Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

 

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the third (and hopefully final) entry into the Mummy franchise of movies. It is a 2008 sequel to the original 1999 movie and its 2001 sequel. Brendan Fraser and John Hanna reprise their roles as Rick and Jonathan. Maria Bello takes over the role of Evie from Rachel Weisz, and Oded Feher does not return. The major additions to the cast, aside from Bello, are Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Isabella Leong, and Luke Ford, who takes over the role of Alex, Rick and Evie's son. What made The Mummy work as a franchise was the character development and the chemistry the cast members had with each other. Without Rachael Weisz and Oded Fehr (whose character would not have fit into this story anyway), the movie is not the same and ultimately does not work well at all.

This time, the movie is set in 1946, in China, and the Mummy is played by the awesome Jet Li. In fact, the only reason I give this even 2 stars is because of Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. They both did a great job with their characters, and the cinematography and visual effects are great. However, there is a total lack of continuity in the story in the first two movies. First, you are expected to believe that Brendan Fraser has aged 26 years from the first movie without looking much older (this movie was made nine years after the original). It was a big stretch to believe that he had aged 10 years between the first and second movies (which were made two years apart), but they needed to do a much better job at making Fraser look older. Also, the kid Alex from the second movie is now grown up and has lost the British accent in favor of an American one, and is very little like how he was portrayed in the second movie. And John Hannah is given little, if nothing, to do in this movie, and it just seems like his character is there to tag along. I think the decision to recast the character of Evie was horrible, and they would have been better off to have killed off the character than bringing someone new in. Even though I do not think Bello was horrible in the role, the character just did not have the same feel as how Weisz played her.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. While the transfer is not as good as today's new movies get, it is much better than the first two movies and the CGI effects look more realistic than they did in the first two movies. As far as extras go on the disc version, there are a few deleted and extended scenes,  a 20-minute making-of feature, a commentary track on the film, and a handful of other items. This definitely does not have as many extras as the blu-rays for the first two movies did, but not bad for what is there. 

Ultimately, this movie did not have to be made. I think the producers thought they had a much stronger franchise with The Mummy than they really did. Without all of the original cast, which they did get for The Mummy Returns, it just fell very flat. Luckily, it seems that they got that message since no other attempts at continuing the franchise (and no, I don't count the Tom Cruise movie) have been made. It is worth picking up on blu-ray if you are one who wants to keep your collection as complete as possible, but it is definitely not a must-watch and nowhere near as good as the first two movies.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Mummy Returns

 

The Mummy Returns is the 2001 follow-up to the 1999 movie. In a rare feat (one that would not be repeated in the last movie of the trilogy), the entire cast, including Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, John Hannan, Patricia Velasquez, and Oded Fehrand and crew, including director Stephen Sommers, from the first movie, returned for this one. This helped the movie retain some continuity from the first film, even though it really expanded on the story. The big additions to the cast are The Rock, playing the Scorpion King and Freddie Boath, who plays Alex O'Connell. 

The movie is set 10 years after the first movie. The Mummy is resurrected in order to kill the Scorpion King (played by The Rock in his first movie role), and of course, the events pull the now-married Rick and Evie O'Connell along with their son and her brother Jonathan. Oded Fehr and Patricia Velasquez also return and are given much more to do and are involved much more in the overall plot in this movie. Rachel Weisz was given more action scenes, including a sai fight in a barely-there outfit against Patricia Velasquez about halfway into the movie and another one at the end. She was much more of an action heroine in this movie than she was in the first. Which ultimately is good, although the plot twist through which that happened was kind of silly.

Like the first movie, this one is very special effects-laden as well. There are new creatures from the first one, and the effects, while not as good as they would be today, are slightly improved from the first film. Although the CGI characters still look quite cartoonish in this movie, If you are one of those who only want to see it because The Rock is in it (which was probably more of an issue when it was released in theaters and he was at the height of his WWF/WWE fame), he is really only in the move a total of about 15 min. 5 at the beginning in the flesh, and about 10 at the end as a dumb CGI creature. I think it would have been much better to have him resurrected as a human and essentially have a three-way battle between the main characters at the end.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. As far as extras go, there is a commentary track for the movie, a 20-minute making-of feature, a three-minute interview with The Rock that was actually done for the spin-off Scorpion King movie, and a short feature on the visual effects along with a few other things. 

Ultimately, whether you like this or not depends on your feelings about the first movie. If you hated the first one, then you will likely hate this one, too. If you liked or loved the first one, you will at least like this one as well. While some elements from the first movie were incorporated into this one, it was not a carbon copy of the first one. It is a good action-adventure movie that, like the first movie, has some humor mixed in. If you are a fan of the genre or the actors involved, it is worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Mummy

 

The Mummy is a 1999 action/adventure movie starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, and John Hannah. Oded Fehr and Patricia Valasquez have supporting but important roles as well. The movie is a retelling of the 1930s version of the story. It utilizes many of the same characters and story elements, but it is its own movie. It is not a shot-by-shot remake by any means. This version utilizes a ton of CGI animation and a green screen. It is set in the period between World War I and II, and so it blends ancient Egypt with the 1920s modern world. The premise of the story is that a group of adventurers and scholars are at a dig site in Egypt. They inadvertently release the spirit of high priest Imhotep (played by Vosloo), who then, as an almost immortal being, tries to resurrect his mistress Anck-su-namun (played by Valasquez).

The movie itself is a blend of action, comedy, and romance. Along with somewhat cheesy drama. In some ways, it pays homage to old monster movies, and in some ways, it is a tongue-in-cheek spoof of them. The ensemble cast of Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, and John Hannah all do a great job with their respective roles. Fraser shows he has the chops to be both funny and somewhat of an action hero...Although not necessarily a larger-than-life one. Hannah is great at blending being a cowardly, weasel with reluctant bravery when the need arises so that you actually like and root for his character. It is hard to buy Weisz as the nerdy librarian they portray her as in the beginning of the movie and their attempts to make her kind of frumpy and tone down how gorgeous she really is did not work all that well. But once they turned the character into more of a leading lady kind of role for movies like this, she worked well. I thought Vosloo, did a fine job as the mummy, especially given that so much of his performance was based on expression as opposed to dialog. He said very little throughout the film, and when he did it was never in English, Regardless of that he was able to portray being menacing, smug, concerned, and scared without needing to say much.

If you get the blu ray, the movie looks and sounds very good. The special effects are good but dated, so some of the things are not going to be as good as in a movie made today. However, it looks about as good as a movie from that time could without a major restoration (which it may get if it is released on 4k). There are quite a few special features, with the longest being a 50-minute featurette centered on the digital effects used to create the various mummies in the movie. There are also some deleted and extended scenes and a couple other short making-of featurettes.

Ultimately, the movie is enjoyable as long as you do not go into this movie thinking you are about to see an Academy Award-winning best picture or get a best actor/actress performance. You won't. It is purely a big-budget, special effects popcorn movie. If you look at it as a somewhat funny action/adventure movie, and if you generally like those kinds of movies then you will probably like this. Also, it is not meant to be an accurate period piece from either ancient Egypt or early 1900s Egypt. So, if you are one who would nitpick things that are wrong, you probably want to stay away from this. Otherwise, it is worth the time to watch.