The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) Review

“The yak yakked!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-4qSE2Ch0Y

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

When you want to get back into familiar territory, it might still feel a little different after a long time away.


PLOT


2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor begins in Ancient China where warlord Qin Shi Huang seek immortality after all he had accomplished. He summoned sorceress Zi Yuan with General Ming (Russell Wong) to a monastery where they would seek the Oracle Bones that can grant his very wish. His jealousy towards their relationship to the point of him executing the latter causes his own doing because Zi Yuan would curse him and his army to turn to statue for eternity. The story’s present begins in 1946, long after the defeat of Imhotep and the Scorpion King. Rick & Evelyn O’Connell have retired from exploring and the latter has made a success writing novels of their past adventures, but they both admit to have miss the thrills they shared together. Their son Alex has grown up to be an archaeologist as well and has found the emperor’s tomb with the assist of his professor Roger Wilson. Meanwhile, Rick & Evelyn get contacted by the British government entrusting them to retrieve the ‘Eye of Shangri-La’ gemstone and return it to China. Around the time the couple reaches Shanghai and reunite with their son who shows them the sarcophagus. This would lead to Wilson revealing himself to be in cahoots with Chinese General Yang & Colonel Choi, who financed the expedition hoping to awaken Qin and use his leadership to take China out of its chaos following WWII and the Chinese civil war. The Dragon Emperor accepts the service of Yang & Choi, but kills Wilson when escaping. In their efforts to stop him, the O’Connells meet Zi Yuan’s daughter Lin who had tried to stop Alex from taking the sarcophagus. She has the dagger cursed to kill the emperor and they must stop him before he can awaken his army. The only way he can find him is if uses the Eye and place it on a tower that’ll guide him to Shangri-La. With Evy’s brother Jonathan tagging along, they travel to the Himalayas via cargo plane piloted by one of Rick’s friends, ‘Mad Dog’ Maguire (Liam Cunningham). The protagonists do their best in stopping the Emperor from getting there especially with the assist of Yetis, but he stabs Rick to slow them down and Alex returns the favor by causing an avalanche. Lin takes the group to Shangri-La first where thy meet her mom who heals the O’Connell patriarch with the Pool of Eternal Life. Upon meeting Zi Yuan does Alex realize she and her daughter are immortal due to the use of the Pool. Eventually, the Emperor finds them and uses the Pool to regain his human form as well as gain supernatural power such as shape shifting. In the process, he would steal the cursed dagger and abduct Lin before returning to his tomb. Not wanting to use his army to officiate invincibility by breaching the Great Wall, Zi Yuan sacrifices her and her daughter’s immortality to summon General Ming and an undead army of Qin’s enemies to better the odds. As Jonathan shoots from Maguire’s plane, Rick, Evy & Alex fight  on the ground. Zi Yuan would face the emperor but at the cost of her life, she’s able to take the dagger unbeknownst to him. She gives it to Rick before his family follow the warlord into the Great Wall. As Evy saves Lin, they kill Yang & Choi. And with enough of a distraction from Rick, Alex uses the dagger on Qin which destroys him and his army at once. With a monumental victory, Ming and the undead can peacefully enter the afterlife. As the O’Connells return to Shanghai to celebrate, Lin moves forward being in a relationship with Alex and Evy puts her literary career on hold to spend more time with her family. Jonathan passes his bar to Maguire and intends to have a trip to Peru, taking the Eye of Shangri-La with him, hoping to be somewhere that is mummy-free, but the film ends with an epilogue revealing mummies were indeed indeed found in said country.


