  
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon EmperorMPAA Rating:
 for adventure action and violence.Reviewed by: David Criswell, Ph.D. Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:
Teens
Genre:
Action, Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Thriller, Sequel
Length:
1 hr. 52 min.
Year of Release:
2008
USA Release:
August 1, 2008 (wide—3,600 theaters)
DVD release: December 16, 2008  
Relevant Issues
Reincarnation: what’s the Bible say? Answer
BIBLICAL BURIAL SITES—Have the burial sites of any people in the Bible been found? - Answer Eternal life—What does the Bible say about it? Answer  Dragons and dinosaurs—discover how they are connected Films in this series
“The Mummy” (1999) “The Mummy Returns” (2001)
“A New Evil Awakens.” “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” takes place around 20 years after the last film. It a two hour special effect extravaganza filled with mummy battles, Yeti, and lots of violence, but little in the way of character development. In fact, we are teased into believing that a romance is going to develop between Alex O'Connell female heroine Lin, but the film then ends with this story line apparently dropped or forgotten. The film does return most of the original cast, except for Rachel Weisz who was absent due to pregnancy. She is replaced by Maria Bello, an American actress. The film does have a little of the humor of the first film, but only a little. Like “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull,” it introduces a son into the picture as the next generation of archaeologist/adventurers, but his character is never fully developed, so much of the chemistry from the first two films is gone. Morally, “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” once again pushed the PG-13 rating, in terms of violence, but one reason it can retain the rating is because of the “fantasy” nature of the violence. For example, the Dragon Emperor appears to start bleeding, but upon closer inspection it is mud rather than blood. He is transformed into a clay statue. This takes place with many soldiers, and it is rather gruesome, as is the scene where one character explodes. Once again, it is molten lava rather than blood that we see, so this somehow makes it more “acceptable” for a PG-13 rating. Of course, there is plenty of realistic violence as well from Rick O'Connell accidentally sticking a flycasting in his neck to a scene where a man is about to be torn limb from limb (the camera cuts away). Add to this the decapitation and death of hundreds of animated mummies and it is clear that this is not for young children. Sexually, there is a brief sex scene early in the film, but no nudity. We also see Rick O'Connell apply cold ice to his crotch after a fight. Language wise, there are a few bad words, and in one instant one of the characters shouts, “there is no call for bad language,” but this does not stop him. I did not hear any f- or s-words, however. In one case, the mummy is told to burn in hell, which we presume he literally will do, for the Bible does not support the occultic legends espoused in this film. The occult is obviously present, as in the other films. It is played out in adventure form and not taken seriously, but children need to understand that “it is appointed for men to die once and then comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). There are no immortal mummies or undead creatures awaiting magic powers to resurrect them. Only Christ can resurrect the dead and the wicked will rise only to destruction and judgment (John 5:29). Plotwise, the story seems intriguing. The Dragon Emperor and his Terracotta army are raised to conquer the world. If the Dragon Emperor reaches Shangri La he will become immortal. If the army passed the Great Wall of China, they too will become immortal. Our heroes must stop them. That is basically it. The story never really develops beyond this. This movie obviously made some changes from the first two films. For one thing Rob Cohen replaces Steven Sommers. A quick look at Cohen's resume, however, shows only one memorable film (“Dragonheart”) and this film is nothing like that one. Perhaps that is the fault of the script. It has a promising idea but nothing seems to go anywhere. In one scene Alex O'Connell comments on his father's plan saying, “that seems a little short on details!” Unfortunately, so was the script. Fans of special effects laden action films will probably enjoy this one, but if you are expecting something like the first mummy movie, then you best wait for home video. Violence: Heavy / Profanity: Mild / Sex/Nudity: Minor See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.   Negative
Positive
Neutral
Neutral - Having just seen the movie, with my wife and son, thought I would add my comments to the aforementioned ones. Comments from young people
Positive - This was a great movie for it's genre. There are a handful of bad words and one scene with blood, and that's about it. However, there is an occult theme, which to me was the most offensive. Violence is definitely present, but there is NO gore. The plot was unfortunately very predictable, and the special effects were less than perfect. Overall, though, this was a very good movie for the action/adventure movies nowadays. I was expecting to walk out of the theatre feeling a little “dirty” but instead I felt excited! I would definitely recommend this movie to any Christian into action/adventure. Positive - This is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I took my girlfriend to go see this incase she loved the first 2. (note I hadn't seen the other 2.) Positive - The movies acting, costumes, stunts, and plots were fantastic. The cons were that there was lots of swearing, a kissing scenes by a husband and wife and a brief “embracing” scene in the beginning of the film, a bar scene, some sexual dancing (belly dancers), and incantations by this “witch.” The plots and acting were phenomenal. The costumes and special effects were amazing. Don't get me wrong, despite the flaws in the film, you should still see it, but get it edited. Little children might get frightened when the witch puts a spell on the emperor and his eye starts to secrete mud and his entire body bursts into flames along with his army. There are other scary scenes that little children should not watch. Overall, this movie gets two thumbs up. (But get it edited on DVD). Negative - …it's nothing like the first two. They got a new director, writers and some new actors. The actor they replaced for “Evie” was a terrible decision, and she didn't even sound British! And, also, the new character Lin is a terrible actress and the writers could have left her out of the movie. Movie Critics
…Given the must, dust and rust emanating from this third installment, it's clear the time has come for this ‘Mummy’ franchise to be truly mummified once and for all. …film comes off as both old hat and low-grade… …‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ taps into a fond pop-culture memory. For those of us of a certain age, it feels like kin to the stuff of Saturday-afternoon TV, where Sinbad could be seen battling Ray Harryhausen's audacious creatures. Is the ‘Mummy’ good? Well, were any of those afternoon delights? …For kids who have seen only a few action-adventure movies, ‘Dragon Emperor’ should be entertaining. It's loud, and has sort-of-scary monsters and some great computer-generated special effects. But once you've seen ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ it's too late.… …Third ‘Mummy’ loses sense of fun… Focus is on wrong actor in convoluted shadow of first film… …why did I like this movie? It was just plain dumb fun, is why. It is absurd and preposterous, and proud of it. The heroes maintain their ability to think of banal cliches even in the most strenuous situations.… …Aimless ‘Mummy 3’ never comes to life… an also-ran in the summer sweepstakes.… |
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