At one point in “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” someone wisely notes, “Raising an army of mummies is insane!”
That’s the kind of self-referential dialogue that ought to stop a screenwriter cold. Instead, the third “Mummy” movie marches cheerfully forward, raising its thousands of terra cotta warriors from the dead and dragging in the Abominable Snowman for good measure.
The first two “Mummy” pictures, starring Brendan Fraser as a breezy adventurer stalked by the Egyptian undead, were released in 1999 and 2001. They weren’t very good, but they made a lot of money.
The action for “Dragon Emperor” has moved to post-WWII China, where Rick O’Connell (Fraser) and wife Evelyn (formerly played by Rachel Weisz, now played by Maria Bello) are on the hunt for an ancient emperor (Jet Li) who’s been frozen in suspended animation for a few centuries.
In the film’s most acceptable action sequence, madly staged by “XXX” director Rob Cohen, the emperor is thawed out, and he races his chariot through downtown Shanghai. Can raising a mummy army be far behind?
Even though Brendan Fraser still looks and sounds like a 21-year-old doofus, he’s now old enough to have a grown son, played by Australian actor Luke Ford. The “Mummy” producers might be grooming Ford to take over the franchise, but he’ll need a boost in the charisma department first.
This film is reminiscent of the cheapie sequels Universal made to the original Boris Karloff “Mummy,” where ridiculous plot twists were welcomed by the dumbest wisecracks you could imagine. Here, most of those go in the mouth of Scots sidekick John Hannah.
The movie has some classy supporting actors in Michelle Yeoh and Anthony Wong (“Exiled”), and you can’t say the production skimps on the over-the-top special effects. It has grand sets and huge locations, and it all feels like nothing. Like the other Fraser films, this one is geared for younger audiences, yet it has some sequences that will scare the bejeebers out of kids.
It also has those Abominable Snowmen. And a vomiting yak, and a three-headed, fire-breathing lizard. Suddenly the army of mummies doesn’t sound so insane.
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