Hey folks, Harry here - Well - it looks like the new Sommer-less MUMMY movie is indeed fun, still goofy, but fun. And I'm so excited about the Yeti. I'm a big fan of Yeti... and 3 headed Dragons. This just sounds like goofy fun!
Saw the new Mummy tonight… The big twist this time around as we’ve all been seeing in trailers, is that the story is about the supernatural mysteries of China rather than Egypt. One of the pleasures of the first Mummy was its travelogue quality, and its setting in a time where discoveries — and the consequences of discoveries — could be made. That whole feeling is very present here, and its simplicity energizes a story that is in many ways unremarkable... It was probably a safe bet on the part of the producers to base the structure of this film on the first one. We start with a prologue in ancient China where a ruthless warlord (Jet Li) has conquered most of China, ruling it with murder and fear. But he wants more and decides what he really wants is immortality (I think... this whole part is subtitled). He hears of a wizard who knows the secret of immortal life and sends for him, only to find that he is dead and his work has been taken up by his daughter (Michelle Yeoh). Jet takes one look at Michelle and realizes he wants immortality with a side of Yeoh, but she rebuffs him. She then falls in love with one of Jet’s lieutenants, and when Jet find out, he has the rival killed. Michelle takes revenge by pretending to give Jet a spell of immortality, but instead curses him to an eternity as a stone figure. The Emperor and his entire army – seemingly thousands of them – crack and bleed and are finally baked into the familiar figures of the famous Terra Cotta soldiers of China Great, great effects sequence. We skip ahead some 2,000 years later, when Alec O’Connell (who we last saw as a young boy in Mummy Returns), following in the footsteps of his antiquity-hunting parents, discovers the tomb of the emperor and his army and arranges for the find to be transported to Shanghai. We then catch up with Rick and Evelyn, who have retired from the adventurous life and are living in utter boredom on a huge estate in England. Their tea time is interrupted by an agent from the Home Office who asks them to travel to China to return a precious antiquity to its rightful resting place. They decline, but when they are told that Alex has discovered the tomb, they know that know good will come of it. Using the transport of the antiquity as an excuse, off they go to Shanghai. And off we go in the familiar tone of this series. They meet up with Alex and Evelyn’s brother Jonathan, everyone’s double-crossed, the Emperor is returned to life and the chase is on.... A chase through the streets of 1940’s Shanghai, across the Himalyas and into the remote deserts of China. Though resurrected, the Emperor needs to get to Shangri-La, where he ticks another step on the way to eternal life and acquires new powers: he can transform himself to a three-headed Ghidorah-like dragon and into one of those dragon dogs you see in museums. Michelle Yeoh turns up again and oh, and did I mention the tribe of Yeti’s that help our heroes escape an avalanche? Some of the logic is tough to understand (not helped by the occasional subtitles interpreting Chinese and Yeti), but the action is all staged on a huge scale and the visual effects are pretty spectacular (none of the wobbly stuff that marked the worst aspects of Mummy Returns). Some of it is very, very funny... and you realize how nice it is to see these characters again. Fraser and Hannah are great as they always are, and Maria Bello tries her best to make you forget that she’s not Rachel Weisz. Sometimes she succeeds, especially, when her hair is back. Jet Li is a great presence, and they’ve saved some terrific bits for him in the finale. There’s a point where you’re thinking, why did they need Jet Li for this role? The answers are in the final sequence. Very cool. Enough details. This is a fun, action-packed and visually spectacular with great momentum and great locations. I would not go so far as to say that it is the best of the three, but it is way better than Mummy Returns and a worthy follow-up to the first one WHICH I WATCH WHAT SEEMS LIKE EVERY DAMN SUNDAY ON STARZ OR USA whether I like it or not. That’s the best thing about Mummy films. You just like them, and I liked this one very much. K.B.D.
