The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Review
Thank for for checking out our The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Review!
The General Idea
Plot Synopsis Via IMDB: In the Far East, trouble-seeking father-and-son duo Rick and Alex O’Connell unearth the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin — a shape-shifting entity who was cursed by a wizard centuries ago.
The Good
The costuming in the film was outstanding. From the armor worn by the army of the Dragon Emporer to the tailored period garb of the late 1930’s - everything looked sharp. I appreciate the detail that goes into costuming and feel that it not only sets a better mood for the film; it usually assists those involved with “getting into character”.
I have disliked the special effects in the previous Mummy films, but this film marked a noted improvement. The detailed “cracking” that took place on the terracotta army was outstanding. Whenever they would move, a crack would appear revealing a molten core (for but a second); and then heal over again. I was also impressed by the 3-Headed dragon in the film. I am a sucker for dragons, and this one looked fantastic.
The Bad
The dialogue in the film was very bad. It took me out of the story on multiple occasions. I know action films aren’t necessarily held to the same standard as dramas when it comes to dialogue, but it was so soaked with cheese that my eye-sockets were blistered from the amount of times that I rolled my eyes. Even the one-liners excelled at how unbelievably lame they were. It made me appreciate the work of Schwarzenegger with a new found respect - and that is the truth.
The story plods along in an unbelievable fashion. Interactions between the characters made less sense than undead legions rising from the grave. I understand that with a film like this you need to suspend disbelief. But within the world the players still need to adhere to a set of boundaries so the illusion of danger and tension are created in the audience member. This film disregarded all logic and sense within it’s own universe and became cartoonish in its execution.
At 120 minutes, not only was this film bad, but it was bad for longer than it needed to be. I will not say that this film would have benefitted from a cut, it just would’ve made everyone a bit happier.
Overall
This is a lackluster action adventure film that has an awkward story, delivered in a peculiar manner. I wouldn’t recommend this film and out of 10 - I give it a 3.
49 Comments, Comment or Ping
Kristina
I’ve heard numerous reports of a glorious scene featuring a fucking Yeti signaling an American football field goal at one point.
A Yeti in the Himalayas in the 40s knows about field goals. Fantastic.
Aug 1st, 2008
John S
John,
I came up with this question reading through the Bad section on this review.
Do you think that if you were to direct a movie or be involved in one at any level, you could make it a pretty good one? Considering your knowledge of whats good and whats bad.
Be prepared if I ask you this on uncut as well.
Aug 2nd, 2008
Braulio
I just came from the theather and saw this awful movie,i want my money back! this movie just bad like Rosie O Donnell nude, the action scences where bad! the better one was the last one but still very bad. The Cast for the chinese girls it just was a finger in my ass they don´t know how to act, i was bored as hell the only thing i wanted its to see at the screen THE END, the dialogue in the film its shit, i don´t recommend waisting your money in this film. I really like the first two movies, Now my fucking question is ¿ When , just tell me when good, i will see a third part of a film good or even that works? please movie blog friends dont waste in this fucking movie, see the Dark Knight again or even wall e, but don´t see it! i give a 2 out of 10 in this movie!
Aug 2nd, 2008
HDpunk
how bad can it be?
they plan on making 3 more
Aug 2nd, 2008
Paul NB
To John S.
Hey John S., I asked the same question once and the (clever) answer I got was that “You don’t have to be a Chef to tell a bad dish from a good one. I personnally can’t bake an egg but when it’s done badly: EVEN I CAN TELL”.
Props to the comment section.
Aug 2nd, 2008
derakde
Dragon Emperor doesn’t exactly beg for a sequel (neither did The Mummy Returns, for that matter), but it’d be fun to watch the filmmakers try to outdo this dizzy spectacle in the arena of sheer ridiculousness.I m watching The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor review Here http://www.80millionmoviesfree.com
Aug 2nd, 2008
Claymation
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
Just saw bits and pieces, but it is available to watch in full online:
http://www.heartlandoutdoorsman.com/smf/index.php?topic=21517.msg65520;topicseen#msg65520
From what I saw, it looks pretty good!
Aug 2nd, 2008
Thos
Yeah, it was bad… but it was better than Indy…
Aug 2nd, 2008
spiderfreak182
i completely agree with you, that movie sucked mummy bawls. and at times the theme song sounds like “the quilted quicker picker upper…”
Aug 2nd, 2008
Mike Mai
i watched uncut last night and remember john saying why it’s called the dragon emperor when the emperor’s never called that in the film. i think the answer is obvious (at least to an asian), because it’s about chinese so they stick the word dragon in there somewhere. this is how ignorant and stupid americans can be sometimes.
Aug 2nd, 2008
Slushie Man
I loved it. Cheesy popcorn summer fun. Not as good as the first, but far better then the second.
Aug 2nd, 2008
Steve
I don’t normally waste my time writing reviews, but this movie was sooo bad I feel I have to warn everyone I can. My wife and I are big “Mummy” fans and both could not stand one second of this awful movie. From beginning to end and all facets it was horrible. I am embarrassed to even admit to have seeing this and will be talking to a lawyer about getting my money back.
