{"id":2081,"date":"2011-01-09T19:13:04","date_gmt":"2011-01-10T00:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=2081"},"modified":"2023-03-27T16:43:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T20:43:02","slug":"mummys-boy-the-mummy-3-tomb-of-the-dragon-emperor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/mummys-boy-the-mummy-3-tomb-of-the-dragon-emperor\/","title":{"rendered":"Mummy’s Boy: The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Perhaps it was the mood I happened to be in the day I saw it in 1999, but I will freely admit I loved The Mummy<\/em>, the first film in the latter day incarnation of the 1930s MGM horror franchise. In concert with Simon West and Jan De Bont’s pair of Tomb Raider<\/em> films, The Mummy<\/em> picked up the period-piece action\/adventure mantle left dormant since the last Indiana Jones<\/a> movie in 1989, and perhaps contributed to the fedora-clad adventurer’s return for The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull<\/em><\/a> almost 20 years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It struck me as exactly what all big-budget action blockbusters should aspire to be: good fun, with genuinely impressive special effects, thrills, a little romance, and a few laughs. Not a little of its charm came from the self-deprecating Brendan Fraser, a decidedly different kind of character compared to the arrogance and near superhuman capability of Lara Croft and Indiana Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The franchise proved unusually fertile, spawning an inevitable sequel (not really terrible, but still nowhere near as fun as the original) and even two prequels starring The Rock: The Scorpion King<\/em> and The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior<\/em>. The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor<\/em> (2008) came as something of a surprise when the series had seemed to have petered out. Original director Stephen Sommers had since moved on to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra<\/a><\/em> (2009), leaving it up to Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious<\/em>, Stealth<\/em>), to see if there was any freshness to be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Maria
“Sorry pal, there’s a mummy on the loose.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some time has passed, and Rick (Fraser) and Evelyn (Maria Bello) have retired to a staid English manse. Evelyn earns a living from transforming her past adventures into the form of a popular series of swashbuckling adventure novels, while Rick does, well, nothing. Both find their lives unfulfilling and yearn to return to adventuring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The youthful Fraser hasn’t even grayed his hair, but if Evelyn looks like an entirely new woman, it’s because she is; Bello replaces “thinking man’s sex symbol” Rachel Weisz, who likely had higher aspirations. Their son Alex (Luke Ford), now a rogue archeologist in his own right, forms a contentious relationship with Lin (Isabella Leong), a girl with a considerable secret — she and her mother Zi Yuan (Michelle Yeoh) are immortal, but she doesn’t seem to have matured her emotionally or intellectually over her long life. And John Hannah is back in the role of gentle comic relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enemy this time is China itself; the government conspires to awaken the cursed Emperor Han (Jet Li), possessed of supernatural powers but encased in stone for all eternity. With its modern military at the service of a superhuman immortal emperor, China plots nothing less than world domination. The Emperor’s powers also seem to be pretty vaguely defined, and he rarely uses them to best effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jet Li rarely appears onscreen in the flesh, leading me to guess he probably did a lot of motion-capture work a la Andy Serkis in The Lord of the Rings<\/em> and King Kong<\/em>. He spends much of his time made of indestructible molten rock, but can transform into a fierce dragon at will. Nonetheless, he spends more than a few scenes standing back as his minions fall before his foes, when he could simply sweep in and kill everybody whenever he wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Michelle
“Here we go again!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The movie produces obstacles as it goes along, and you have no choice but to shrug as one MacGuffin piles up atop another. To wit: a special diamond needed to awaken a mummified Chinese Emperor, the blood of someone pure of heart, a drink from Shangri-La, and the sudden appearance of the sole dagger capable of killing the revived Emperor. Capping it off is a trio of benevolent yeti, but the Emperor is eventually defeated with the aid of a literal ghost in the machine: General Ming (Russell Wong), vanquished earlier by the Emperor. The moral of this story seems to be: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like a lot of contemporary effects-oriented features (including Watchmen<\/em><\/a>, Sin City<\/em>, The Spirit<\/em><\/a>), the best thing about it are its excellent closing credits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps it was the mood I happened to be in the day I saw it in 1999, but I will freely admit I loved The Mummy, the first film in the latter day incarnation of the 1930s MGM horror franchise. In concert with Simon West and Jan De Bont’s pair of Tomb Raider films, The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2],"tags":[1516,35,70,957,959,954,955,960,962,963,961,958,953,956],"class_list":["post-2081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-stars","category-movies","tag-1516","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-alfred-gough","tag-brendan-fraser","tag-china","tag-egypt","tag-jet-li","tag-john-hannah","tag-luke-ford","tag-maria-bello","tag-miles-millar","tag-mummy","tag-rob-cohen"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/mummy-3-tomb-of-the-dragon-emperor.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-xz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1628,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-george-a-romero-zombie-cycle-part-5-diary-of-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":2081,"position":0},"title":"The George A. 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It sports the best special effects, is the least repetitive or trigger-happy,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Diary of the Dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5260,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/noomi-rapace-close-2018-netflix-movie-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":2081,"position":1},"title":"Noomi Rapace shoots ’em up in the Netflix exclusive Close","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Noomi Rapace was seemingly set for big things after The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo films, but was shortly thereafter cruelly written out of her starring role in Ridley Scott's Alien prequels. I can only imagine how it must hurt for an actor to \"appear\" in a sequel only as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Noomi Rapace Close","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/close-noomi-rapace.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/close-noomi-rapace.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/close-noomi-rapace.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/close-noomi-rapace.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/close-noomi-rapace.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":130,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/lord-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":2081,"position":2},"title":"Lord of War is a Nicolas Cage treasure hidden in plain sight","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I initially dismissed Lord of War when the trailers and posters first appeared. In other words, it got caught in the crude mental filters that routinely handle my first-pass \"ignore\" of all the crap that flows through my eyes and ears all day every day. But when my regular email\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lord of War","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":231,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/mission-impossible-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":2081,"position":3},"title":"J.J. 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Like most summer action blockbusters, M:I:III is at first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mission Impossible III","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/mission-impossible-iii.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/mission-impossible-iii.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/mission-impossible-iii.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/mission-impossible-iii.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/mission-impossible-iii.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":927,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wall-e\/","url_meta":{"origin":2081,"position":4},"title":"Think Different: WALL-E","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"With the delightful WALL-E, Pixar continues its as-yet unbroken winning streak of instant-classic films for all ages. While my personal favorites are Brad Bird's darker and more psychologically complex The Incredibles and Ratatouille, Andrew Stanton's WALL-E is easily also one that will resonate decades hence with children of all ages\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/wall-e-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/wall-e-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/wall-e-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/wall-e-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/wall-e-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3603,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/terminator-timeline\/","url_meta":{"origin":2081,"position":5},"title":"Untangling The Terminator Timeline","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Terminator franchise is cooked from a recipe of cyborgs, time travel, bullets, and explosions, seasoned with themes of destiny, paranoia, and technophobia. Subtract or substitute too many of these ingredients and you wind up with something not-Terminator. 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