By Kit Bowen
Story
The first two
Mummy movies were a lot of dumb fun: lost cities in the Egyptian desert, tombs full of mummies, scarabs, Scorpion Kings. The word “mummy” just lends itself to an Egyptian adventure. But setting the third one in China doesn’t really work. An ancient ruthless Dragon Emperor (
Jet Li) and his 10,000 warriors who have laid forgotten for eons, entombed in clay as a vast, silent Terracotta Army just waiting to be awakened to wreak havoc again isn’t one’s idea of a
Mummy movie. A
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon variation, maybe, but not in this milieu. The original
Mummy heroes Rick O’Connell (
Brendan Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (
Maria Bello) are once again involved, but it doesn’t make it any better. Even their now grown-up son Alex (
Luke Ford), as a mini-Rick, can’t help elevate the proceedings. The only saving grace is perhaps
Michelle Yeoh as a sorceress who sticks around long enough to get her revenge on the emperor.
Acting
Fraser has lost his
Mummy edge. Sleepwalking through most of the movie, the actor has only a smidgen of his former glory as adventurer Rick O’Connell. Maybe he exhausted himself by being chased by dinosaurs at the
Center of the Earth, who knows? And poor
Bello, who replaces
Rachel Weisz as the feisty Evvie. It’s obvious she took over the role for a chance to do some action stunts, but the actress is terribly misplaced and has absolutely zero chemistry with Fraser--as opposed to the cutesy, sexy vibe
Weisz and
Fraser shared. Newcomer
Ford seems inexperienced all around, but it’s not his fault he has to spout clichéd dialogue at every turn. Only
Li and
Yeoh hold any weight, as the talented Chinese actors are wont to do.
Direction
In fact, the
Jet Li and
Michelle Yeoh’s sword fight scene is probably the only reason to see
Mummy 3. Director
Rob Cohen (
The Fast and the Furious) obviously has seen
Crouching Tiger and
Hero several times and feels mixing the
Mummy universe with these Chinese classics would be fun. It isn’t. In large part, the blame rests on the hackneyed script (by
Alfred Gough and
Miles Millar), which tries to drum up a troubled father-son relationship while trying to send the good old emperor back to the Netherworld. But
Cohen is also at fault, creating staid--or completely unbelievable--action sequences (Yetis coming out of nowhere in the frozen Himalayas, for heaven’s sakes?). It’s clear Universal wants to continue making
Mummy movies with perhaps young
Luke Ford at the helm, but this third installment may finally mummify the franchise.