There's plenty of mummy bashing going on these days with regards to The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor 1. This is amplified by the release of Batman: The Dark Knight, the most talked about movie of the summer, which opened in the US on the same day as The Mummy movie. Rob Cohen, the new director of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has made some poor choices which sadly take away from what could have been a super adventure. However there are redemptive aspects of this movie that make it an enjoyable watch.
Good Actors with Little Scope
The cast includes some fabulous actors. Anthony Wong (famous from the Infernal Affairs trilogy) is cast as the baddie General Yang, and John Hannah (playing brother-in-law to Fraser) together with Liam Cunningham (Mad Dog Maguire) create some splendid comedy. However, Anthony Wong’s straitjacket role gives him little space to manoeuvre, especially since he excels in troubled characters. Brendan Fraser reprises his role as Rick O’Connell, but without a spunky Evelyn O’Connell played by Rachel Weisz, his punchlines get a bit lost. Jet Li is somewhat miscast here. His recent role in Forbidden Kingdom pushes his acting chops but at least makes his unsmiling character funny. In The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Jet Li is cast as evil conqueror Emperor Han, but he is neither evil-looking nor possessing the charisma that gives audiences the satisfaction of watching him being killed.
Michelle Yeoh is the one casting choice that works. She plays Zi Yuan, the witch who casts a spell on Emperor Han and lives for another 2,000 years. Russell Wong, who plays General Ming, her clandestine lover, also deserves mention. He plays his character subtly but with depth. Michelle Yeoh was first noticed in the West as Bond Girl in Tomorrow Never Dies. She shows off her fighting skills in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and ages beautifully as Mameha in Memoirs of A Geisha. As mother to Lin in this movie, she comes across a wry and wistful avenger. Her Sanskrit chanting is one of the best moments of this film.
Bad Casting or Bad Acting?
Brendan Fraser’s wife played by Maria Bello, unfortunately cannot produce a proper English accent and though she is a convincing mother of the 1940s, she is somewhat lacklustre, not possessing the ‘oomph’ that Rachel Weisz has. Perhaps casting a real Brit would have helped. Unfortunately, the best dialogue and the meatiest parts go to Luke Ford and Isabella Leong, who are poor casting choices. Luke Ford’s chemistry with his father fails to ignite and his chemistry with Lin does not spark at all. Lin is Alex O’Connell’s love interest, the Chinese girl with a sad past, a cheesy formula similar to Forbidden Kingdom. Isabella Leong is very fair, but her piercing voice and lack of experience shows through a rather flat performance.
Borrowed from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor mimics Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, both plots featuring a father-son team. When Alex O’Connell (Luke Ford) goes underground in the tomb, his mentor Roger Wilson (David Calder) is knocked on the head. Very similar to the Venetian library scene when Dr. Marcus Brody gets hit over the head while peering into a gaping floor hole opened by Indiana. Another example is when the father suffers, protecting his son, and an elixir becomes the all-important solution to save dad.
Splendid Cinematography, Set Design & Convincing Plot
The plot gets a great boost from its rich cinematography and intricate set design. Luckily, as the tomb is Chinese rather than Jewish, the design differs greatly from the Indiana Jones Last Crusade set. The terracotta army is the highlight of this film. Though Chinese history is simplified, by recounting the Emperor Han as a tyrant who bled lives building the Great Wall of China, the drama of seeing the entire terracotta army come to life with various torture instruments in the tomb is pure movie magic. Even watching Emperor Han melt into terracotta is amazing. This makes for great viewing, just like watching Walter Donovan’s terrifying death when he chooses the wrong Holy Grail, in the third Indiana Jones film. The Yeti, for instance, make a fantastic appearance in beautiful snow-clad mountains.
Action & Effects
Jet Li has a major role in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, but this is not a martial arts movie. Watch it if you have a passion for Chinese history, and are besotted with the terracotta army. In terms of design and plot originality, it is a shade better than the latest Indiana Jones offering (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). However, casting mistakes make one of the biggest downfalls in this movie.
Source
1 IMDB, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor forum, 6 August 2008.
Jet Li's other major film in 2008
Forbidden Kingdom
- The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
- Starring Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong, Anthony Wong, John Hannah, Liam Cunningham, David Calder
- Written by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
- Directed by Rob Cohen
- Running time: 113 minutes
Lynette S.K. Webster - Copywriter turned Freelance Writer Copywriter for 4 years in Singapore, writing radio, print, TV and recruitment ads for national radio ...
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