|
|
Monday, November 9, 2009
- The Advocate eEdition
- |
- Wedding Forms
- |
- Newsletters
- |
- Text Alerts
- |
- Mobile
- |
- RSS
- |
Third 'Mummy' watchable, not wonderful
Movie Review: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
By Brett Troxler
btroxler@wbrz.com
Web Producer
|
PLAY OFFICIAL TRAILER
“Ricochet” Rick (Fraser) spends his days trying to fish, but instead resorts to target practice. His wife Evie (Maria Bello) is now a semi-famous author after recounting their first two adventures in novel form. The couple also have a grown son now who is following in dad’s footsteps, and while young Alex shares his father’s love for guns and archeology, the two still have trouble relating.
The plot gets rolling when Rick and Evie agree to escort an artifact capable of bestowing eternal life to China — they can’t resist, real life is so boring. It’s there they cross paths with their son, who just so happens to be skipping college in order to unveil one of the greatest archeological finds of our time, the tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Oh, and Evie’s brother Jonathan, played again by John Hannah and there only for mostly unfunny bits of comic relief, happens to be in the neighborhood too. He owns a bar in Shanghai. Naturally.
The family reunion just happens to coincide with the unfurling of a Chinese general’s master plan of raising the long dead Dragon Emperor in order to rule the world. It turns out the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li) isn’t the guy you want to raise from the dead. He’s hellbent on world domination, a master of elements such of fire and ice, and he’s not afraid to rip off his face and throw it at you.
To weave in the story and legend of the Dragon Emperor, a vicious dictator who was cursed after standing in the way of true love, there are a few liberties taken with Chinese history. Of course, we’re talking about a movie with superpowered mummies, undead armies, evil-hating yeti, immortality and Brendan Fraser cast as an action hero. So I guess all bets are off.
With Rob Cohen in the director’s chair, there really are some impressive scenes here, from the snowy mountains of the Himalayas to the bustling streets of Shanghai during the Chinese New Year to an epic battle between the long dead. Finally the special effects in this third “Mummy” installment — not counting the offshoot “Scorpion King” that starred the People’s Actor, The Rock — have caught up with the times and are on par with other releases this year.
But while the film is pretty, the acting really isn’t. Fraser is still an odd fit in this Indiana Jones-infringing role, and Luke Ford, who plays Ricochet offspring Alex O’Connell, well, he could be Fraser’s son. This time around Evie is played by Maria Bello instead of Rachel Weisz, and there’s a nice tongue-in-cheek reference to this during her book reading early on in the film, where she proclaims herself to be a “completely different person.” Bello is adequate in this role, though seemingly more proper than Weisz was. Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh were nice additions to the cast, though it would have been nice to see just a little more martial arts butt-kicking from the former.
The “Mummy” series was never anything incredibly special, but “3” doesn’t do anything to put a stain on the franchise. It’s watchable, and even enjoyable at times. If you’re like me, Fraser and his “whoa" fest may still rub you the wrong way, but if you can get over that, a couple of obvious instances of faulty dubbing and the usual slew of hokey, off-putting one liners, there’s a little fun to be had in “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.”