THOUGHTS


I think everyone knew a trilogy was abound for something from Universal Pictures so beloved. The wait was lengthy, but I think it was worthwhile because I was overall entertained. Does Director Rob Cohen match the same magic left behind by Stephen Sommers with the first two? Definitely not, but it’s not the worst thing in the world here since it wasn’t supposed to be a masterpiece. If anything hasn’t aged well, the visual effects are 50/50 because while the Yetis looked cool and seeing Qin live up to being a dragon emperor by actually transforming into one during the climax was very cool. I can also say the same when seeing him break from the stone, but the setback goes to the opening when seeing him succumb to the curse. It almost looks like chocolate when it’s not supposed to look like that and that’s a little embarrassing. If I’m gonna back to the goods, Randy Edelman’s gives a whole exciting score for me and the cinematography by Simon Duggan does in fact shake up said excitement for the various action scenes, my favorite being the New Year’s chase. The 40s aesthetic is also well made thanks to Nigel Phelp’s solid production design and Sanja Milkovic Hays’ authentic costume design. Having a Chinese mummy instead of another Egyptian one was a good change of scenery and while that shook things up for me to remain interested, I still think one was still worthwhile because within the chaos, it has the time to depict the ongoing danger of obsession and the importance of leaving the past behind. With a limited performance of the icon Jet Li, Qin is a believable in being bad to the bone because it is his obsession of being unstoppable that led to his downfall. Had he been a better leader that accepted the world doesn’t evolve around him, things could’ve gone to his liking much better. Similarly, Anthony Wong & Jessey Meng bring that to the table as Yang & Choi since they just want the feeling of power that comes from victory, but even they find out the hard way victory has to be earned not cheated. The same goes with Wilson since David Calder portrayed as a snake who didn’t realize being played can go both ways until it was too late. Luckily, we got protagonists who have bigger brains than brawn that better the odds. It was a big pill to swallow for Maria Bello to replace Rachel Weisz as Evy who had declined returning. Nevertheless, her chemistry with Brendan Fraser was believable enough to keep me invested. Both actors accurately portray the couple as one who want to be settled but miss the adventures that brought them together. Call it luck that the adventure called to them this time and they had the chance to do what they unexpectedly do best which is saving the world, even if the stakes were raised. While Evy also knew it would’ve been a delight to share some more of her stories, she knew living it was better than bragging about it hence delaying the next novel. John Hannah is still pretty funny as Jonathan since he walks into danger even when he’s trying to this day, but you still respect him sticking around in the fight when he doesn’t have to. Then again, it’s on him not looking into Peru enough before departing. Luke Ford was a good choice as the adult Alex because since he was part of the last adventure his parents had that he unintentionally caused, he became drawn to be an explorer like them and it was enough for him in using that as an effort to bond with them. While it did take a while for Rick to catch onto it at first, it’s no surprise that he’s proud of how grown he became to the environment he chose. Ironically, he too found love when he wasn’t even intending to. Isabella Leong is her own standout as Lin because she’s got her duty for thee greater good and it makes her all the more fierce when the action unfolds. I mean she’s got her resilience & intelligence when being able to speak yeti which is pretty damn cool. The most realistic thing she brings to the table is how she chooses to keep things distant rather than close because she doesn’t want to cope with loss the way her mom has, hence her hesitance to be with Alex when he makes his move. But with Zi Yuan making a sacrifice that wasn’t in vein, she got to be in that perspective that life is full of opportunities not to miss. Bringing it full circle, Mochelle Yeoh made it work in her given time as Zi Yuan because she was wise in how she chose to use magic and not to toy with it the way the emperor did. That’s all that needs to be said when comparing to an enemy that was gonna remain so dense. Again it wasn’t in vein for her to die no matter how disappointing it was to see because with one less warlord gone for good, the world is a bit safer until another re-awakens. I dig this movie for being straight to the point, but there still a few things I noticed upon rewatching that could’ve been done differently. Like from the top, it’s kind of a miracle those little candles didn’t set the house on fire on accident after Evy cut through them in her efforts to get out of writers block. And shouldn’t the trapped arrows be shot simultaneously rather than one at a time if those who created it, likely Lin, don’t want anyone trespassing? I mean that sounds ideal. Hell, even Alex was way too calm that he lost colleagues thanks to her. I then believe Wilson could’ve tricked Evy to translate the Eye before revealing his alliance with Yang. It’s then totally on Lin to kick Yang into the statue for the Eye’s pure blood to be spilt. She could’ve pulled him back rather than kick him forward. I don’t even think Rick & Evy needed to pick up Jonathan during the New Year’s chase since it’s not like his presence would make a difference like before. They even have way too much plot armor to be unfazed after running through bricks. They didn’t even try ducking and it was weird. And honestly, I really wonder who else Rick would’ve called to be a pilot if Maguire wasn’t in the arena. On top of that, it’s on him to not notice the ammunition Alex packed on the plane. And if Qin can transform into a dragon, he could’ve just done that the moment Zi Yuan dared to come across him. The same decision of wasting time does go to even bothering to fight Rick evenly like he demands, which is only meant to be a distraction for Alex. I don’t want to be sounding like I’m rooting for villains man, but they can be smarter every once in a while. Other than that however, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is still an action flick that knows what it is and embraces it as much as possible. If you dug the past movies, I hope you have a soft spot for this as well.