THE MUMMY
TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR

"Here we go again"

1947, Alex O'Connell (Ford) has left college to pursue the family business and is on the verge of revealing his biggest find, the tomb of the Dragon Emperor Han (Li) and his terracotta army. The find has also drawn out the Emperor followers, led by General Yang (Chau-Sang) and he wants to wake him from his eternal sleep and bring back order to the chaos that has engulfed China since the end of the Second World War. As Evelyn (Bello) and Rick O'Connell (Fraser) arrive in Shanghai on a diplomatic mission and to see Evy's brother Jonathan (Hannah), Alex reveals his find to his parents just as General Yang's troops attack and in the melee the Emperor is awaked and the O'Connell's have to face another Mummy again.

The return of the man with the hat and the whip has seen his main contenders also return to the silver screen but can the third 'Mummy' movie take on the leader of archaeological adventure movies?

The return of 'Indiana Jones' in 2008 has trigger rival studio to cash in on the rival franchises that filled the gap before the return of the greatest screen archaeologist. First we had the return of Nicholas Cage's Benjamin Gates in Disney's 'National Treasure: Book of Secrets' and now we have the return of probably the most successful 'Indiana' imitator, 'The Mummy' franchise.

Set in the same time frame and mixing ancient tales, reincarnation and a slight mix of horror, 'The Mummy' movies played on the classic Universal monster movie of the 1930s but also 'borrowed' many of the traits that made the 'Indiana Jones' movies so successful. 'The Mummy' and 'The Mummy Returns' were based in Egypt, with the O'Connell's fighting Imhotep, the ancient but powerful Mummy who could bring about the end of the world. The third adventure sees the franchise movie to China to fight a different kind of Mummy, one that can shape shift into any of the mythological creature and control the elements of earth, wind, fire and ice but this change has also brought some unwelcome changes to an already successful formula.

The first major change is in casting. With the always-excellent Rachel Weisz been unavailable to return as Evy O'Connell, the decision was made to replace the British actress with American Maria Bello. While Bello is a very good actress in her own right she is not the right actress for this role. For one, she cannot do an English accent and two she doesn't have the screen presence or charm of Weisz. The casting of an English actress would have made more sense. The second big change is in director. Stephen Sommers has moved on to be replaced by Rob Cohen, best known for 'xXx', 'The Fast and the Furious' and 'Daylight' but he doesn't really know how to capture the charm that the first two movies had. While the action sequences and the visual effects are handled with skilled, the moments between the O'Connell's and the supporting characters are not as natural as they once were. Minor problems also surface in the casting of Alex O'Connell but this is more to do with setting the film in 1947. Luke Ford looks far too old to be the O'Connell's twenty-two year-old son and with the first film set in 1924, both Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello do not look like they are in their late forties, early fifties, which they would be if the timeline were correct. If fact, Brendan Fraser looks no different to what he did in the original 1999 movie. The series over-reliance on CGI is also a hindrance, with creatures that Jet Li turns into looking awful and the Yeti's looking extremely computer generated.

The short comings aside, 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' is still a fun romp, simply because of the fights between Brendan Fraser, Jet Li and the always-astonishing Michelle Yeoh, as immortal Chinese witch Zi Juan. This is what these movies are all about and while the Chinese setting is not as good as the Egyptian one, if you switch your brain off and don't expect a life changing experience, the third 'Mummy' movie does entertain.

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition wide screen 2:40 up to 1080p, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound. This shows how good the visual effects are during the battle sequences.

The DVD is presented in anamorphic widescreen 2:35 with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.

BONUS FEATURES

Deleted and Extended Scenes (10.45 mins/BD High Definition)
Entitled 'Secret lovers', 'Conversation in Shanghai', 'Night in the Himalayas', 'Tea time: Yong and Choi', 'Motorcycle grenade toss', 'Female fight in cog room', 'Emperor reassembles' and 'Jonathan and Maguire at Club', these deleted or extended scenes suffer from the lack of a commentary track or introduction to explain why they were removed, especially as some scenes are very good and FX heavy.

The Making of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' (22.49 mins/BD High Definition)
Director Rob Cohen, producers Stephen Sommers, Sean Daniel and Bob Ducsay, costume designer Sanja Hays and stars Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello take you behind the scenes of the eighty-nine day shoot for 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'. Looking at the combat training, set building in Montreal, Canada and in China and the change of style from the previous two movies, this is a very good behind the scenes featurette.

From City to Desert (15.44 mins/BD High Definition)
Director Rob Cohen, producers Stephen Sommers, Sean Daniel and Bob Ducsay and stars Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Jet Li, Anthony Wong and Michelle Yeoh talk about filming in China and creating the enormous sets for the third Mummy movie.

Legacy of the Terra Cotta Army (13.33 mins/BD High Definition)
Director Rob Cohen, producers Stephen Sommers and Bob Ducsay and stars Brendan Fraser and Jet Li talk about mixing in historical facts with the fantastical story and creating a CGI

Jet Li. A Call to Action: The Casting Process (4.44 mins/BD High Definition)
Director Rob Cohen, producers Stephen Sommers and Bob Ducsay and stars Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford and Isabelle Leong talk about their characters and what it is like working on a 'Mummy' movie.

Preparing for Battle with Brendan Fraser and Jet Li (10.41 mins/BD High Definition)
Director Rob Cohen, fight coordinator Mike Lambert and stars Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh and Maria Bello talk about creating the fight scenes for the movie.

Jet Li: Crafting the Emperor Mummy (8.00/BD High Definition)
Director Rob Cohen and producer Bob Ducsay are joined by the visual effects team to talk about creating the Terra Cotta Dragon Emperor and making a CGI Jet Li.

Crafting New and Supernatural Worlds (8.34 mins/BD High Definition)
Director Rob Cohen, producers Stephen Sommers and Bob Ducsay, production designer Nigel Phelps and stars Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Luke Ford and Michelle Yeoh talk about the huge sets on the soundstages in Canada and China.

Feature Commentary with Director Rob Cohen (Blu Ray & DVD)
The man at the helm provides an interesting and fact filled commentary for 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'. He talks passionately about Chinese history and his love for the subject, injecting a fantasy story into historical facts and working on an established franchise. This is a commentary worth listening to.

U-Control (Blu-Ray Only)
Universal's unique High Definition way of watching the movie. With 'Scene explorer', 'Know your Mummy', 'The Dragon Emperor challenge', 'Visual commentary with director Rob Cohen' and 'Picture in Picture' featurettes for key scenes, this highlights how good the Blu-Ray format really is.

BD-Live (Blu-Ray Only)
Connect your Blu-Ray player or PS3 to the internet and enjoy extra interactive features for 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment for 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' is one that fans of the film should really enjoy. The featurettes cover every aspect of the film's production and the commentary track is an added bonus but it is the excellent U-Control, which was pioneered by Universal on HD DVD, that makes this an excellent example of how to do a Blu-Ray package.

The DVD is also very good, having all the same featurettes as the Blu-Ray version but you do miss out on the excellent U-Control and BD Live.

BLU-RAY
DVD

The Mummy (1999)

The Mummy Returns

---

The Usher Home | Hush, Hush... | The Big Story | The Usher Speaks

Stuck @ Home | Coming Soon | Links | Contact the Usher

2008