The feisty couple, Rick and Evelyn O'Connell (played by Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello respectively), returns in this third installment of The Mummy. The film begins with a narration of the rise of Emperor Han, who built the Great Wall of China amidst strong conflicts between the Chinese people. Han, played by Jet Li, conquered every town and city, enslaved the citizen, and to build the Great Wall. Those who opposed him were buried beneath the walls. Han conquered not only the physical world, but also the five elements. Alas, there was one thing he could not conquer, and that was death. Upon hearing that a witch, Zi Yuan (Michelle Yeoh), knew the secret of immortality, he hurriedly commanded General Ming to fetch her. Han was smitten by the beauty of Zi Yuan, consequently declaring that no one is to touch her. Alas, Zi Yuan and the general fell in love while searching for the spell that could grant the emperor his wish. Not realizing that the emperor knew of their treachery, Zi Yuan supposedly casted the immortality spell unto Han. The emperor then took Zi Yuan to the balcony and became witness as her love was torn apart by horses. Dragging him from limb to limb. Zi Yuan then revealed that she casted Han a curse instead. One that turned him and his army into statues.
Present time, the late forties. All seemed hopeless for a group of Archaeologists, who are desperately in search of the remains of the Han Dynasty. Until a young man, named Alexander O' Connell (Luke Ford) came along. The defiant offspring of Rick and Evelyn.
The couple, now retired for quite some time, are missing their adventurous journeys. So they thought. They were given the pleasure of returning the Eye of Shangri-La to China. The family then reunites at Jonathan's club, the Imhotep, in a not so heart-warming fashion. Soon they discover that everything was planned out to resurrect Han. Leading them to embark in an extraordinary journey to save the world.. again.
The Mummy franchise started the trend of digital evolution on film. Not the first, but one of the pioneers. Growing up watching the first and second installments really had me all juiced up for the third one. A year or so passed, then I got to see the trailer. I said to myself, "wow, this would be good". But wait, where the hell was Rachel Weisz? The film wouldn't be complete without that sexy English accent. apparently, she declined to be starred in this installment. As optimistic as I am, I thought the actor didn't really matter. The story does. So i thought.
It was tragic. One scene after the other. The characters got old, and so did everything else. Rick's sarcasm, the one-liners. Jonathan's clumsiness and luck. Don't get me started with Eve's fake accent. What in hell were they thinking? I want to give a blow by blow review of each scene, but I can't. This film was so overrated. It's like something was brought back from the dead. Stinks!
Flashback into Ancient China was good. Nothing fancy with special effects. Great details on costumes, location and stunts. Michelle Yeoh's acting was impeccable as ever. Jet Li should have been given more lines. English lines for that matter. Nonetheless, he delivered he's acting quite nicely. For the record,the reason why I'm not giving this a 1 rating, it's because of the Asian actors. Thank God for Asian actors!
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