DVD REVIEW
The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor
2 Disc Deluxe Edition
11/29/08
Universal’s 1999 The Mummy
starting Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz raised back to live
this evil character to the top of glory. The film based on
the 1932 horror classic showed to the audience a new
approached to the story, this time around, it looked more
like an Indiana Jones type of movie, filled with adventure,
top of the art special effects, a few scares, and a
considerably appealing story. The movie was an instant
success, it attracted fans of all genres and ages. It was
such a hit than a second part was released two years later,
and although not as convincing and attractive as the first
one, the actors and staff created an almost as good sequel
that pleased most of the fans. Then, the downfall began, in
2002 The Scorpion King, a spin off of the series based in one
of the characters from the second film hurt what up to now
had been a successful franchise, the story seems overplayed,
a classical hero movie that did not added nothing new, and
the special effects, although impressive and pleasing, make
the movie seem repetitive and predictable, nonetheless, for
what it was worth, it kept the audience somewhat interested
and entertained. After almost ten years from a remarkable
first movie, an acceptable sequel, a mediocre spin off, a
boring TV cartoon series it looked that the franchise was
doomed. Then a great Theme Park ride came up, and it brought
a narrow beam of light to the curse creature, unfortunately,
the last attempt of Universal to raise the creature’s respect
back up seems to have backfire. The Mummy: The Tomb of the
Dragon Emperor, although looks promising and exciting, turns
out to be disappointing, unoriginal and just dull.
In this new mummy, it has been almost 20 years since the
O’Connell vanquished Imhotep from the world, now Richard and
Evelyn O’Connell are enjoying their delightful life of
retirement, apparently they used to work as spies for
England, their son, Alex, has drop out school and he is
dedicated in the pursuit of adventure, as a archeologist
assistant in China, and conveniently enough Uncle Jonathan is
now the owner of the prestigious Imhotep night club, also in
China. As perfect as this could seem Richard and Evelyn are
not happy, their son barely talks to them, and they missed
all the excitement from their previous adventures, luckily
for them, Alex finds what seems to be the tomb of the dragon
emperor, which was a powerful and ambitious ruler who The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor
reign over China and the whole world for eternity, and the
British government asked them one more favor, to deliver a
precious jewel to the Chinese government as sign of good
faith. The O’Connell agree, in China the gem is stolen and
used to revived the emperor, whose ambitions still the same.
Now is to all the O’Connell’s to stop him for regaining his
powers and save the world.
The film is beautifully shown, the CGI effects, settings,
action sequences, and John Hanna’s performance are without a
doubt its high points. The problem reside in the story,
characters, and the acting. The story for once is predictable
in all aspects, in the others mummy movies the villain aside
greed and being all powerful had other motives like reuniting
with his love, which make him appealing to the audience and
added more to the overall story. Here it is not the case, the
bad guy is just bad and greedy, that is it, no rivalry
between heroes and villain is achieved in this movie. The
story is so straight forward that it becomes predictable to
the point that you lose interest in it. The special effects
although beautifully and masterly depicted, went over the
edge in this movie creating an awkward feeling since
everything looks so good but it is so meaningless. Acting
wise aside Mr. Hanna, which performance is smart, fresh and
funny, all of the rest of the cast performed below their
level. Brendan Fraser looked like he did not The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor to be
there; he lacked the humor, charmed and appealing personality
that had characterize him, nonetheless his performance is
acceptable. Luke Ford looked the same all the time, he did
not showed any emotions in his character. Maria Bello was
trying too hard, The performance was not bad but it seems
that Weisz performance overshadowed her. The chemistry
between her and Fraser was just not there. Jet Li, well, he
did not have enough time to act, when he was the Mummy, it
seems that he just lend the CGI designers borrow his image,
and as the dragon Emperor he did not have enough screen play
to act or perform his skillful acrobatics, and since he was
the bad guy eventually could not be that impressive, because
at the end Fraser had to beat him. The rest of the supporting
cast did an acceptable job.
In a summer filled with exceptional blockbusters, I was
hoping for the mummy to make his way up as one of my season‘s
favorite, probably was the level movies like Iron man,
Indiana Jones, and Batman set in this summer that made this
Mummy looked mediocre and weak. The movie lacks an engaging
story, the script relies too much in overused and unnecessary
comical remarks and pointless visual tricks, which makes it
uncomfortable to the audience. Let us hope for Universal not
to try to squeeze these franchise any longer with mediocre
versions, I see in a future The Mummy : Imhotep vs. Dragon
Emperor, but if they decide to bring them back again I hope
that they put more thought in storyline and character
development. Otherwise, just let the Mummy rest in peace with
dignity for another 2000 years.
Movie
Review By Milo
milo@smartcine.com
DVD: The 2 Disc
Deluxe Edition includes more than 90 minutes of special features and it will be available
for limited time only with a digital copy. Most of the special features in this
edition, takes viewers beyond the making of the film.
With "The Making Of The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon
Emperor" and "From City To Desert" featurettes being the
best of the pack. It also
contains a nice piece called "Legacy Of The Terra Cotta", in
which Rob Cohen discusses what is historically accurate
in the film. It also include a total of 10 deleted and
extended scenes. And of course it comes with a digital
copy. You can read the full list of special features
below. Overall this 2 Disc Deluxe Edition includes
mainly what fans want it to see, plenty of good behind
the scenes materials to be enjoy.
VIDEO:
2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English,
Spanish and French
5.1 (Dolby Digital).
Subtitles - English Spanish
French - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
DELETED SCENES
AND EXTENDED SCENES: A total of 10 deleted and
extended scenes (10:46)
PREPARING FOR BATTLE
WITH BRENDAN FRASER AND JET LI:
Watch as
Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Maria Bello and Luke
Ford prepare for and shoot their respective fight scenes in
the film, including the epic clashes at the Emperor’s tomb,
the museum, Shangri-La and the climactic battle sequence.
(10:41)
THE MAKING OF THE
MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR:
Director Rob Cohen and producers Bob Ducsay, Sean Daniel and
James Jacks lead us through the making of The Mummy: Tomb of
the Dragon Emperor, from scouting in China through the
film’s completion. (22:46)
JET LI: CRAFTING THE
EMPEROR MUMMY:
The legendary special effects artists at Rhythm & Hues
Studios and Digital Domain discuss making Jet Li a digital
warrior. (8:00)
FROM CITY TO DESERT:
Follow director Rob Cohen and producers Bob Ducsay, Sean
Daniel and James Jacks as they lead the cast and crew
through the film’s amazing locations in both Montreal and
China. (15:44)
LEGACY OF THE TERRA
COTTA:
Rob Cohen discusses what is historically accurate in The
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. (13:35)
CREATING NEW AND
SUPERNATURAL WORLDS: From Montreal to Shanghai, we
speak with the team of art directors and set decorators
responsible for creating the lavish sets. (8:35)
A CALL TO ACTION: THE
CASTING PROCESS: An inside look at the preparation
for the film, including table reads with the cast and
production meetings with director Rob Cohen and producers
Bob Ducsay, Sean Daniel and James Jacks. (4:45)
FEATURE COMMENTARY
WITH DIRECTOR ROB COHEN
DIGITAL COPY OF THE
MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR
RATING BREAK DOWN:
| FILM REVIEW |
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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