In imperial China, Han, the first emperor of Qin, is expanding his kingdom to an enormous extent by destroying and enslaving entire peoples. Eager for power and even devoted to the occult arts, Han decides that the only way to make his deeds immortal is to become immortal himself, and to achieve this state of divinity, he turns to Zi Yuan, a sorceress capable of reading the scrolls that hold the secret of immortality. Han betrays Zi Yuan, and she takes revenge by casting a curse that turns the emperor and his numerous army into terracotta statues. 1947. Aspiring archaeologist Alex O’Connell, son of adventurer and former spy Rick O’Connell, finds himself in China working on the site where Emperor Han was buried, bringing his tomb to light. Meanwhile, Rick and his wife Eve go to Shanghai for one last mission on behalf of the British government: to return a precious jewel to the Chinese government; the O’Connell family thus finds itself reunited to face a rebel military group that in the meantime has succeeded in bringing Emperor Han back to life. The Mummy – The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: user instructions. Lean back in a cushioned armchair, preferably with an ergonomic and/or reclining backrest; get a medium-sized bag of popcorn, preferably without butter, due to cholesterol; as soon as the Universal logo appears, turn off your brain to avoid crises of self-esteem. If at the end of the viewing you feel rested, satiated with popcorn and special effects, and ready to return to everyday life without explosions, mummies, fireworks, and avalanches of snow… well, then the movie will have hit the mark for you. It’s difficult to express a “constructive” critical judgment about a film like “The Mummy – The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”; it is indeed the classic movie that one goes to see with the awareness of what one is getting into and comes out of the theater with any expectation completely confirmed. A very easy entertainment film that for almost two hours fills the screen with explosions, battles, and lashes of winking irony. In practice, this “Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” fully respects the formula introduced by Stephen Sommers in 1999 with the first episode of the current trilogy and then replicated in 2001 with “The Mummy – The Return”. Almost no one expected to find Rick O’Connell and family seven years after their last appearance on the big screen; too much time had passed, but as Spielberg and Ford taught us with the fourth installment of Indiana Jones and Stallone with the returns of Rocky and Rambo, it’s never too late to give emotions to the general public! This time, an attempt is made to renew the franchise while remaining completely faithful to the formula, changing only the geographical location and drawing heavily from the mythology and language of Hong Kong fanta-action cinema. This operation might seem a bit out of time, given that the fascination that the East exerted on Hollywood was strongest about ten years ago, during the golden age of John Woo in the United States and the renewed interest in wuxiapian cinema after “Tiger and Dragon”. Today, American “genre” cinema tends more to cannibalize Eastern cinema with hordes of remakes aimed at completely erasing the cultural origin rather than succumbing to its charm, and for this reason, one is almost surprised to see a popcorn movie that takes so much care to emphasize the clash between cultures using myths, legends, and icons dear to Chinese culture. Naturally, these are elements filtered through the American eye, so one yields to the easy stereotype and the most elementary iconography. Just like its two predecessors, “The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” is a pyrotechnic toy, certainly crafted with an eye to a predominantly under-15 audience, the consumer of the multiple gadgets that the film will generate (cheap action figures, video games for consoles, gadgets, and prize games to be paired with cereals). This does not detract from the fact that the product can captivate, entertain, and be appreciated by the adult viewer, who may be charmed by the special effects (certainly less susceptible to premature “aging,” as happened to the CGI present in the two prequels), the rollicking adventure, and the undeniable charisma of the characters. The characters themselves play a leading role among the film’s merits: Brendan Fraser, always engaged in the role of the courageous and bumbling Rick O’Connell, has most of the brilliant scenes, sometimes devoted to childish jokes, but he always remains the symbolic character of the saga. His wife Evelyn this time changes face, losing the effective Rachel Weisz (“Constantine”; “The Tree of Life”) and gaining the usually good Maria Bello (“A History of Violence”; “The Dark”), here definitely underperforming and somewhat out of place. John Hannah (“Sliding Doors”; “Ghost Son”) also returns in the role of the “comic sidekick,” while the cast is joined by new entries Luke Ford, in the role of Alex, son of Rick and Evelyn, a sure homage to the archaeologist Indiana Jones (whom he even steals the tuxedo worn in Shanghai), and Liam Cunningham (“The Croupier”) in the role of the gruff Irish aviator Crazy Dog. A separate mention is deserved by Jet Li (“Lethal Weapon 4”; “Hero”; “Rogue – The Solitary”), a star of both Asian and Hollywood action cinema, here in the role of Emperor Han, a character certainly with great charm that has the merit of not simply replacing the deceased Imothep but is imbued with a new iconography that tends to emphasize his evil and power-hungry side rather than his romantic inclination. Rob Cohen (“Fast and Furious”; “xXx”), an honest director of routine action movies, does not miss the noisy direction of Sommers (who here appears as a producer) replicating it perfectly, while the screenwriters Miles Millar and Alfred Gough (“Chinese Bullets” and the TV series “Smallville”) do the bare minimum to fill the film with historical references (minimal) and incredible inventions that combine armies of the undead (who seem to have come out of “Curse of the Black Moon”) and the magical dimension of Shangri-La; unfortunately, one often falls into stupid inventions (the intervention of the Yeti) or thrown in there just to accentuate the sense of wonder (the power of Han that allows him to transform into a three-headed dragon or other very cartoonish monstrous animals). In short, “The Mummy – The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” is a late-summer blockbuster that aims for easy profit through easy entertainment. If you are willing to play along, the movie manages to really entertain, but once you leave the theater, it is easy to forget mummies, dragons, and adventurers with a keen sense of humor.
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