Sadly however the first Stephen Sommers films weren't enough for the bigwigs at Universal and they released The Scorpion King. A travesty of a film that was barely in the cinemas before it was whisked mystically to the bottom of the bargain bin at Woollies. But they were still not content. With 2 nigh on perfect mummy-tastic blockbusters complete with a smartalec American, a pretty English Egyptologist and an ensemble of random characters ranging from the rancid evil sidekicks to the suicidal and aged RAF pilots, the films had it all! Then came The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Right from the very start you can tell it is a different film. Set in China just after the second world war, Alex (Luke Ford) has now mysteriously transformed from the accident prone English boy to a reasonably hunky Australian actor complete with a faux American accent. He has of course followed in his dangerously curious mothers footsteps and become an archaeologist who discovers the Dragon Emperors tomb. Rachel Weisz is sorely missed as Evie O'Connell and is replaced in the new film by a totally substandard American (Maria Bello). Although thankfully we still have sarcastic humour of Brendan Fraser to keep the nostalgia going, he does seem tired under his contractual obligation to complete the 3 Mummy films. A strong emphasis lays on the capabilities of his son who seems to logically be in line to take over the hero's post of the franchise in a similar vain to Mutt Williams in the Indiana Jones Quadrilogy.
The composer seemed to be on some sort of performance enhancing drug, using ridiculously over the top crescendos to illustrate blatantly obvious victories for the various heroes and the ensemble cast. Now, you would normally expect this level of cheese from the action genre, but the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor takes it to a whole new level. The score does however have some plus points, it links relatively well with the fragmented and confused editing which leaves most audience members being forced to laugh at the excruciatingly poor industry-standard dialogue and the witless humour that although was endearing in the original Mummy flick, has since become a bane on the genre.
The franchises best quality has always relied on its cheeky one liners, great special effects and epic battle sequences. Sadly however, these have been neglected by a director that seems to put more stock in the kung fu abilities of Jet Li than staying true to a formula that has served well in the box office for the previous 2 films (i purposefully do not include The Scorpion King ).
It may seem closed minded. but no-one truly cares about any mummified corpses coming back to life unless they are Egyptian. It just isn't the same having a dead Chinese guy instead of the high priest of some long lost Pharaoh hunting for our unfortunately placed heroes internal organs. All in all, a huge disappointment to fans of the whole mythology behind the mummy movie genre.
2/5
Right from the very start you can tell it is a different film. Set in China just after the second world war, Alex (Luke Ford) has now mysteriously transformed from the accident prone English boy to a reasonably hunky Australian actor complete with a faux American accent. He has of course followed in his dangerously curious mothers footsteps and become an archaeologist who discovers the Dragon Emperors tomb. Rachel Weisz is sorely missed as Evie O'Connell and is replaced in the new film by a totally substandard American (Maria Bello). Although thankfully we still have sarcastic humour of Brendan Fraser to keep the nostalgia going, he does seem tired under his contractual obligation to complete the 3 Mummy films. A strong emphasis lays on the capabilities of his son who seems to logically be in line to take over the hero's post of the franchise in a similar vain to Mutt Williams in the Indiana Jones Quadrilogy.
The composer seemed to be on some sort of performance enhancing drug, using ridiculously over the top crescendos to illustrate blatantly obvious victories for the various heroes and the ensemble cast. Now, you would normally expect this level of cheese from the action genre, but the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor takes it to a whole new level. The score does however have some plus points, it links relatively well with the fragmented and confused editing which leaves most audience members being forced to laugh at the excruciatingly poor industry-standard dialogue and the witless humour that although was endearing in the original Mummy flick, has since become a bane on the genre.
The franchises best quality has always relied on its cheeky one liners, great special effects and epic battle sequences. Sadly however, these have been neglected by a director that seems to put more stock in the kung fu abilities of Jet Li than staying true to a formula that has served well in the box office for the previous 2 films (i purposefully do not include The Scorpion King ).
It may seem closed minded. but no-one truly cares about any mummified corpses coming back to life unless they are Egyptian. It just isn't the same having a dead Chinese guy instead of the high priest of some long lost Pharaoh hunting for our unfortunately placed heroes internal organs. All in all, a huge disappointment to fans of the whole mythology behind the mummy movie genre.
2/5
1 comment:
Better not watch that shite then. Mario, I trust you and your slightly copy-checking-needy reviews implicitly. That's implicitly. x x x x
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