The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Movie Reviews

The series of the mummy is the one of the best movie series in Hollywood but movie is not bad. The casting of the movie is good there are many action sequences and the story of the mummy is written by 6 people.Have good direction.The hero of the movie is Tom Cruise who is a soldier in this movie.Art work of this movie is excellent

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Introduction

The Mummy series is one of my favorite series for two reasons. I love the action sequences of the movies and I simply love the sense of humor that Brendan Fraser brings to the screen. Unfortunately, I could not check out Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor on the big screen, but I picked out a DVD as soon as I could grab one.

The Plot

Alex O’ Connell(Luke Ford) follows in the footsteps of his adventurous dad and mom and sets out to find out the tomb of a Chinese Emperor, Han who was ruthless war lord who united china with his ruthlessness in 221 B.C. His project is funded by Professor Roger Wilson. Alex manages to find the tomb, though tragedy strikes and a few of the workers are killed.

Meanwhile Rick O’ Connell(Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn(Maria Bello) are entrusted to return the Eye of Shangri-La to China by the British government. On arrival they learn of Alex’s find and soon discover that Roger Wilson is working in cohorts with a Chinese paramilitary group headed by General Yang who is trying to bring the emperor back to life using the Eye of Shangri-La. Yang manages to bring the emperor(Jet Li) back to life, but to get him back to his full strength and free him of a long standing curse, he needs to bath in a lake in Shangri-La and take his army back to the Great Wall of China.

Rick, Evelyn, Alex are joined by Lin(Isabella Leong) and her mother Zi Yuan(Michelle Yeoh) in a bid to foil the emperor from his mission and kill him. Do they manage to do the same? Or does the ruthlessness of the emperor help him overcome them and create an army of monsters? Check out this action thriller for the details.

Critic’s Viewpoint

One of the things that I love about this series is that the directors don’t try to muddle too much with the general formula for the movies. So all the elements that I love in the series are very much there. There are great action sequences, great visuals and a decent many new creatures.

Yetis, three headed dragons, Terracota army, martial arts everything added good value to the movie. I just loved the initial chase sequence when Rick and co chase the escaping dragon emperor on a chariot. Also, the sequence where the Yetis were fighting on behalf of Rick and co was very well done. If anything I felt that the final fight sequence was devoid of usual finesse and was more or less just a repeat of what we have seen earlier in the series.

Coming to the performances, Brendan Fraser was a bit subdued in this movie in his bid to be a good parent, yet he does bring a spark whenever he is on screen. Luke Ford as his son is ok without bringing on the same charisma that Brendan brought to the role of Rick. Jet Li gives a good performance as the emperor along with the ever reliable Michelle Yeoh. Overall, the cast and crew put up decent performances.

Cinematography and visuals have to be commended. Some of the sequences like the avalanche and then the finding of the Shangri-La were spectacular. The sets were well setup and overall did give the movie a fresh feel to it.

Summary

Another good offering from the Mummy Series, but now it might be getting a bit repetitive, so they might want to take a break before the next movie comes along.

I would give this movie a high 4 star rating.

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With The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the movie has now become a commercial one with comical flavour without any reference to its past episodes like a Bond movie, you can say.  With this, Mummy joins series like James Bond, Rush Hour and the MI.

While the brilliant graphics still make you applaud in the theatres, you would definitely miss the Egyptian flavour since Mummy has now headed to China.  No one can deny the great background score with Egyptian feel that the first two parts carried and that is now replaced with more of jazz and the like.  To me, this only denotes the way Americans start off researching diligently with the roots of other cultures and gradually move(or rather get carried away) towards their own.

Another great thing that you would miss is Rachel Weisz who has been replaced with Maria Bello to play Evelyn Carnahan-O'Connell: Rick's wife.  Brendan Fraser though looks a little old is more handsome probably because you see him quite often alongside Maria Bello.  Maria looks like an old witch and for the first 5 minutes you don't even think she's paired with Brendan.

Story is pretty simple with predictable screenplay if you are used to the formula from the first two parts.  A bedtime story-like flashback where an Emperor(played by Jet Li) and his army are cursed, resurrected in 1946 during Brendan’s time(this guy has now become of historical importance more than the mummies), Brendan goes with his wife like on a honeymoon trip to China, finds Alex, his son who actually resurrected the mummy(would’ve been good if he had rather killed his original mummy, Maria) and they together plan to kill the great dragon emperor.  The kill is also a formula you are used to – a special knife to be pierced through the Emperor’s chest.  They have so religiously followed the formula that it is Brendan’s turn to be killed in this part and later resurrected by a holy water.

Beyond this, I will have to just pick words to talk about the movie though it's worth watching once in the theatre if let's say you had nothing else to do.

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As I say this im well aware of the resilience of the Hollywood studios,

how many movies have we prayed "let this be the last" but have still

gone on to see 5, 6, 7 and THEN THE REMAKE.

