The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

The Mummy saga comes to a close with this mostly tedious and somewhat interminable entry detailing the rise of Jet Li’s titular undead villain, with the narrative following Brendan Fraser’s Rick O’Connell as he and his wife (Maria Bello’s Evelyn) and son (Luke Ford’s Alex) set out to stop the fearsome antagonist from resurrecting his massive (and seemingly unstoppable) terracotta army. Filmmaker Rob Cohen, working from Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s script, does a decent job of initially drawing the viewer into the proceedings, as The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor kicks off with a lighthearted, entertaining opening stretch devoted to Rick and Evelyn’s attempt at retirement – with the affable atmosphere certainly heightened by the charming work from stars Fraser and Bello (although the latter never seems entirely comfortable with her British accent). It’s only as the picture segues into its almost episodic midsection that’s one’s interest begins to seriously flag, as Cohen places an increasingly aggressive emphasis on action sequences of a decidedly (and pointedly) incoherent and excessive nature – with the appearance of several chintzy, hilariously unconvincing abominable snowmen (!) within one such interlude certainly standing as a rock-bottom moment within the entire series. By the time the headache-inducing and painfully protracted climax rolls around, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has undoubtedly cemented its place as a bottom-of-the-barrel followup that possesses few of the positive attributes contained in the admittedly hit-and-miss original film.

*1/2 out of ****