..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

The Mummy:
Tomb of the
Dragon Emperor
Directed by Rob Cohen

Not long ago a studio executive likened the summer movie season to a visit to an amusement park. He said that what the studios want patrons to do is go on absolutely every ride on the midway.

Disregarding the efficacy of this business plan (the real fun parks would go broke operating on this basis), there's a degree of redundancy to be expected whether one's destination is Seven Flags or the local multiplex. Regardless of the trimmings, there will be a number of options that are essentially rollercoasters as opposed to tilt-a-whirls or bumping cars.

If The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a rollercoaster, so too are the latest Indiana Jones, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. The experience is comparable, so what differentiates one from the other dumbs down to the number of dips, turns and the outward visual esthetics. The intent is to dazzle and if the stories are ho-hum, so be it.

The third installment of this archeological dig shifts from Egypt to China and in what amounts to an origins saga rolls out a preamble about a 3rd Century emperor (Jet Li) who sought immortality while building that country's Great Wall on the backs of tribes he enslaved. He's not a nice guy and one has to assume his penchant for treachery thwarts his quest. The sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) that can grant his wish winds up turning him to stone when he betrays her confidence.

It might all end there except for no particular reason there's a secret incantation that can revive him, his army and provide the tyrant with limitless power. The rest is alarmingly predictable. Someone will resurrect him and before he can achieve contemporary Armageddon his plan will be vaporized.

Getting from point A to point Z is the least interesting and at times the most witlessly puerile of endeavors. The time machine whisks to the 1940s following the end of the Second World War. The intrepid Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) of the earlier outings is now married to Evelyn (Maria Bello) who's a popular pulp novelist one suspects isn't quite up to the standards of Danielle Steele. They miraculously have a son of 20 plus years and have retired from their former lives of adventure.

The rather tired approach of the filmmakers is a vague stab at resurrecting the style and banter of a Thin Man movie with a large dollop of martial arts. The opportunity to deliver a precious jewel gets the O'Connells on a plane to Shanghai where Evelyn's brother conveniently operates a swank night club. And in too cute fashion their surprise visit coincides with the revelation their son (Luke Ford) isn't at university but the leader of a National Geographic-like expedition.

Budget aside, this franchise has always been a poor man's Indiana Jones. The film squanders the era, oblivious to the fact that the world has just emerged from global conflict or that China is in political turmoil with the Nationalists about to go head to head with Mao. There's a brief glimmer that the Communists might show up as the good guys but that proves to be no more that a dashed expectation.

What the film does have is the requisite set pieces. There's a chase through the crowded streets of Shanghai, countless martial arts fights and a stunning CGI finale between the armies of the dead. There's even a Himalayan/Shangri-La battle that employs a trio of muscular Yetis.

But through it all everything is just a bit too much. One is exhausted rather than exhilarated by the panoramic spectacle. It's as if one went to an amusement park with high hopes and ate too much cotton candy and corn dogs and was foolishly intoxicated into going on every single last thrill ride. As the old adage warns: Actions have consequences.

- Leonard Klady

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