art of any kind – but it was genuinely good fun. There’s no point thinking too much about any of the plot elements, since everything is handled with a quick “it’s magic” handwave; the CGI isn’t dazzling but it’s certainly good enough to induce viewers to suspend their disbelief; the location settings are gorgeous; the costumes are fantastic, particularly everything Michelle Yeoh puts on; the acting is, y’know, good-to-middling, but the script doesn’t exactly require much in the way of emotional gymnastics. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a light-hearted, comical adventure movie – the perfect pick-me-up if The Dark Knight left you feeling overwhelmed and depressed. Read our interview with director Rob Cohen here.
