Summer Movies: The Mummy, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
by Guest Contributor Arturo R. García
Though relatively “inoffensive” in dealing with a new locale The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor doesn’t raise the historical bar any higher than its’ predecessors – in fact, it makes Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights look like History Channel specials.
The set-up takes place “long ago” in China, when an unnamed Emperor (Jet Li, who apparently doesn’t count sci-fi in his “no more historical pieces” promise) is killed and cursed after discovering an affair between his top general (the criminally underused Russell Wong) and sorceress Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh). The Emperor and his army are subsequently transformed into the world’s biggest collection of terra cotta statues, frozen in his palace until they’re dug up in “present-day” 1946 by Alex O’Connell (Luke Ford) and re-animated thanks to an EEEEvil west Chinese paramilitary general (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang). You know he’s evil because he can stage an operation to raise a guy who’s been dead for two millenia without the knowledge of any government.
And, he has a goatee.
After that, the Asian presence in the story becomes pretty much window dressing to two sets of plot involving Alex and his do-gooder parents Rick and Evelyn (Brendan Fraser/Maria Bello): they’re off to stop the Emperor, of course, but they’ve also got to adjust to Alex’s growing up and Rick and Evelyn growing older. Along the way, stuff gets blown up, the dead walk the earth – you know, the usual – and Alex falls in and falls for Zi Juan’s conveniently mysterious daughter, Lin (Isabella Leong).
The feeling of window dressing filters down, unfortunately, to the Asian cast, especially Li’s character. He seems to have been inspired by actual Emperor Qin Shi Huang and comic book character The Mandarin, but get this – he doesn’t get a name. He’s listed on IMDB.com as “Emperor Han,” but literally, no one says his name during the nearly two-hour film. Even worse, he has to sell an ass-kicking by Brendan Fraser. The Emperor’s costumed appropriately enough, and Li knows his way around a grimace and a barked threat, but at no point whatsoever does he feel like a threat, or even a full character, even when he uses what’s supposed to be some pretty high-level superpowers. Good thing Owen Wilson wasn’t in this one; otherwise the climactic fight scene might have started, “Hey, DUDE!”
The O’Connells new allies, Lin and Zi Juan, aren’t developed any better. Zi is left to play the O’Connells’ Mystic Guide and provide a bit of exposition and plot-saves, while Lin, despite being an “older woman,” falls for Alex seemingly out of nowhere. Yang, Li’s new ally and seemingly a “modern” military man, is an even bigger blank slate. How does a presumably career military man not only buy the myth of the Emperor, but convince an entire military division to go along with him?
Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who wrote both Shanghai films but are perhaps best known for redefining/ruining the Superman mythos on Smallville, know how to navigate the film’s central conceit. The Mummy series has always positioned itself as an homage to old-timey pulp serials. But, though it’s refreshingly not “cool,”the series continues to force not just suspension of disbelief, but outright termination before your brain implodes.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
DEAF FEMINIST PUNK!! wrote:
I rolled my eye at the “interracial” relationship between an Asian woman and a white guy. Typical, I thought to myself, when they started having feelings for each other. It was obviously a desperate attempt to poorly veil white man’s fantasy about Asian women.
the only good thing about the movie was Michelle Yeoh, which was why I went to see it in the first place.
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 11:31 am ¶
Arturo wrote:
Yeeeah, when she took the deal to find “true love” or whatever with Alex, I thought, “Are you kidding? You just met the guy?!”
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 11:37 am ¶
Keith wrote:
While I’m no friend of Millar/Gough’s “Shanghai” duology, and am sure “Mummy 3″ is just as terrible, you got to lay off the “Smallville” haterade, dude!
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 11:41 am ¶
Arturo wrote:
Keith,
NUH UH DEAN CAIN FOREVER OMFG!
