2008
DIRECTOR: Rob Cohen
NOT A PART OF MY COLLECTION
Will we be adding this to our collection? NO
May Contain Spoilers!
The third of The Mummy franchise, helmed so far by Steven Sommers, has now changed hands and the directorial duties have now fallen to action director, Rob Cohen. The difference was noticeable, as Cohen’s, the man behind such films as Daylight, xXx and The Fast And The Furious, tone was slightly harsher than Sommer’s effects heavy work. Also the recasting of Rachel’s Weisz’s lead, Evelyn with Maria Bello was jarring. Bello did a great job of taking her accent off, but clearly, she didn’t make the best effort to embody the character and the hole left by Weisz was emphasised greatly. I presume that she declined to reprise her role, as Rachel’s career has grown in integrity, rather than series regular’s Brendon Fraser and John Hannah’s, who clearly have not.
That’s not to say that I dislike Fraser, quite the opposite but lighthearted meathead roles suit him down to ground and he was a pleasure to watch but entertainment is the limit of his range. I was impressed with the casting of Luke Ford though, as Alex O’Connell, Fraser and Bello’s screen son. His striking resemblance to the younger version who starred in the Mummy Returns was uncanny to the point that I just HAD to confirm that it wasn’t the same lad!
The film was certainly watchable, but was lighter on plot than the previous two, relying on effect heavy-set pieces to take us through the motions of this Boys-own adventure, but there was little meat to this. Not to suggest that Summer’s was much better… The opening exposition as to who the Dragon Emperor was, was long and boring, with what seemed like an eternity of back story and narration being laid out before us.
There were some good ideas here and it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t particularly good either, offering no real justification as to why we needed a THIRD installment, and with Cohen’s tone being slightly less playful than his predecessor, it was hard to take this a seriously as Cohen seemed to want us too. This was disposable but far from unwatchable and this did in some ways impress me, simply by being much better than I expecting… Bit that is saying much though…
But again, no more please…
Posted by nEoPOL 