Aug 2nd, 2008
Slushie Man
Someone’s a drama queen.
Seriously, if anyone thinks it’s worse then the second movie, they must be delusional.
Aug 2nd, 2008
Tone blare
Anyone who paid to see the dark knight and will pay to see this load of crap is insane. brendan frasier has 2 horrible movies playing at the same time. he must be proud.
Aug 2nd, 2008
PADTHAI
Mummy 3 has a ton of action, cgi, and shit blowing up. if you enjoy that sort of thing, you’ll like this movie.
Aug 2nd, 2008
2greedy
awesome movie watched it 3 times so far!
Aug 2nd, 2008
giren
I don’t know guys, I want to watch it but then I see it has scored below 30 on Metacritic?!! Worse than 10000 BC? I guess it’s unfair to judge a movie before you see it. But, maybe I will rent it on DVD….
Aug 2nd, 2008
Kristina
When was the last time that Brendan Fraser was in a genuinely good movie? He must have the Drew Rosenhaus of Hollywood as his agent to keep getting work.
Aug 2nd, 2008
spiderfreak182
Slushie man
i say mummy 3 is a little worse than mummy 2. despite what doug said, i think half the special effects in this movie looked like shit and made it seem like theres been no improvement on special effects between now and mummy 2. (reffering partly to when jet li dips his head in the water and u see 3 cgi heads of him that look as bad as the rock when he was half scorpion)
Aug 2nd, 2008
Romero
I hope you call it so bad, not only their dialogs were not so cool, and they copied some scenes from the Indiana Jones? Or in couple scenes they had Eddies to solve their problems? lol
The movie wasn’t that bad, maybe the final battle could be cooler and longer.
Aug 2nd, 2008
Seth Rex
Saw it, Loved it, couldn’t care if anyone else hated it. As long as long as I loved it, thats’ the only opinion that matters to me. And so should their own opinions matter to others. Listen to nobody about a movie, and make up your own dang mind!
Aug 2nd, 2008
Jason
@Seth Rex, wow an intelligent user on the movie blog? nice job!
Aug 2nd, 2008
DarthMuppet
Saw it yesterday… and I had a whole shitload of fun watching it. Yeah, it’s cheesy, absurd, predictable, and has a fair amount of flaws… but it’s also a really, really fun little end of summer popcorn flick. I think some people may be digging a little too deep when it comes to the “Mummy” franchise. C’mon, it’s a “Mummy” movie, we’re not exactly talking about high art here. As far as where it stands with the other two, I’d say it’s better than the second and just about on par with the first.
Aug 3rd, 2008
Slushie Man
I agree with Darth Muppet and Seth Rex all the way.
Aug 3rd, 2008
Phil Gee
TDK did stay at no.1 again. Somebody stop this madness:
http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN0240032720080803
And can we please put a nail in Rob Cohen’s career now. The man cannot direct good movies.
Aug 3rd, 2008
PADTHAI
Once again, it shows that reviews don’t even matter. People don’t seem to care all the much what critics say.
Aug 3rd, 2008
handle
Yeah I feel sorry for Brendan Fraiser. You can see his career going downhill fast. Think the last “good” movie he was in was Traffic. I personally didn’t care for it tho.
Aug 3rd, 2008
handle
well I say his career is going downhill fast. But I suppose his last 2 movies did pretty well at the box office. Journey to the Center of the Earth and this movie. But I wouldn’t consider them something to be proud of :/
Aug 3rd, 2008
PADTHAI
handle,
Brendan Frasier is on a roll. He has 2 movies in the top 5, when has that ever been done before? And, he has GI Joe coming up, which is basically another guaranteed blockbuster hit.
Aug 4th, 2008
parker
Frasier was in Crash, and that movie was pretty well acclaimed.
Aug 4th, 2008
Dragonslayer
@Padthai
Dude, just because a someone has done well in one film, doesn’t mean he/she will do well in the next. It’s like with Orlando Bloom. Even though he was in The Lord of the Rings, he sucked in Troy. Everyone gets so worked up over a movie because it either stars an actor that you like or it’s directed by a director you like a lot. I had the same thing happen with Jumper. It was starring Hayden Christiansen and Samuel L. Jackson and was directed by the man who directed The Bourne Identity. And the movie was rather disappointing. When they announced that Jet Li was in this film, everyone went crazy. And he’s been in what, 3 bad films (along with that horrible Cradle 2 The Grave). And this film was bound to suck anyhow.
Just because Fraiser’s gonna be in GI Joe, again, doesn’t mean it will be a good movie.
Aug 4th, 2008
Dragonslayer
And no I’m not trying to be an asshole
Aug 4th, 2008
Arthur Davis
I have never seen any of the Mummy films before as I always thought they looked rather silly. Just saw this one and I really enjoyed it! Ok, so the dialogue was hokey, the storyline cliche and the historical stuff full of more historical inaccuracies than Ben-Hur (I’m an archaeologist, so I notice these things!), but it was still better than anything I expected from the Mummy franchise and I had a lot of fun watching it.
If this is indeed the worst of the Mummy films, I really look forward to catching parts 1 and 2!
