Of course, The Mummy Returns – 2001 continued the story about curses and mysterious mummies. I, particularly love to have Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in the films as husband and wife. However, as much as I like about the two previous mummies series, I believe that I will have to put a full stop immediately after them.
Preview
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor continues Rick O’Connell’s mummy adventures. However, his grown-up son, Alex O’Connell’s plays an important part too. Alex discovers the tomb of the dragon emperor which was long lost. During his expedition, several helpers are killed by the traps in the tomb. Alex is almost killed by Lin, who is a young lady and also the guard of the tomb. Lin failed and Alex and his team manage to excavate the tomb bring it to the Shanghai for exhibition.
Rick and Evelyn are asked to courier the Eye of Shangri-La to the Shanghai Museum. The mission is too tempting that after much persuasion, they decided to break their promise to settle down permanently.
Unknown to the O’Connell’s family, there is a group of secretly trained army waiting for the Eye of Shangri-La that could revive the Dragon Emperor. They also believe that once revived, the Dragon Emperor will be able to rule the world. In the end, they manage to revive the Dragon Emperor and the O’Connell’s family and Lin try ways and means to stop the Dragon Emperor from becoming an immortal.
The Storyline
The story is straightforward and not mysterious at all. Long ago, the Dragon Emperor and his army were cursed as he sought immortality. He is revived but in order to wake up his army, he has to become immortal by drinking the water from the Pool of Eternal Life. O’Connell’s family and Lin could not stop the Dragon Emperor from finding as well as drinking the Pool of Eternal Life even if the Pool of Eternal Life is guarded by Lin’s mother, Zi Yuan. Zi Yuan is the one who cursed the Dragon Emperor and his army.
As the Dragon Emperor’s army is revived, they have to cross the Great Wall in order to become immortal and that will be the time for them to conquer the world.
Well, if you look at the sequence, it is quite boring. Immortal, immortal and conquer the world. The secrets, traps and excitements are not found in this series of mummy. In fact, the Dragon Emperor and his army were not mummified. So, where are the mummies?
The Effects
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is just another movie. You will not lose anything or gain anything from it. When the Dragon Emperor is revived, I could not hear a single word from him. In addition, the Dragon Emperor is so powerful that he can transform anything into anything. Yeah, I know that he has mastered the five elements; gold, wood, water, fire and earth. But wouldn’t that be too exaggerated?
Once the Dragon Emperor is in the Pool of Eternal Life, he transforms into a three-headed dragon and the effect is quite good. The environment at the Pool of Eternal Life looks mystical and like a painting. As his army is awakened, the souls of the people buried under the Great Wall are called to fight. And that costs the immortality of Lin and her mother. Well, since they are no longer immortal, they should have died immediately as they have lived for thousands of years.
Verdict
There are more criticisms than praises for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The first being, where are the mummies??? In previous mummy films, the mummified soldiers, who crawled the walls and fought with swords, were a hundred times better than watching the Dragon Emperor fighting with his own magical powers.
The tombs fill with curses and secret doors are nowhere to be seen in the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Maria Bello who starred as Evelyn is not as exciting to watch as Rachel Weisz.
Well, no mummies, little curses, no secret doors and only magic do not make up a mummy film.
