The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the last installment in a franchise trilogy helmed by Brendan Fraser, who plays Rick, and supported by John Hannah, whom I adore, as Jonathan, Rick’s brother in law. I saw the first movie, The Mummy, in theaters, and I think that it is probable that I saw the second movie, The Mummy Returns, in theaters too though I don’t remember, and sorting through piles of movie ticket stubs seems too daunting to actually verify. I adored the first two movies, which Stephen Sommers directed and wrote and Rachel Weisz, who plays Evie, starred in. They were distinct from the similar Indiana Jones supernaturally tinged adventure movie because the women main character was just as important if not more so than her male costar. It was as if someone took Indiana Jones, divided him into two characters, his intellectual and physical side, then had them interact in a complementary fashion. The sibling family dynamic made the obligatory romantic component seem more plausible because a relationship is more likely to work if at least one of the two has a healthy albeit imperfect relationship. The shared adventurous streak was the common thread.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor loses all of that and is just a feeble attempt at extending the franchise by passing the adventure baton to Rick and Evie’s adult son, who is so lacking in charisma and appeal that I think that he was probably switched at birth and Rick and Evie’s next adventure should be to find their biological offspring. The movie even punks out at this attempt by flinching when it is time to insure that Rick will be forced to pass on his legacy and give the spotlight to his son.
If you think that the presence of superstars such as Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh will prop up The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, you would be sorely mistaken. Instead you will find yourself frustrated at the complete misuse of these badasses, especially Yeoh who is reduced to a romantic pawn in an epic power struggle and mostly fails at her physical confrontations. Any movie that sparingly uses Yeoh and gives a more central role to Isabella Leong, who may be a good actor in other works, but has a huge gap between 2008 and 2015 then sports no IMDb credits after 2015, is committing a criminal act of self-sabotage.
The best thing that I can say about The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is at least it is not as bad as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Skull so everyone who worked on this third installment can at least boast that at one point in time, they were better than Steven Spielberg. The absence of Sommers is keenly felt in the largely unintelligible storyline. I understand that the titular character can manipulate all four elements (call the Last Airbender), but he can shape shift too? I feel as if some scenes that would make the story cohesive are lying on the editing room’s floor. When could he do that? Why are his human allies into him? Are we supposed to believe that they are early Communist adherents? Because if they are Communist, then would not they reject the ideology of the past? Also the woman with the scar is evil, and I’m tired of the trope that disfigured women can’t be trusted. The Elephant Man called, and he demands equality for women in movies. Also they act like only Evie can read ancient Chinese language. You’re telling me that in all of China, we need a British chick to tell them about themselves?
There is another culturally insensitive moment in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor when all of the son’s Chinese assistants sacrifice themselves to save their bosses. When he understandably gets upset, his mentor tells him not to worry about it, and the loss gets brushed off. While I know that action movies need to kill off unnamed extras to sustain a credible feeling of danger without actually hurting the main characters, this moment felt racist because of the brush off to even giving an emotional due to the loss of life as if they didn’t matter.
Maria Bello plays Evie, and I love Maria Bello. I would single handedly petition Hollywood to treat her better, but she was not right for this role, especially since Evie is downplayed in this installment. In contrast to other movies about writers who are men and dominate the house with their hijinks and moods, her butler interrupts her creative process and silently chastises her for being too exuberant while working on her next story. That scene was the moment when I realized that The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was trash and would not amount to anything, even a guilty pleasure.
The coolest moment in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is when during one battle, a mass of mythical creatures appear to defend our heroes. Unfortunately the undead on undead violence yields less thrills and is ridiculous if given too much thought. If you are already animated and dead, then how can you fight each other? What does victory look like? No one can die. Ugh, someone call The Pirates of the Caribbean. Wait, don’t! I’m done with that franchise too!
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is not worth your time, and I understand why they threw the whole enterprise away and gave a silent nod of assent to the studios to see if Tom Cruise could salvage something from this cultural wasteland. Even the hotness of Russell Wong could not save this movie. Skip it and watch the first two instead if you want to know what a good supernatural action adventure movie should look like.