Oh, and as an added bonus, Michelle Yeoh, her daughter in the film, and the second-in-command woman to General Yang were all hot. But then, I’ve always had a thing for Chinese women…
Aug 4th, 2008
Katie
I saw the movie on Saturday, I thought it was fine. However, I must say I would enjoy it better if Rachel Weisz was playing her part. She and Brenda have great chemisty in the past movies. Maria Bello tried hard to capture Rachel’s shadow, it just did not feel right and something is missing.
Aug 4th, 2008
Luke
Wasn’t that review a little rushed? No offense John, but you didn’t even mention the action or acting. I was curious how Maria Bello was compared to Rachel Weisz. And Jet Li was?
Aug 5th, 2008
HAZMAT
thanx to this review i sayd NAY to the mummy and YES to a third helping of TDK….
thank you
Aug 5th, 2008
media dude
Sounds like Tomb of the Dragon Emperor met everyone’s expectations… generally Brendan Frasier tries too hard to act, so you can tell he’s acting
Aug 5th, 2008
Luke
Just saw it and it’s not bad at all, starts out a little rought but ends up being a fun-filled ride.
Aug 5th, 2008
kiyo
i just saw the movie and i found it mehh. the dialogue was horrendous with tired cliches left and right and the absence of weisz was very noticeable. i did like the special effects but my biggest complaint is that this is supposed to be a movie with jet li as a mummy and yet we don’t really see him that much. the most time he spends on screen is when they show his story in the beginning. after that his screen time is greatly reduced and they don’t seem to give him much to do. i don’t know if it’s just me but, damn it, this is jet li as an ancient kick ass chinese emperor with magic powers turned mummy looking to conquer the world and i was left less than impressed. just very disappointing.
Aug 5th, 2008
Mike
I feared this after viewing the trailer. I hate Brendan Fraser!
Aug 6th, 2008
Max McCormick
My internet was cut off for a few days. So I was never able to see the reviews for the movie. Against my better judgment, I decided to go see it on sunday night.
I was a bit suprised. Where as I thought it was going to be a 1 or 2 out of 10. I somewhat enjoyed it. It was some dump action, and some interesting and exciteing scenes.
It did have many flaws though and the dialogue was some of the worst I have seen of late. But overall, if you can kind of chuck your brain before entering the theater to see this one, then I personally think you might like it for some dump fun.
Personally though, I think you might want to wait for the dvd. All said though, I would give it a 5.5 out of 10.
Aug 6th, 2008
Bert Boot
I think this film had enough weeknesses in it that critics just have to sharpen their claws on it - after all the job of being a critic is the easiest in the world: watch/read something, and then comment on all the usual bits that get commented on. I think it’s time to critique the critics on this one.
No the film is not outstanding, but it delivers what I would expect it to deliver: some escapism, some humour, some cheese, and some pretty good action scenes.
The only thing I found very disappointing was 1. Baby O’Connell is now american, 2. Rachel Weisz is not in it (although the voice at the very beginning where she is reading her book to the audience is so similar to Rachels take on the character that I’m half convinced it was a voice over.
The film is not that bad guys and gals: just accept it for what it is and worry about the important things in life - like the fact 10000BC is SO wrong.
Aug 8th, 2008
Luke
Your all just agreeing with the critics. common the movie wasn’t thats bad. It was exciting, fast paced, had bad dialouge, ok characters, some bad acting, and some great visuals.
Aug 8th, 2008
C Bird
Wasn’t too thrilled about this film, it was just too over the top. They changed far too many things also, what happened to Rachel Weisz? Maybe she took a look at the script and saw how bad it was going to be.
Aug 9th, 2008
C Bird
Also, unfortunately I can’t comment on the dialogue, but if it was as bad as the second film then I can only imagine what it was like. I work for a hotel in Prague so the version I saw was dubbed in Czech, and I assume the Czech version doesn’t do the original English justice!
Aug 10th, 2008
Joel Goldberg
the dialogue was shit!!! The movie was pretty good. the actor who played Alex was bad. Also there’s like almost no mummy
Aug 12th, 2008
Jen
I enjoyed this movie. I didn’t go in with high expectations, but it’s fun. It’s a summer action movie. That’s what I wanted to see that day and that’s what I got. If I wanted movie that required thought and reflection, I’d have gone to one. I too missed Rachel Weisz though.
Aug 13th, 2008
George
I agree - crappy movie. This comic pretty much sums up all the movie had to offer:
http://redneckzombie.com/2008/08/mummies-are-everywhere/
Aug 13th, 2008
Tommy
What’s the deal with you critics? You go to see a movie and think that makes you a critic? Go get a refund motherfuckers.
If you remember back to how what you thought after watching the first Mummy or even the Mummy Returns, I think you’ll realise this film wasn’t half bad.
You’ve all raised your expectations following releases of great movies like Transformers, Iron Man or the Dark Knight, and aren’t giving sequels of older movie franchises a fair go.
If it’s entertaining and fun to watch, IMO it’s a good movie… And I think people have forgotten that’s what going to the movies is all about.
Aug 22nd, 2008
Reply to “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Review”