I kid
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 11:47 am ¶
Juan wrote:
Nice review, and apparently the movie is everything I thought it would be. Right down to Asians being window dressing, a mystic guy and Asian woman falls in love with whiteboy.
Still passing on this garbage!
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 12:09 pm ¶
Fatemeh wrote:
lol!
Arturo, GREAT POST! I love a good dash of sarcasm in my critiques!
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 12:28 pm ¶
Antonio wrote:
In regards to the interracial romance, I was under the impression that Alex & Lin had been working together for awhile. When they meet right before the general is reanimated, it’s clear he’s known her for awhile.
*SPOILERS*
I noticed the ‘white savior’ thing is also going on. I think it’s complete BS that neither Zi nor Lin get to exact revenge on the general. Hell, they could’ve let Brendan Fraser do some cheesy team up with Lin and then Lin would deliver the final blow.
And WTF was up with the Yetis? Out of nowhere, Lin just summoned them like she’s in a Final Fantasy game or something. The CGI was pretty bad, and I’m pretty forgiving when it comes to that.
*END SPOILERS*
I only saw this movie because a friend wanted to go. It was much worse than I thought it could possibly be.
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 12:59 pm ¶
id123 wrote:
The one star I plopped on this clunky bore-athon is due to the presence of the great Jet Li as the evil Dragon Emperor of the subtitle and the gorgeous Michelle Yeoh as Zi Yuan, a witch who’s been on the Emperor¹s ass for over 2000 years.
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/22126971/review/22126827/the _mummy_tomb_of_the_dragon_emperor
martial-arts superstar Jet Li triumphs as the mostly wordless evil Emperor Han of ancient China, a glowing magma spirit locked in a terra cotta shell.
Jane Horwitz
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/31/AR2008 073100734.html
Still, Li makes a great villain, using his powers to create fire, ice and other elements.
Edward Douglas
Coming Soon
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/weekendwarriornews.php?id=47377
Toward the end of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh launch into a vigorous sword fight — and what a grand pleasure it is to watch these two world-class stars in action again…Their duel atop the Great Wall of China is a reunion of titans, an Old Timers’ Day for two actor-athletes still in their sinuous prime. Forgive the effusions of an alter-kocker fanboy, but the flinty glamour of Li and Yeoh — buttressed by the stolid, sneering presence of top Hong Kong villain Anthony Wong Chau-sang (who in 1993 appeared in 15 films!) — is the best reason to catch this third in the series of Indiana Jones knockoffs.
Richard Corliss
TIME
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1828343,00.html
A memorably badass Jet Li.
Nathan Rabin
AV Club
http://www.avclub.com/content/cinema/the_mummy_tomb_of_the_dragon
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 1:11 pm ¶
Arturo wrote:
id123,
Eh, some people saw other things. I stand by my take.
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 1:30 pm ¶
Cara wrote:
But seriously….why did they have to do that to Russell Wong!!! I’m not over that. I don’t remember him saying a word…..Never, I say, Never again!!! This movie was laim.
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 2:53 pm ¶
Antonio wrote:
I just noticed that the symbol on the poster looks similar to the one used in the Mortal Kombat series.
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 3:03 pm ¶
Kendra wrote:
@ Antonio
Thank you for pointing out the fact that neither Zi nor Lin were involved in the killing of the emperor. That had been my expectation for a long time during my watching of the movie. I mean, it was so messed up that the “adventure family” had to get in on EVERYTHING. ‘White savior’ indeed.
I really didn’t think Alex and Lin would get together. I thought Lin didn’t like Alex; I thought that their argument revealed the futility of them having a relationship. I guess I was wrong.
Also, Russell Wong’s “character” did speak, though briefly as a re-animated corpse. I don’t remember him uttering a word before then.
I left the theater with a poor taste in my mouth. The film was quite disappointing compared to the previous two, though Evie is still quite an idiot for what she did in the first movie. (Of course, it may not have been a decent movie if not for her error. Better that she nearly annihilated the world than have a native unreasonably do the same thing and expect the ‘white saviors’ to overstep their boundaries in order to fix the problem.)
