Review of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) by Samuel R — 15 Jul 2013

Ultimately the absence of Rachel Weisz and the change in location and mythology are the biggest flaws in this film. Weisz was a major part of the first two films and by having her replaced by Maria Bello, the original character is lost and replaced with one that doesn't meet Weisz's performance.

The fact that the story and mythology are set in China distances this installment very far away from the first two films due to the major change. This was one reason that I felt defeated the objective of having "The Mummy" title on this film.

At the same time, Arnold Vosloo's Imhotep was "The Mummy" in the first two films and this time Jet Li's Dragon Emperor takes the role of the power hungry cursed creature. Again, this also made it irrelevant of having "The Mummy" title as it the location, mythology and villain have no links to the first two films.

Another flaw was the obvious CGI effects which, even from within the first 7 minutes, can be very easily be told apart from physical and computer effects. However, the fact that Brendan Fraser and John Hannah reprise their roles didn't make this film a complete failure.

Even though this film features some strong action moments, this highlight of the film was in fact one of the reasons that made me struggle to enjoy "The Mummy Returns"; they both focus too much on constant action and not the horror or characters to the extent that "The Mummy" did.

Finally, the comical aspect of this film went too far as it attempted to be far more humorous than the other two. Again, this was one aspect which stopped me from full enjoying the first two films, and in fact stopped me from giving the first film the best score.

Overall, this is obviously the weakest out of the trilogy. My advice, maybe watch it once and maybe act that only "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns" exist.