words James Marsh

For years, Universal Pictures struggled to get a remake of their 1932 creepy classic The Mummy off the ground, with all number of horror greats such as Clive Barker, George A Romero and Wes Craven attached at one time or another. But it wasn’t until writer-director Stephen Sommers pitched his own vision – a 1920’s adventure yarn reminiscent of Indiana Jones that didn’t take itself too seriously – that it was finally confident enough to green light the project.
The Mummy (1999) stars Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell, a cocky adventurer serving in the French Foreign Legion in Egypt and recruited by Egyptologist Evie Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah) to help them locate the ancient city of Hamunaptra. Their subsequent excavations unleash the dormant spirit of Imhotep, a cursed mummy, who had suffered in agony for the last 3,000 years and is now keen to vent a little spleen. A surprise success that found a wide international audience with its blend of adventure, mysticism, romance and danger, t was so successful that it spawned a 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns, the 2002 spin-off movie The Scorpion King (which also has a direct-to-video sequel out this month), an animated series, and the Universal Studios rollercoaster ride.
Now, in the summer of 2008, we have The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Thankfully the writers have decided to explore outside the limits of the Sahara, transplanting the action to East Asia, but beyond that the formula seems intact. Rick and Evie O’Connell (who married after the first film) have officially retired from their tomb-raiding days. However, their son Alex (Luke Ford) has followed in the family trade and, after discovering an ancient Chinese terracotta army, accidentally awakens Han, the tyrannical Dragon Emperor, from a 2,000-year-old curse. Hell-bent on resurrecting his army and condemning the human race to his eternal servitude using his powerful command of the five elements, Emperor Han seems an indomitable force. Alex turns to the only people he knows of with honed mummy-whooping skills – his parents.
New director Rob Cohen (The Fast and The Furious) has managed to entice the original cast back for one more round, with the notable exception of Rachel Weisz, who presumably felt her Oscar win has raised her above making big-budget threequels. Her replacement, however, is the always-watchable Maria Bello (A History of Violence), so she is unlikely to be missed. Local audiences should also enjoy seeing not only Jet Li as the Dragon Emperor, but a host of other Hong Kong cinema thespians like Isabella Leong, Anthony Wong Chau San, Michelle Yeoh and Wu Jing. Even if The Mummy 3 proves to be yet another rehash of the original story, simply dressed up in terracotta armour, it does at least promise dragons, undead armies and martial arts. So if Indy fighting the saucermen from Mars left you a little cold, Chinese mummies could be just what you need.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens in cinemas on 31 July.