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 3:54 pm ¶
Kendra wrote:
Oh, about the caps on “everything,” that was purely for emphasis. I’m not trying to yell. I won’t do that again, promise.
I’m usually just a lurker, so I’ve not become completely acclimated to the posting atmosphere here. But I’ll try not to make that mistake again.
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 3:56 pm ¶
Arturo wrote:
Antonio,
Heh, you’re the second person today to point that out to me. I used a different posterat my site. Um, wink wink nudge nudge plug plug and all that.
Oh, and belated thanks to Juan and Fatemeh for the kind words
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 3:58 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
@Arturo/Antonio -
Oh, my bad. I was bitter because they jacked up Jet Li’s face on one poster, then placed Brenden Fraiser and movie fam on the second one.
Latoya @ 6 AM: Fine, if they won’t give me what I want, I’m using the no people poster!
I also have fond memories of heckling the Mortal Kombat movies at the dollar theater, so maybe that was an influence…
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 4:09 pm ¶
Arturo wrote:
No worries, Latoya. I just went with the cast poster because, hell, at least Jet Li was visible in that one.
And oh, man, Mortal Kombat. My buddies and I went to a midnight showing of that. Willingly.
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 4:39 pm ¶
JC wrote:
Oh boy, this one has it all doesn’t it? “White Savior” film de jour . I literally cringe at hearing the basic plot of the film… another Evil Asian beaten by White Hero who save the Hapless Asians story. I guess since China is the new bad guy now days. I expect this to suck, and after reading this post, I know it’s gonna suck. But hey White Male Hero FTW!… since in Hollywood he never looses.
I really wish this film would bomb in Asia. HARD. I swear one day I will start posting in Chinese BBS and Japanese forums about the intricacies of Hollywood racism so that they would “get it” and stop patronizing these white male movies in the future.
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 4:43 pm ¶
Arturo wrote:
JC,
I could understand why the O’Connells save the day — it’s Fraser’s vehicle, he’s the star, and the characters aren’t unlikable, just poorly written. But the fact that we were deprived even a moment of recognition or reunion between Lin, Zi Juan and Wong’s character is atrocious.
And as far as the Yetis, I admit with some guilt that the “Field Goal” joke made me laugh. Sure, they were horrible CGI-rendered plot contrivances, but dammit, they were cute!
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 5:04 pm ¶
JC wrote:
Arturo, I won’t be bitching if for every 100 white hero movie we get at least one Asian hero movie where he save the day and gets the girl. Yet out of the almost 100 years of Hollywood movie history, I really can’t name even one.
I don’t mind watching white hero movies – I love Raiders (I was young and naive
) – but why does almost every frigging action hero movie out there has a white guy as the lead (oh and Will Smith)? I will pay good money to see a good action movie starring anyone but another generic white dude saving the day. There was a time when there are more black action movie stars, but where are they now? Well, I guess can keep telling myself Keanu Reeves and Vin Diesel is half-Asian and that’s good enough.
And Brandon frigging Frasier? *facepalm*
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 5:27 pm ¶
CVT wrote:
I asked this before, and I’ll ask it again – was the fire-breathing dragon I saw in the previews supposed to be a “Chinese” dragon? Oddly enough – that’s the image from the previews that pissed me off enough not to go see this movie (and I actually love terrible movies). I mean, Chinese dragons are such a popular little cultural appropriation these days, and they STILL screwed it up . . .
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 7:26 pm ¶
Persia wrote:
Brendan Frasier is actually a pretty decent actor. He only has three good movies, though. Alas.
Keith, I like Gough and Millar, but I had to admit their issues with Asians bug the crap out of me– see Kristen Kreuk’s ‘real dad’ plotline on Smallville.
