By William John
The third film in a trilogy often tends to suffer. Jaws 3, Spider Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand… the list goes on.
The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Empire suffers from the rule of three syndrome to no end. Picking up some 15 years after the events of The Mummy Returns, we find Rick and Evey as retired civil servants, fresh from the Second World War, and bored out of their minds. This wouldn’t be too much of a problem, being a believable scenario for people with their past misadventures; had it not been for the single biggest, most catastrophic mistake the producers could have made. Evey!
The third film in a trilogy often tends to suffer. Jaws 3, Spider Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand… the list goes on.
The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Empire suffers from the rule of three syndrome to no end. Picking up some 15 years after the events of The Mummy Returns, we find Rick and Evey as retired civil servants, fresh from the Second World War, and bored out of their minds. This wouldn’t be too much of a problem, being a believable scenario for people with their past misadventures; had it not been for the single biggest, most catastrophic mistake the producers could have made. Evey!
Why oh why you would ever consider replacing the stunningly beautiful and incredibly talented Rachel Weis is beyond me, but why in the name of god you’d replace her with a talentless caricature is one step too far. She’s so bad that I’m not even going to list her name, let alone waste any more time on her appalling impression of a great character.
Onwards! No Imhotep? Surely it cannot be a Mummy film without Imhotep I hear you ask. Correct, it wasn’t. I mean yeah, great they took it to another location, they wanted to try fresh things and I’m all for that, but did they really have to kick out the super cool villain that we all remember from our childhoods? Jet-Li, though an impressive character, just couldn't compare.
Onwards! No Imhotep? Surely it cannot be a Mummy film without Imhotep I hear you ask. Correct, it wasn’t. I mean yeah, great they took it to another location, they wanted to try fresh things and I’m all for that, but did they really have to kick out the super cool villain that we all remember from our childhoods? Jet-Li, though an impressive character, just couldn't compare.
China was a nice touch though, and the CGI was pretty good, especially on the armies towards the end of the film. Flying dragons make entertaining viewing for anyone, as does the occasional slapstick humor and ridiculous fight sequences. Though if I’m honest, when Abominable Snowmen/Yeti run out of the fog on a mountain top and begin to fist fight a bunch of scared humans, you know you’ve really ruined any credible hope of success in a film.
And finally, the single worst part of this film, the really kick in the proverbial testicles, is Alex. The cute nine year-old boy who destroyed tombs, bitch talked a seven foot henchman and summoned his mother back from the dead has turned into a washed out, gambling arse hole. We catch up with the now early 20’s Alex in a nightclub in Shanghai as a university drop out and a womanizing moron.
And finally, the single worst part of this film, the really kick in the proverbial testicles, is Alex. The cute nine year-old boy who destroyed tombs, bitch talked a seven foot henchman and summoned his mother back from the dead has turned into a washed out, gambling arse hole. We catch up with the now early 20’s Alex in a nightclub in Shanghai as a university drop out and a womanizing moron.
He proceeds to fight with his Dad, which sets tensions pretty high throughout the film. Who knows, perhaps the writers realized half way through that they were destroying the memory of the awesome kid everyone wanted to be, and in a half-arsed attempt to make him likable again, decided to give him a love interest… in a centuries old witch!
I can’t stomach this film; I can’t quite believe it was possible to destroy such a phenomenally good film series so easily… I was wrong.
I can’t stomach this film; I can’t quite believe it was possible to destroy such a phenomenally good film series so easily… I was wrong.
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