  |
||||||
|
|
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon EmperorReview of the New Mummy Movie Staring Brendan Fraser and Luke Ford
Alex O'Connell, a young explorer, awakens the Dragon Emperor and must enlist the help of his parents to overthrow this powerful enemy, determined to rule the world.
Rob Cohen, in his series directorial debut, brings the action out of Egypt for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the 4th installment of the Mummy movies. In this latest chapter, dim-witted good guy explorer Alex O’Connell (Luke Ford) accidentally wakes the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li) from a 2000-year curse. From this unfortunate incident, the action moves quickly from the dank catacombs of ancient China, into the frigid Himalayan Mountains via a rambunctious Shanghai of old. The Rise of the Dragon EmperorArising from an eternal slumber hasn’t squashed the Dragon Emperor’s thirst for world domination, to the contrary he’s more determined than ever to control the planet. Assessing his mess, the young O’Connell summons help from the two people who have had the most run-ins with the living undead, Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn O’Connell (Maria Bello), his parents, currently enduring a bored retirement in England. While not historically accurate, the story dips into several legends including the Terracotta Soldiers of Xi-An, China and the Yeti of the Himalayas to push the action along through high quality special effects that outshine the otherwise tissue-thin plot of this movie. Though the back-story contains a mythology as dense as a plotline from X-Files, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor quickly sums up the important details for the audience, skimming two millennia of history in a few minutes of spellbinding effects. Brendan Fraser Battles Another MummyFraser does his best attempt at acting in this movie, his second summer blockbuster of 2008 after Journey to the Centre of the Earth. While not the obvious choice for a hero, there’s something about Fraser’s portrayal of an idiot-sage archeologist that connects with viewers. Jet Li pulls off his role as the Dragon Emperor with superior believability, partly because of his limited dialogue and tight focus on his infamous martial arts abilities. Despite plot holes the size of the Giza Pyramids, this movie works. It’s a fantastic story filled with epic special effects and a plot that chugs along at a reasonable pace. The fight scenes fill the screen with exciting moves on the part of Li as well as some fancy footwork by Bello. While it doesn’t contain the depth of this summer’s number one movie,The Dark Knight, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor adds another exciting chapter to this adventurous, high action series, making Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull look like playtime at the geriatric ward.
The copyright of the article The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Films is owned by James W. Coates. Permission to republish The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|||||
|
|
||||||
