Speak to any self-respecting movie fan of a certain generation, and they’ll barely be able to contain themselves from lavishing praise on The Mummy. Stephen Sommers’ old-fashioned adventure is one of the most beloved blockbusters of the modern era, and continues to be name-checked to this day, with Jungle Cruise and The Lost City two very recent examples.
Sequel The Mummy Returns delivered more of the same, something that audiences were perfectly happy with, but trilogy-closer Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was nothing short of horrendous, and a dismally disappointing way for such a popular franchise to bow out.
Sure, it made a respectable $402 million at the box office, but that was still the lowest return of the three. It’s the 12% Rotten Tomatoes score that really stings, though, with Rob Cohen taking Sommers’ baby and running it into the ground by foregoing any sense of fun and effervescence in favor of poorly-rendered CGI beasties.
Jet Li looks bored to be there, Luke Ford is given far too much screentime for such a wooden actor, and Rachel Weisz didn’t even bother returning. Maria Bello is a very talented actress, in fairness, but she fails to generate any sparks with Brendan Fraser’s Rick O’Connell, who at least emerges from the disaster unscathed.
People laud The Mummy from the rooftops, but you never hear much talk about Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, probably because it sucks. However, it has been doing a number on the streaming charts this week, with FlixPatrol revealing the panned fantasy epic has been soaring up the iTunes most-watched rankings for a number of days.