The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon

August 1, 2008

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 110 min Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

In a summer filled with sequels, why not dust off another mummy?   That’s right Brendan Frasier and friends are back to do battle with another mummy who has come to life in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon.   The previous two installments, The Mummy and The Mummy Returns both received 3 stars from us, although we definitely prefer the first movie over the second one.   Neither are the type of movies we watch over and over, but they were good mindless fun.   So we went into this installment with similar expectations.

Jet Li stars in The Mummy: Tomb of the DragonThis latest installment of the series is set after World War II, a decade or so past the previous movie.   The O’Connell family is retired, and son Alex is now grown up and away at college.  Or so his parents think.  He’s actually in China and has discovered and entered the tomb of the Dragon King, played by Jet Li.

As usual, the king ruled the world as he knew it but still made the mistake of ticking off a woman.   In the ancient times in a mummy movie this ends with a curse being put on you.   But wouldn’t you know it, an O’Connell shows up and wakes him up from his 2000 year dirt nap.   And the old boy is quite peeved about the whole situation.

Most of the original cast is back.   Brendan Frasier is still the star and looks to be really having fun with the whole thing as always.    His wife is now played by Maria Bella, and Luke Ford plays the grown up Alex.   Rob Cohen is the director of Tomb of the Dragon and it shows.   This is by far the best looking of the Mummy movies with lots of great effects and action.   But at many points it all comes across as too much.   I suspect the cast is just having fun, but at times they play the parts so over the top that you feel they are overacting.  This combined with Cohens style of pushing an audience’s ability to suspend disbelief off the roof of a tall building left us wishing they’d take it down just a smidge.

One thing that is toned down though is Jet Li.   He gets a couple of good fight scenes, but dont go expecting to see a lot of fight sequences from him or something you’ve never seen him do in the past.

So what’s the verdict?   Well, have you have tried to follow one of your mom’s recipes for one of your favorite childhood dishes?   And you follow the recipe to the letter, but when you pull the dish out of the oven it just isn’t the same?   All the ingredients are there, mixed and cooked as instructed, but it’s just not as good.   That’s how this movie feels.   We cant put our finger on any huge flaw that wasn’t also in the first two, but an hour or so in we catch ourselves checking our watches and wishing the ride was over.

We’re going to give The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon a 2 star rating.   This should make a pretty good DVD, but there’s plenty of better options out on the big screen right now.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 2 Stars, Action, Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, John Hannah, Maria Bello, Michelle Yeoh, PG-13, Theatrical 

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Comments

One Response to “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon”

  1. Mack Guffin on August 2nd, 2008 3:57 pm

    Speaking of spin-offs of THE MUMMY, on August 19th the straight to DVD THE SCORPION KING 2: RISE OF A WARRIOR is released (Amazon).

    With Michael Copon taking over for The Rock, and directed by Russell Mulcahy (HIGHLANDER).

    Wow. Was there really a fanbase out there clamoring for another SCORPION KING movie?!

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