I guess we as much to blame as the producers.

For what its worth this movie isn't really that bad.

The special effects are decent for the obviously low budget, THEY AT

PAR WITH THE ORIGINALS WHICH IS GOOD ENOUGH THOUGH BY TODAYS STANDARDS

THATS SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE.

The one liners are pretty good, I laughed at most of them, even though

some of them were very childish and clearly aimed the children in the

family audience that the producers hope will see this movie.

In fact the humour in this movie is mostly good even though its obvious

jokes have been included to appeal all sections and ages of society.

The movie isn't long so by the time you realise that other aspects such

as mystery excitement are missing the movies over.

John Hannah actually stole show in this movie.

The plot actually had potential but.

AND HERE COME THE BIG BUTS.

The actors looked bored and unconvincing, the entire movie had a

feeling of lets get this done with, and it showed on screen and it

definitely infused a similar feeling in me.

The movie lacked the narrative and smooth flow that the original had,

even though the original was longer you always had the feeling that

somethings happening or will happen.

In fact even though the plot had loads of potential(as much as sequels

may have) clearly the lack of movie making skills has let down this

movie.

The movie feels like a bad remake of the first and second parts

combined.

The family sequences look altogether unconvincing and are quite

irritating.

There is lack of entertaining and interesting smaller characters that

were aplenty through the earlier fims.

STANDARD SEQUEL WEAKNESSES APPLY.

Its not really that bad a movie, it has its moments, and the humour is

quite good, also a suitable family movie.

That being said this movie is at best seen in times of desperation(for

example me and my friends stuck with nothing to do on Friday night), or

the family not being able to make up its mind on which movie to watch.

-s weak script, bored actors, standard sequel weakness.

+/-s appeals to everyone?!.

+s good humour, never boring, John Hannah,

maintains a now medium standard.

total 5/10(my original rating was 6 considering it met my low

expectations but 6 crosses into good territory and you will only get

that if you expect 5 which is OK so.)

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Recently, Hollywood has produced so many movie sequels and I have almost catched every one of them for last one year. And I must confess that this was the worst one of all of them. I had thoroughly enjoyed the first two installments of Mummy but the third one totally disappointed me. Factors which didn't go in the movie favor were:

1. Alex O'Connel: The boy was looking too old to be of 22 years of age

   
   




2. Rick O'Connel: The man was looking too young to be a father of 22 year old boy

   
   




3. Chinese Mummy: Somehow the concept of a chinese resurrected Mummy didn't appeal to me much.

   
   




4. Role of Brendon Fraser: Totally wasted in this movie. Nowhere he was part of the action. Was they trying to phase out Rick and introduce Alex for subsequent sequels

   
   




5. Plot: Very less action, slow-moving story and no spine-chilling, hair-raising scenes compared to previous movies

   
   




6. Special Effects: Not of very high quality especially the battle at end. The skeltons were looking like a poor work of animation.

   
   




7. Rachel Weisz: She was missed throughout the movie. She was so part of Mummy series with her charming smile and her english accent.

   
   

Overall, the movie is not worth spending money to watch it in cinemas. Wait for it its TV premiere.

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Gravy time is back! Or should I dare say kick-ass? Smokin guns, ghoulish bottoms to boot, ancient mysteries to be unraveled & saving mankind- all in a day’s work.

Aha! Okay. Just to set things right, this movie has nothing to do with the previous storyline of Egyptian priest Im Hotep’s mummy. In fact there ain’t no mummy business at all. Though I’m not quite sure what’s the difference between a resurrected mummy or corpse (as it is the case here).

But not to worry. You have the O’Connell family- fully loaded, that is. Throw in the effects, spice up the plot, juggle mind boggling action & cinematics and we’re back in business a la O’Connell style. Happy now? So let’s see what the fracas is all about this time in this mummy less installment.

Well, it’s the far East for starters. Backdrop is ancient China. Han Dynasty’s evil ruler known as the “Dragon Emperor’ ( Jet Li) is punished by a terrible curse cast on him by sorceress Michelle Yeoh: as a result he and his army are entombed into clay statues for eternity; that is, unless he is re-awakened which, we all know, is bound to happen at one point! And guess who does it this time? Yeah

the O’Connell brat!

The

story moves to post world war –II England. Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn

(Maria Bello) having worked for the British Secret Service (Nice touch eh?)

during the war have taken up social life—a far cry from their old swashbuckling

Indy Jones ways. No wondered they get bored soon and jump at the offer of

"one last mission" by order of her majesty’s Foreign Office. Their

assignment: To safely courier a precious artifact back to the museum in Shanghai from which it

was stolen. Okay that’s one part of it.

Evelyn’s

brother Jonathan (John Hannah) runs a bar in Shanghai. While Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford)

all grown up and gung ho about ancient history is following in the family

footprints as a young archaeologist on an excavation in some Chinese ruins.

