What
went Wrong with The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
by
Kristin Battestella
Director
Rob Cohen (Dragonheart) takes up the mantle from producer
Stephen Sommers, director of The Mummy and
The Mummy Returns, for
the 2008 sequel The Mummy:Tomb of the Dragon Emperor as
Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (Maria Bello)
come to the rescue when their son Alex (Luke Ford) discovers the
entombed Dragon Emperor (Jet Li). Once unleashed, however, the only
person who can stop the resurrected Emperor is Zi Yuan (Michelle
Yeoh) – the sorceress who cursed him.
Ancient
Chinese mounds, swords, armor, and dynastic motifs accent the
assassination plots, stabbings, raids, and conquest in the opening
prologue. The enslaved building of The Great Wall, life after death
texts, and forbidden romance betrayals, unfortunately, are a lot like
the opening of the First Film, right down to the same Mummy
music cues. Then again, the
elemental powers, ancient libraries, tormented generals, and
immolating curses nonetheless make for a great tale – one viewers
forget isn't it's own adventure once Tomb of the Dragon
Emperor restarts with our
previous heroes now unhappy with post-war quiet and in a rut despite
luxury living. Their son's discoveries of Chinese monoliths and the
Emperor's tomb come easy and don't feel super epic thanks to the back
and forth editing between the bored O'Connells and grave robber
skeletons. There's little time to awe at the 2,000 year old frozen in
time clay army when the more interesting plot elements are glossed
over for set pieces treated as more important than the wonder. We
can't enjoy the dragon crossbows, booby traps, or tomb chases
because The O'Connells were apparently doing secret espionage work in
the interim that we didn't get to see, either. Instead, some Lara
Croft:Tomb Raider – Cradle of Life Eye of Shangra-La gem points
the way to eternal life, with Tomb of the Dragon Emperor both
embracing the Asian history yet feeling xenophobic with evil
uniforms, double crossing enemies, and contrived western interference
repeating the prior films' M.O. Chases through the streets
with fireworks and New Year run amok are fun, but long, hollow fight
sequences that do nothing to advance the plot make Tomb of the
Dragon Emperor feel longer than
it is. There's no sense of the scope or magical powers despite
Himalayan treks, avalanches, mystical healings, and a revived Emperor
who himself is asking what this is all for anyway. After the first
hour, it's not quite clear what's happening with everything including
a three headed dragon thrown at the screen in the last half hour.
With a hop, skip, and jump, we're at a Great Wall spectacle raising
rival dead armies in a Lord of the Rings easy meets CGI versus
CGI a la The Phantom Menace that
rapidly loses its touch.
Fly
fishing in the English countryside is not quite Rick O'Connell's
thing, and Brendan Fraser's once proactive, rugged adventurer is now
an out of touch, corny old man with outdated weapons and unheeded
advice. It's weird to see our favorite couple now arguing about their
parenting and contemplating mistakes made – and not just because
Maria Bello (The Dark) replaces Rachel Weisz as Evelyn in Tomb
of the Dragon Emperor. After
writing two successful novels about their mummy adventures, she's
hung up with writer's block on the promised third book, but Evie
doesn't have much to say or do once the characters are forgotten in
the nonsensical action. Bello looks great in the period frocks and
initially the camera accents that forties tone with coy smiles and
under the hat brim poise, but this Evie does indeed seem like a
different person. It would have been interesting if Bello had instead
been a second wife and resented step mom competing with Evie's
memory. Although the kid in peril was one of the problematic parts of
The Mummy Returns,
Luke Ford (Hercules) is now the grown up Alex
rebelling against his parents yet conveniently following in their
archaeology footsteps. Unfortunately, immortal hang ups and young
love opposites attract can't save the character from falling
completely flat, and Uncle Jonathan John Hannah is a nightclub owner
who spends most of his barely there comic relief with a yak while
pilot Liam Cunningham (Hunger) is merely convenient
transportation. It's a pity we only really see Jet Li's (Romeo
Must Die) warlord at the beginning and the end of Tomb of the
Dragon Emperor. For most of the
picture, the eponymous bad guy – who doesn't get any other name
despite the historical possibilities – is just a resurrected,
stilted, CGI thing more like an automaton robot rather than the
feared man in charge. His powers over the elements are small scale or
convenient, manipulating snow or fire and shape shifting as needed
without any real countdown or ascension of power as anchored by
Arnold Vosloo's Imhotep in the First Film. For the finale we get Li's
fine action skills as expected, but he never really has the
chance to be the true villain of the piece. Likewise, Michelle Yeoh
(Tomorrow Never Dies) is relegated to glossed over bookends.
Her immortal Zi Yuan witch lives in Shangri-La, and 2,000 years of
magical pools are quickly explained away before a great but too brief
one on one battle between our ancient foes – which is all we really
want to see in Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
While
some of the fiery terracotta effects don't look so great on bu-ray,
Tomb of the Dragon Emperor does
well with tangible sand, statues, tents, and archaeology tools. The
grand English estates match the vintage cars, antiques, typewriters,
gloves, fedoras, and stoles. Temples in the mountains, Asian
architecture, and snowy panoramas create a sense of adventure while
chariots and molten horses coming to life invoke danger.
Unfortunately, the shootouts, attacks, and explosions are super loud
and cliché music cues are noticeably out of place. To start, Tomb
of the Dragon Emperor feels very
forties styled in a Universal homage, but then the action becomes
hectic and modern messy with stereotypical seventies zooms when it
comes to the kung fu. The camera, the people, and the fantastics are
all moving at the same time and it's tough for the audience to see
anything, and those contrived yetis – yes, yetis – are
embarrassingly bad. Today, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
could have been a direct to streaming off shoot adventure – after
all they're still making those direct to video Scorpion King
movies. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor breaks
from the more familiar theme with a bait and switch title caught
between two masters. Tomb of the Dragon Emperor seeks
to take the series in a new direction whilst also keeping its ties to
the previous films. If this had no connection to The Mummy
and embraced its own dynastic
legends and lore, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor could
have been a fun action adventure. Perhaps it can still be
entertaining for youth able to separate it from the legacy of the
First Film. Otherwise, the flawed, thin story, and try hard of The
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is
just window dressing reaching for an adventurous charm that isn't
there.
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