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In The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, we come to find Rick and Evie retired in 1946, just after WWII, trying to fill their time outside of their huge English estate. Evie writes about their adventures using a pen name and does talks and readings, reliving the past, while Rick tries to find a hobby, both denying how much they miss the action. Alex O’Connell [Luke Ford] is all grown up and is working on a dig in China with one of his professors, even though he’d been kicked out of University several times [he is, after all, his father's son...]. He uncovers the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor [Jet Li] and brings the sarcophagus to Shanghai, where his mother [Bello] and father [Fraser] happen to fly in on a quick favour for the British government [agreed to out of desperation for some action], and his Uncle Jonathan [John Hannah] happens to own a nightclub – Egyptian-themed, of course…

They all get tangled up with bad guys, led by General Yang [Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, who did a great job with the character] and his army, who were behind the financing of the dig, with the goal of raising the Emperor and his army to restore order and greatness to their beloved China. They also encounter the guardians of the tomb, a young ninja-like warrior [Isabella Leong], as well as an ancient sorcerer [Michelle Yeoh], both of whom have sworn to never let the Emperor be brought back to life, much like the Magi of the first two movies… 

I was hoping for more interaction between Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh after the Emperor was awakened. There were some great, yet quick fight scenes… Most of the effects were good, some still looked a little too cartoonie here and there, but they were pretty good for the most part… and they took the mummy’s powers a little too far, in my opinion. Initially, the powers he learned while alive [originally] were pretty cool and fit the story, but then it was like they added more on when he was awakened that weren’t necessary and really only distracted from the little connection we had to the characters. There was the prerequisite vehicle chase scene that was pretty good, and the convenient friend who happened to have a plane… and was in Shanghai [played by Liam Cunningham]. He was actually a fun character, ‘Mad Dog Maguire.’ They could have incorporated him more into the story…  Evie’s brother, Johnathan [John Hannah] is the same treasure-hungry, yet goofy stressed-out guy and even his one-liners seemed stale. I should note that Russell Wong makes an appearance as the Emperor’s General [I don't know why, but I love that guy...], and also could have been incorporated into the story more.

I had mildly high hopes for this movie. The preview made it look pretty good, and it was directed by Rob Cohen. I thought a change of director and ‘venue’ [China instead of Egypt], would breathe new life into the franchise. I was wrong. The story was too formula – if you’ve seen the other two Mummy movies, you know what I’m talking about. This might have been okay if Rachael Weisz was back as Evie, because her chemistry with Fraser was dead on, making their one-liners cute and endearing. Maria Bello just didn’t do it for us as ‘Evie’. The chemistry between her and ‘Rick’ was off. She looked a lot older than he did – he just couldn’t pass for being a father of a 20+ year old kid… the one-liners weren’t clever, cute or funny, they were hokey and too cliché because of that lack of chemistry. All the surprises and key scenes were given away in the preview… I did, however, have a a monumental giggle fit due to one really quick scene involving a couple of yeti… They were the highlight of the movie for me.

Bottom line… this movie was missing something… it lacked soul. I don’t know how else to say it. If you’re a big fan of the previous movies, it’s worth seeing, but don’t go in with high-hopes, just enjoy it for what it is… if you weren’t a fan of the other movies, skip it. Either way, if you had to choose and you haven’t seen The Dark Knight or Hancock – see one of those instead. I should mention that if we saw this again, we might like it more, as we were constantly distracted by a row of obnoxious teenage boys we ended up politely asking to be quiet halfway through the movie… we’ll probably rent it, though, not pay to see it again.

2 1/2 out of 5.

Add’l Info: Released: Aug 1, 2008 • 112 minutes • Rated PG-13 for adventure action and violence • Photo Credit: ©Universal Studios via allmoviephoto.com