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 8:00 pm ¶
lxy wrote:
These Hollywood films are so pathetically formulaic you got to wonder if there is one screenwriter/hack somewhere churning out every one of these scripts, as they all regurgitate the same tired memes.
The Mummy is no different:
-Great White Hype defeats evil Asians/colored folks (who hate our freedoms or something)– and of course saves the world in the process. CHECK.
-Great White Hype gets the (Asian) girl. CHECK.
-Ridiculous Disneyland-style depiction of an exoticized foreign culture. CHECK.
-Copious use of CGI effects as a substitute for semi-coherent character development, plot, or dialogue. CHECK.
And what are talented perfomers like Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh doing in a cringe-worthy flick like this?
Are they that hard up for money?
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 8:01 pm ¶
Lisa wrote:
I didn’t hate it as much as expected, maybe because I get so sick of how the Qin Emperor is lionized in China nowadays. Of course they had to tweak the history A LOT to be allowed to shot in China, but it’s less historically inaccurate than all of Zhang Yimou’s and Chen Kaige’s gratuitous plotless mystical martial arts flicks.
Honestly, it’s vastly less offensively condescending and inaccurate than 99% of the Olympics coverage the past month.
I’m still trying to figure out where this “Bei Sheen” place they’re talking about is…
Posted 28 Aug 2008 at 11:56 pm ¶
Jake wrote:
Also, there were no mummies in the movie.
Posted 29 Aug 2008 at 1:00 am ¶
RJG wrote:
Part of me really wants to see the movie just because the idea of some dude fighting an undead army amuses the immature comic kid lurking inside of me.
I know I say this with a giant heaping does of minimization behind it, but I figured The Mummy III would be a token cheesy faux-B-quality pseudo-horror-but-really-comedy movie (like the last two), and I wouldn’t have really expected any real character development or backgrounds.
THAT said, it wouldn’t/shouldn’t kill some producers to have some more diverse main character adventurer heroes.
Posted 29 Aug 2008 at 1:45 am ¶
Ike wrote:
This comment wins:
“Also, there were no mummies in the movie.”
Posted 29 Aug 2008 at 6:47 am ¶
Eva wrote:
I saw the commericals and knew this film would suck. I loved how the commercials said, “the #1 movie in the WORLD” because at that time “Dark Knight” was #1 in the US.
Posted 29 Aug 2008 at 9:03 am ¶
DiosaNegra1967 wrote:
whaaaat? no oded fehr? no arnold vosloo?
pfeh…..i ain’t spending one cent to see this snoozefest…..
and, brendan fraser can do much better…..i’m disappointed….
Posted 29 Aug 2008 at 9:30 am ¶
Phil Deeze wrote:
@ DiosaNegra,
No exposition from Oded Fehr?
This cannot be a “Mummy” movie, then. You can’t do a “Mummy” flick without the exposition of the fantabulous Oded Fehr. It’s like Ashford with no Simpson. Peanut butter and no jelly. Just a big old bowl of wrong.
Posted 29 Aug 2008 at 12:32 pm ¶
Sad Asian wrote:
I actually got up in the theaters and shouted “That’s Bullshit!” when Jet Li got killed by Danny Glover and Mel Gibson. This is a man who takes out suckers like them with his pinky. It was then, I realized that I will never, ever watch anything any of the Hong Kong stars that I love if they star in an American movie. I don’t know why they try so hard to get into the American market. They produce nothing but trash. And yet I love their acting and artistry when they make something like Curse of the Golden Flower. Why~~~~~~!!!!!!!
Posted 29 Aug 2008 at 12:42 pm ¶
Orientalista wrote:
But what do you expect from the franchise that began with the first Mummy in which Arabs were all mindless crowds (and dirty!). In most scenes they were just gun fodder or cowards.
Posted 30 Aug 2008 at 6:22 am ¶
Genevieve wrote:
…..
……..
