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Released by: Universal Studios
Released on: 12/16/2008
Director: Rob Cohen
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li, Anthony Wong, Michelle Yeoh, John Hannah, Luke Ford
Year: 2008
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The Movie
Say what you will about The Mummy, but as far as mindless Hollywood blockbusters are concerned, it was a fun ride. The second film wasn't quite as good, but it too had its fare share of action, adventure, and effects and it too was at least entertaining enough to work. You'd think then, that the third film in the series, which combines Brendan Fraser's adventurous Rick O'Connell with none other than Jet Li as the titular Dragon Emperor, that if nothing else you could wind up with a fun popcorn film. Sadly, that was not the case and this latest film in the series has about as much soul as a frozen dog turd.
When the picture begins, O'Connell and his wife Evelyn (played by Maria Bello) are bored. She's looking for inspiration for her latest book and he's tired of fly-fishing. Whet he pair find out that their son, Alex (Luke Ford), has uncovered the tomb of the mythical Dragon Emperor somewhere in the deserts of Asia, they jump at the chance to go help him out and arrive just in time to see the results of a very real two thousand year old curse spring into action. Of course, screwy friend Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah) is along for the ride as he was in the first two films, but this time around there are a few more players to look out for in the form of the mysterious Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh) and General Yang (played by none other than the Bun Man himself, Anthony Wong)… and a host of undead soldiers recently risen from the grave to do the bidding of their resurrected master, the very pissed off Emperor Han (Jet Li), who is none too happy about his tomb being disturbed.
Fast paced and full of computer generated effects set pieces, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor is far less exciting than you could possibly imagine. The natural chemistry between Fraser and Rachel Weisz that helped the first two pictures isn't here, and Maria Bello, as easy on the eyes as she may be, doesn't do well as Weisz's replacement. The chemistry that Weisz and Fraser shared here feels forced, dull, and prepackaged. Neither Like Ford nor John Hannah are able to make up for that, and sadly the inclusion of three iconic Hong Kong performers - Jet Li, Anthony Wong and Michelle Yeoh, doesn't add enough of merit to save the picture and their performances, while decent, don't add up to much.
While the film has a decent enough premise, not enough is done to build off of that and the end result is yet another formulaic film intended for mass appeal with little to make it stand out.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The anamorphic 2.35.1 1080p VC-1 encoded widescreen transfer for The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor is very nice. The picture quality is solid. Color reproduction is nice while black levels stay strong. Skin tones look dead on and both foreground and background detail is quite good throughout the film. There aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts and any print damage that shows up however infrequently is minor. All in all, this is a very nice looking effort from Universal.
The primary audio track on this release is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in English. Optional French and Spanish tracks are provided in DTS 5.1 Surround Sound and subtitles are included in English (SDH), French and Spanish. The surround mix on this Blu-ray disc is quite strong with plenty of rear channel activity to heighten the tension when called for and nice, clear dialogue. There aren't any problems at all with hiss or distortion and aside from a couple of spots where the sound effects are (likely intentionally) high up in the mix, everything shapes up very well indeed.
Universal has provided in some cool high-definition extra features on this release that make it more interesting than the movie itself, starting with The Making Of The Mummy: The Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor which is, as you could probably ascertain from the title, a making of documentary that goes behind the scenes of the production and includes some decent on set footage and interviews with the cast and crew members. From City To Desert explores the different locations and sets used for the movie while Legacy Of The Terra Cotta provides some welcome background information on the olklore behind the Terra Cotta warriors seen in the movie. Preparing For Battle is a decent look at the action and stunt work conjured up for the film involving Jet Li and Brendan Fraser while Jet Li: Crafting The Dragon Emperor shows us what Li had to go through to bring his character to life in the movie by way of his performance and some digital effects work. Creating New And Supernatural Worlds is a look at how yet more digital effects were used to, well, create the new and supernatural worlds seen in the movie. None of this material is super in-depth or particularly revelatory but it's if you are interested in how this particular motion picture was made they do a good job of detailing and documenting that. A few deleted and extended scenes are also included.
Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is Universal's U-Control feature that allows you to basically watch the movie with or without a bunch of picture in picture style extra content. With this option enabled, a giant 'U' will glow in the corner of your screen and prompt you to hit a button on your remote to invite the content onto your screen. This actually integrates itself very nicely into the viewing experience and if you've seen the film before, it makes for a fun way to rediscover it. The four different options available are: The Dragon Emperor's Challenge - essentially an interactive trivia game; Know Your Mummy - an interactive guide to the continuity that runs between the three films in the series; Scene Explorer - a four screen multi-angle option that lets you check out key scenes a few different ways; Visual Commentary - Rob Cohen delivers a fairly in-depth commentary for the film, and through this option you can watch him talk through some picture-in-picture action.
For those with a web-enabled Blu-ray player, this disc is Blu-ray Live enabled and it allows you to go online and access some exclusive content. Also found on this disc are some spiffy animated menus and chapter selection. A digital copy of the film is included on the second disc should you want to watch the movie on your computer, iPod or other portable device.
The Final Word:
The mediocre third entry in the franchise is a serious misfire considering the interesting cast and decent premise. The film is an empty, soulless exercise in digital effects and brainless action, though to Universal's credit they've done a very nice job with the Blu-ray release as the film looks great, sounds great and contains a wealth of supplemental material.