Yesterday I went to see “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor“. I thought that the previous two movies (“The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns“) were entertaining, so I was looking forward to this one. However, there were quite a few reviews that mentioned that this sequel sucked. That got me into doubts whether I should see it at all or not, but finally I decided to go.
The flick wasn’t bad at all. It was somewhat crowded with characters, and the plot was sort of weak, but the important stuff was still there – mummy, Brendan Fraser, and tonnes of special effects. Shooting, fighting, car chases, airplanes, zombie battles, exposions – these were all in excess.
But the critics were somewhat right. This wasn’t as good the previous mummy movies. First of all, the mummy itself wasn’t strong or scary. In the previous films, the Egyptian mummy was so powerful that it was making warriors out of sand dunes, commanding millions of flash eating beatles, and moving stormy clouds in formations. A hero had to fight that mummy, because it was too devastating before it was even getting into its full powers. In this film though, the mummy was more like a pissed off guy getting his life back. Whoever gets on his way was getting his butt kicked. There was some potential for evil afterwords, but it’s just not the same. Secondly, Rachel Weisz wasn’t in this movie, and she couldn’t have been substitute by anyone. Not in a million years. Thirdly, there was something obviously dogdy about the storyline itself. It felt like the good guys has become the bad guys, and the bad guys has become the good guys. And since it wasn’t going very well on its own, some really bad dialogues and mottos were added to the mix. And that didn’t mix that well.
Overall, I’d give it a 6 out of 10. Not a bad entertainment flick if you are to see it in the movies, but don’t be expecting much out of it, and I doubt that it’s worth a DVD purchase.
P.S.: There is no way Brandon Fraser could win a fight against Jet Li. No way!
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