. . . .FINISH HIM
Okay, that’s out of my system now. When my sisters and I saw the commercials, we were like, “CHINA WASN’T UNIFIED BY MAGIC, BRENDAN FRASER. YOU CAN FUCK WITH HISTORICAL ACCURACY WITH PRIEST IMHOTEP AND KING SCORPION, BUT DON’T FUCK WITH THE FORMATION OF DYNASTIES, BRENDAN FRASER.” Ah, it’s not his fault. He’s getting back into movies again, and he’s a funny guy! I forgive you Brendan Fraser.
Besides, the first two Mummy movies were entertaining, although they were… historically inaccurate to say the least. Fake campy action-adventure-comedy? Yes! I even gave the benefit of the doubt for the racism, dubbing it satirical pseudo-racism based on movies/comics/cartoons depicting the period since it was done well. This one just gave me the impression Jet Li was bored and needed something to do, and the writers were just trying to churn something out that they didn’t care about, honestly. Plus the “everything-China get-it-out-in-time-for-the-Olympics white-boy-hero” bandwagon a la Jet Li’s other “I-thought-you-resigned?” movie, The Forbidden Kingdom. Good times! *eyeroll*
I’m going to go watch the epitome of historical accuracy now: The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior!! Surely I will not be disappointed by that portrayal of historical figures! (SPOILER?: Hammurabi is in this, and then is overthrown by Randy Couture. The FUCK?)
Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 6:06 am ¶
JC wrote:
I hope the HK stars never demean themselves in a Hollywood racist production ever again. OK you’ve “taken” Hollywood. Really? You’ve all ended up as big name bad guys, that’s all. Please Jet Li, retain your dignity like Huang Fei Yong and do not allow the white boys to soil your reputation like this.
Nowdays when I hear an Asian star “going Hollywood” I just shutter. For the gals it means playing dragon lady characters while sleeping with no-name ugly white actors, for the guys it means playing bad guys in dumb summer action flicks or buddy movie with a C-level comedian because the suits think an Asian can’t carry a film. Brandon Fracking Frasier gets to kill Jet Li. I don’t think I can see another Hollywood again. Someone has to pay for all this BS.
Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 7:19 am ¶
Sarah wrote:
We seem to be forgetting that it took Brendan Fraser and his “son” (who looked way too old to be his son) to kill Jet Li. Total bullshit that they could kill him, but I’m trying to find some comfort that it took TWO white guys to take him down.
And didn’t one of them attack from the back? Totally cowardly that.
Posted 03 Sep 2008 at 5:31 am ¶
draco wrote:
I saw the film and it wasn’t bad. Not great but not the train wreck the reviews made it out to be.
In regards to some of the comments made about racism in the film, how was it different from the first mummy films where almost all the Egyptian characters looked caucasion and not negro? While the stories were good for the first two films, it was annoying that they couldn’t have cast someone who looked Egyptian-Bear in mind that Arnold Vosloo is a good actor and all but I think that they should have cast someone like Djimon Hansou, Chewetel Ejiofior, Samuel Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Adewale Akinouye Adjebeh or Don Cheadle in the role of Imhotep. Also Ank Su-Nahm should been played by someone like Shari Headley, Garcelle Beavais, Vivicia A Fox or Angela Basset.
It annoys me that Hollywood always misses the mark on how people in ancient Egypt actually looked. At least with the Mummy 3, the depiction of how people in China actually looked was accurate.
The only complaints I had about the movie was the guy who played Alex-He was dead boring and I hope they replace him should they ever do another mummy movie. Also, as it would have probably been better if Russell Wong had played Emperor Han instead of Jet Li because he’s a much better actor.
In all, not the greatest film I ever saw but it’s not as bad as people made it out to be. I theorize that the same who bashed this movie were the same people who hated Van Helsing-Again another movie not as bad as people made it out to be. I guess you can’t please everybody.
Posted 01 Nov 2008 at 3:50 pm ¶