Inevitably He discovers: the tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which has been buried

for millennia. Alex mistakenly undoes the binding spell. As part of a bigger

conspiracy the Emperor's tomb is transported back to Shanghai

where a military guy Anthony Wong intends to utilize the Emperor and his army

of dead (sounds familiar?) to take over, hang on, China?  By golly! Why not?

This dragon emperor can control the elements, has magical power & of course

is an ace kung fu warrior—all of which makes him more potent than the previous

Egyptian mummy.Realizing

he’s bitten off more than he can chew, Connell Junior now turns to the actual

big guns- his mom and dad—Rick  and Evelyn. Soon united family resources

join the fray and high adventure ensues: crash landings, wild treks thru the

Himalayas, encounters with rampaging Yetis, three-headed dragons, , grand

battles, fist flaying ghoulish Jet Li who keeps shape shifting from strange

monster to another ... Well you name it, they have it!  The onslaught

continues to a nail biting finish until the dragon emperor’s ghost or mummy or

wotever is sent back to- you know……It’s an entertaining affair alright. Not

much of a story though. Perhaps the reason behind that is the continuous

pullouts from previous installments—action sequences, ideas, theme & so

forth. You’ll be reminded of Indy Jones & previous Mummy ventures. But the

fast action and roller coaster ride makes up for the similarities. And yes,

this time it packs in more than the older episodes in terms of cinematics &

a more versatile villain. The action stunts are fascinating & always laced

with that wacky humor thing. Picturisation and backdrops are purely breath

taking, got to admit that. The Shanghai

street chase will sure give you some genuinely

ticklish moments. The only turn off was those same old whirly-bird martial art

manoeuvers-- Too many movies have just flogged the life out of that

sport. Director Rob Cohen of XXX fame was never much of a great plot guy. He’s

all for stunts and action. No wonder the cinematics are pretty good. They had

to term this the “Original Mummy-3” on hordes. Maybe it has something to with

that French movie made by Sophie Marceau, and yes it was made after Mummy-2 if

I’m correct. So the producers wanted to make sure of their identity perhaps.

Funny.About

the acting pack lead? Well A few things seem to have further got better.

Brandon Fraser is absolutely dashing & somehow looks more formidable in

this installment. Mario Bello gives Evelyn’s image a more chiseled appearance

than Rachel Weiss’s cutie look, & packs in a hotter kickass kind of

character in the lines of say Lara Croft? Bello

sure looks more convincing in the action sequences. Good acting by both of

them. Same can be said about Jet Li. He fits the bill perfectly. John Hannah

slips perfectly into his role of the goofy yet self conscious & handy

Englishman.Verdict?

A good wholesome movie loaded with all the frills.. No need to go back to the

previous installments.

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You cannot have Mummy 3 based out of China (no offense to Chinese). The earlier two Mummy's were from Egypt. Let it please stay there. When you talk about Eygptian Mummies they are more mystical, as the for the Chinese one, they were very crude.

The movie - was just fine. There was very little of Brenden Frasier where he was, he would repeat his dialogues, it would like just like old times. It did not sound challenging enough. He did not sound exciting enough to face the challenges. Jet Li, isn't exactly the Mummy type anyway, the last movie I saw of Forbidden Kingdom, was worse than this one. It was very similar in fighting scenes.

I dont understand why is he shifting gears from being a hero to villan roles. He nether and cunning look (his faced was covered most of the times) nor was he expressive enough to conquer the world. Michelle Yeoh speaks Ancient Chinese and then suddenly when she reappears after 2000 years, she starts speaking English. Very funny!! :-) Chemistry is missing between Rick o'Connel and Evelyn. One of the scenes which if it was Rachel Weisz and not Mari Bello. (Spoiler) Rick O'Connell is got back from the dead. Evelyn immediately kisses him. If this was Rachel Weisz, she would have slapped him and told him, "dont do that again." and then kissed him.

This might just give you the hint as to how different the two leading ladies in the movie are... The most I missed in the movie is Evelyn being played by Rachel Weisz and the cunning smile of the previous Mummy, Imhotep played by, Aronld Vosloo.

They should have just resurrected the Imhotep. John Hannah plays Johnathan was usual himself... running after treasures... but the better part to him is, he owns a pub in the heart of Shangai called Imhotep. Now the good part in Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor , is that special effects and the locations were breathtaking. They were both sand and snow, where they were shooting. The action sequence at the Shangri-La with Yeti was brillaint, the war sequence fighting for just about there. But the better part to this everyone if fighting with the Terracota Army, Mummy army falling into pieces, literally.

Then, all the characters come together while the armies are at war, and none of the Mummy soldiers relaises that they are actually having a discussion... Was expecting more, but it was good enough to choose your own centre seat with amzing room space to stretch your legs and go for a 8 o clock show in the morning at half the rates, the problem with the morning show is getting up and explaining family at home that you are in rush because you a have a movie to catch!!

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