Movie and Television Reviews

In the battle of mid-century set, archaeology-based, mythology-legend comes alive, non-politically or socially controversial movies this year, I think Mummy 3 beats Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by a nice margin.

For, although Indiana Jones is a more compelling character than Rick O'Connell, TODE's story is easier to follow and has an interesting supernatural villain in addition to an evil leader of a fanatical regime.

TODE begins with a well-constructed and useful back-story: A Chinese emperor, Jin, conquers most of China and wishes for immortality. He enlists the aid of the bewitching Zi Yuan, but Zi betrays Jin after he kills Yuan's lover, General Ming.

Fast forward: A bored, post WWII Rick and Evelyn O'Connell are summoned into service to deliver an artifact to the Chinese government. In the meantime, Alex O'Connell, Rick and Evelyn's son, the archaeologist offspring being another similarity to Indiana Jones, finds Emperor Jin's army buried underneath the Chinese desert (Based on the Terracotta Army, probably.).

It turns out that both O'Connells are pawns of "paramilitary" General Yang and a Chinese babe with an oddly sexy scar who want to raise Jin and his army.

The O'Connells and a Chinese tomb protector, Lin, who also happens to be a babe (scarless type), decide to stop Yang and the now resurrected Jin from going to his army and raising the army. Adventure ensues.

And, it's mostly very good. The fast pace combined with the low intellectual expectations one has upon entering the theater make for a fun time. After an O.K. car chase with many civilian casualties, TODE breaks down into two quests, one for a map on a mountain and another to the eventual army. The map quest is especially exciting with many gratifying elements such as gun-talk, shooting, and abominably good Yetis. There are martial arts and the fourth CG mummy army and set battle in as many Mummy movies, if you count the wretched Scorpion King.

The Mummy Collector's Set (The Mummy (1999)/ The Mummy Returns/ The Scorpion King)

The main story holds together well. The love story between Alex and the scarless tomb protector not so much thanks to some very cliched scenes. The "making light of an unbelievably dangerous situation" and "making light of a supernatural situation" humor is ineffective. The mandatory allusions to previous adventures- likewise dull.

Still, I liked it.

Politics/Message:

I hope you enjoyed Seven Years in Tibet, because China's large entertainment starved-population and Chinese government censorship spell doom for anti-Chinese government movies from Hollywood.

Seven Years in Tibet

I kept wondering if the mummy conqueror would have been that much worse than Mao Zedong.

The Mummy series are some of the only movies which portray marriage as sexy, fun, and worthwhile.

**Indiana Jones eschews CG for real stuntwork, but I think modern audiences expect and prefer CG while movie nostalgists yearn for live stunts.

Cast below:

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Directed by
Rob Cohen

Writing credits
(WGA)
Alfred Gough (written by) &
Miles Millar (written by)

John L. Balderston 1932 screenplay (uncredited) and
Stephen Sommers 2001 screenplay (uncredited)

Cast (in credits order)

Brendan Fraser ... Rick O'Connell

Jet Li ... Emperor Han
Maria Bello ... Evelyn O’Connell

John Hannah ... Jonathan Carnahan

Michelle Yeoh ... Zi Juan

Luke Ford ... Alex O'Connell

Isabella Leong ... Lin
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang ... General Yang

Russell Wong ... Ming Guo
Liam Cunningham ... Mad Dog Maguire
David Calder ... Roger Wilson

Jessey Meng ... Choi
Tian Liang ... Li Zhou

Albert Kwan ... Chu Wah
Jacky Wu ... Assassin #1 (as Wu Jing)
Binghua Wei ... Assassin #2
Guo Jing ... Assassin #3
Alison Louder ... Woman in Bookstore
Marcia Nasatir ... Russian Princess
Emerald Starr ... Man in Bar
Helen Feng ... Nightclub Singer
Stella Maryna Troshyna ... Brunette at Imhotep’s
James Bradford ... Butler Jameson
Daniel Giverin ... Benjamin Fry
Ken Tran ... Yang’s Soldier #1 (as Ken C. Tran)
Allan Yuk-lun Chou ... Yang’s Soldier #2 (as Allan Chou)

Fernando Chien ... Yang’s Soldier #3 (as Fernando Fu-Nan Chien)
Mac Jeffrey Ong ... Yang’s Soldier #4 (as Jeffrey Ong)
Chris Mark ... Yang’s Soldier #5
James Mark ... Yang’s Soldier #6
Mike Ching ... Yang’s Soldier #7
Darryl Quon ... Yang’s Soldier #8
Alex Chiang ... Yang’s Soldier #9

Paul Wu ... Yang’s Soldier #10
Larry Lam ... Yang’s Soldier #11
Brian Ho ... Yang’s Soldier #12
Vi-Hung Luv ... Yang’s Soldier #13
Phong Doan Huy ... Yang’s Soldier #14
Kyle Burnett Cashulin ... Mad Dog’s Pal #1
Charles Esposito ... Mad Dog’s Pal #2

Michael Scherer ... Yeti #1
Scott Taylor ... Yeti #2
Kham Tri Vixaysy ... Chinese Digger #1
Don Lew ... Chinese Digger #2
Regis Attiow ... Mystic #1
Tony Wai ... Mystic #2
Yungstun Wu ... Mystic #3
Xiang Guangxu ... Mystic #4
Cong-Quyen Lam ... Mystic #5
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Produced by
Chris Brigham .... executive producer
Sean Daniel .... producer
Bob Ducsay .... producer
James Jacks .... producer
Josette Perrotta .... co-producer
Marc Pitre .... associate producer
Stephen Sommers .... producer

Original Music by
Randy Edelman