Plot
In 1946 – Alex O’Connell, now an archeologist himself and his mentor uncover the tomb of an ancient Chinese Emperor – Qin, the founder of the Qin Dynasty.
Taking his tomb back to Shanghai, he is reunited with his parents Rick and Evelyn, who have been tasked with returning a precious gemstone to the same location.
However they discover while there, that there is a plan to bring Qin back to life, and rule the world – it is up to the O’Connell’s, Uncle Jonathan – and a family of ancient sorceress’ to stop him.
Direction
Directed by Rob Cohen, who had previously helmed action films such as Daylight, The Fast and the Furious and XXX to name a few.
It’s ‘okay’ but it feels a little redundant on what we have seen previously. There is also… and considering what came before it… a heavy reliance on CGI with the Yeti’s etc.
The action isn’t nearly as exciting, but this might be the fault of the screenplay… which is questionable at best.
Cast
Returning back for the third time are Brendan Fraser and John Hannah, with Maria Bello taking over the role of Evelyn. I have nothing against Bello, she is a fine actress, but her talents are WASTED here. Her accent is flawed, and she has zero chemistry with Fraser. The film does “somewhat” cleverly put a line into the film to acknowledge the change of actress.
Other new cast are; Jet Li (as Qin – the main antagonist, he barely appears on screen so when he does appear he is far less of a threatening antagonist.
Michelle Yeoh (as Zi Yuan an immortal sorceress who has a history with Qin, Luke Ford (as Alex) and Liam Cunningham as one of Rick’s old friends and a pilot who helps them on occasion.
Breakdown
Starting with the standard exposition where we discover who this films big bad is. It is Emperor Qin (of the Qin Dynasty – who fell out of power after he assassinated the love of a sorceress who he wanted for himself).
Cut to 1946 – Rick and Evelyn who have now been together for 20 years, have hit a stalemate in their lives. She is an author living vicariously through her novels (making a fun comment about not being the same person as she was back then.. an in joke to Maria Bello taking over the role from Rachel Weisz who had just had a baby and couldn’t schedule the shoot). Rick is pining for his old life (in a rather cliche – caressing his outfits from his first two movies – which aren’t even put away for safe keeping)
Their son Alex is now the adventurer, who has all the bravado of being not “Rick O’Connell’s son” but Rick being “Alex O’Connell’s Dad”…
Upon delivering Qin’s tomb to a Shanghai museum (just as mum and dad are bringing a priceless artifact to said museum) – they are reunited (with some unbeknownst tension that isn’t clear or brought up much at all after a small comment…) with Jonathan, who just so happens to run a bar in Shanghai too (what a coincidence!). For a 1940s bar, in Shanghai – it has a New York noir look and feel – and is all about the Egyptians – and is hugely popular… and not one Chinese person nearby either… odd.
When the action does get going – and in fairness, it starts early and is fairly brutal at times – it all seems rather redundant, like we’ve seen this only better. There is also a very early double cross in Roger, Alex’s mentor. It comes so early in the film – that it isn’t a shock and the audience hasn’t built up an emotional relationship with him yet – so its less impactful but more a cliche that the screenwriter threw in because “that’s what you do”.
The story continues for some time as the gang go from location to location – never really feeling like they’re making good uses out of them. The characters that do come by them, (Cunningham’s Maguire & Isabella Leong’s Li) aren’t that memorable either.
There are also some unfunny moments where the characters are trying to be funny (or put in situations that are trying to be funny) – such as a pat of Jonathan being on fire during a car chase sequence – and then Jonathan befreinding a Yak on a plane… yes – a Yak… on a plane…
There are some moments where the screenplay makes characters seem like completely different people (Rick/Alex gun talk), tries to be emotive but fails (Rick wants to be a good husband/father), and some other eye rolling moments that there are too many to mention.
There are repeated threats against the characters – such as Rick being fatally stabbed – only to be saved just minutes later in the film by Yeoh’s sorceress… There is what should have been an epic fight sequence between Asian screen legends Li and Yeoh, but the choreography was terrible, and not directed well at all. Shame.
One real issue I had was the overuse of CGI – especially the villain. At least with Imhotep – we had plenty of Arnold Vosloo and the tension felt real between himself and Brendan Fraser’s Rick. Here, as Jet Li is only in a small handful of scenes – he never really feels like a viable threat. He’s not intimidating, he’s less of a physical presence… it’s just… less…
Overall
Since this is now apparently considered “non cannon” – it’s a little easier to be harsher on it. Also, they really should have called this The Mummy Forever…
It repeats moments from the first film, has a poorer antagonist – with much the same plan as in previous films. It also wasted the talents of Li and Yeoh.
The addition of Bello, replacing Rachel Weisz – was clearly a hard choice by filmmakers, and as much as she tries, she doesn’t hold a candle to the original.
Thankfully a new film will be coming out in the next 12-18 months, so we can forget about this one.
2/5
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