The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) August 18, 2008
Posted by gproject in : Cinema, Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Rob Cohen
With two movies, two video games, an animated TV series, and a spin-off feature to its name, the Mummy franchise has been a surprise hit for Universal and original writer/director Stephen Sommers. Despite all the odds, it overcame the sub-Indiana Jones comparisons and abundance of similar popcorn projects to be a profitable, if not unanimously well loved, summer mainstay. But that was years ago now, and if the creators should have learnt one thing from their previous exploits, it’s that you ought never try and reanimate something that has long since been put to rest. The results are never pretty.
This time, adventurer Rick O’Connell and wife Evelyn jet off to Asia in the transport of an important Chinese artefact. While there, they unexpectedly meet up with their wayward son, Alex, who has just uncovered one of China’s most ruthless ancient leaders, the Dragon Emperor. Of course, events occur that bring him back to life, and so the family team must go on a dangerous expedition through the Himalayas and beyond, to reach the location of the Emperor’s ten-thousand warriors before he can revive them and seek to take over the known world.
If the plot sounds pretty familiar, that’s because it is, essentially, just the usual rough-and-tumble O’Connell exploits simply transplanted to China and given a new villain. Yet, even with such steadfast determination to not change the basic elements or character interaction, the whole thing is a huge step down in overall quality. Everything in this giant mess of a revival suffers from a seemingly lazy attitude that makes the whole project stink of the worst kind of Hollywood sin: the cash-in.
The biggest behind the scenes change is the swapping out of series architect Stephen Sommers for action director Rob Cohen, a choice that sees both the enthusiasm and charm of the originals slip away. Cohen is a more typical choice for summer blockbusting entertainment, and as the man behind The Fast and the Furious, xXx, and Stealth, his high-octane credentials aren’t in doubt. And yet, despite previous experience, the action in this film is surprisingly weak, mostly consisting of slow-mo fighting swoops and fast-cutting shoot-outs.
Not that the script offers up much opportunity for action divulgence. The story consists of that very typical “go here, go here, go here” style of plotting, which can be interesting if there’s genuine reason and drive behind the progression of the journey; but of course, that’s not the case here. Worse still is the dialogue, which is made up of plodding expositional nothingness and horribly derivative comic interludes that start off bad and never get better. The weak script hurts Maria Bello most, who already has to step in for Rachel Weisz and play against type (and nationality) as an English adventurer. Bello is a respected performer, which makes it all the more painful to see her desperately extending her vowels and spouting such irritating chatter.
In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that none of the cast come off well here, even the old familiar characters. Brendan Fraser simply goes through the motions, while John Hannah’s comic-relief is mostly sidelined to make room for newcomer Luke Ford to butch up as the now adult O’Connell son. Jet Li is the villain who doesn’t say much (good), but doesn’t use his combat skills enough either (bad), as Michelle Yeoh and Isabella Leong play immortal warriors. Basically, I wouldn’t be too surprised if this stayed off the CVs of most of those who took part.
And then there’s the CG. I guess that we have to expect that any blockbuster is going to employ CG with abundance these days, and it’s not without necessity in this, a tale of undead warriors and ancient hidden locations. There has been some derision directed towards the effects in this movie, but they are, in my opinion, among the strongest elements in a very poor film. The moments where you can notice a computer standing in for reality (the Yetis, the magic effects etc.) are forgiven by the ability to create a thousand-strong undead army for the conclusion. Of course, the very fact that this film ends with two armies charging against each other is just another unoriginal facet in this tiresome action spectacular.
The original Mummy films, for all their imperfections, were never outright uninteresting, which is what Tomb of the Dragon Emperor descends into with its lazy plotting and bland characters. It seems unafraid to cross off all the actions clichés and offers itself up to ridicule at regular intervals - even by Hollywood adventure standards, it’s pretty poor. With an anti-descriptive title not dissimilar to this year’s Indiana Jones come-back [review], this movie only bests it rival by being even more disappointing. Universal needs to accept that their cash cow is dead. Time to seal the sarcophagus, and mark it ‘never to be resurrected’.
Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is currently on UK general release.
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