Review of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) by Jacob B — 11 Sep 2017

Although I liked some of the fight choreography, the third entry in Brendan Fraser's Mummy series is awful. The CGI feels fake and crappy-looking with the yetis being exceptions, the change in location doesn't provide a fresh change of pace but rather makes you miss Imhotep from the last two Mummy movies and the script is written in an uneven manner.

The film is directed by Rob Cohen, who isn't seen in a positive light by critics yet I really liked The Fast and the Furious and xXx. And this may mark the rare time that one of the movies in a trilogy is ruined by changing the actress from the last two movies.

Whilst Maria Bello tries her best and I don't really mind her delivery of a British accent, she and Brendan Fraser lack any real chemistry. Whilst the chemistry felt genuine with Rachel Weisz, it just doesn't feel the same with a different actress.

Whilst Weisz had perfectly good reasons to not be in this movie, her replacement may have been inadvertently responsible for the franchise's downfall. I didn't really care about the outcome for most of the characters and it doesn't feel as fun as the first two movies and even The Scorpion King, which I criticized for failing to live up to its true potential.

And we got a reboot starring Tom Cruise that hasn't been getting good word-of-mouth and, from what I've heard, is immediately trying to foreshadow future movies in their Dark Universe. Way to go, Universal.

The Mummy 3 sucks and should've either stayed buried or had a better-written script. Maybe find a way to get Weisz to come back. Damn, no wonder Fraser went into cinematic exile after 2010.