The adventure of a thousand lifetimesReview
Explorer Rick O'Connell to combat the resurrected Han Emperor in an epic that races from the catacombs of ancient China high into the frigid Himalayas. Rick is joined in this all new adventure by son Alex, wife Evelyn and her brother, Jonathan. And this time, the O'Connells must stop a mummy awoken from a 2,000-year-old curse who threatens to plunge the world into his merciless, unending service.
The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Trailer
| My rate & Comment | * * * * Nothing really special with the story. The Movie is definitely rich with special effects. I meant with Jet Li, I was expecting more. It just entertaining.. |
| Directed by | Rob Cohen |
| Produced by | Stephen Sommers, James Jack, Bob Ducsay, Sean Daniel |
| Written by | Alfred Gough, Miles Millar |
| Starring | Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong, Michelle Yeoh |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
| Release date(s) | United States: August 1, 2008 United Kingdom:August 8, 2008 Australia:September 11, 2008 |
| Genre | Action |
| Running time | 114 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Mandarin |
| Budget | $145 million |
| Gross revenue | Domestic $102,277,510 Foreign $281,665,176 Worldwide $403,701,015 |
Plot
Han (Li), a warlord in Ancient China, conquers his enemies and becomes the first Emperor of China, known as the Dragon Emperor. As his first act as emperor, Han orders the construction of the Great Wall of China, burying his former enemies beneath it and cursing them to hold it up for all eternity. Han orders a witch, Zi Yuan (Yeoh), to search for the secret to immortality with the aid of Han's second in command, General Ming Guo (Wong). Zi Yuan and Ming fall in love, angering Han who desired Zi Yuan for himself. After Zi Yuan supposedly casts the immortality spell on Han, he kills Ming and wounds Zi Yuan. She then reveals that she has in fact cursed Han and his army who are encased in terracotta, becoming the Terracotta Army, permitting Zi Yuan to escape.
In 1946, 13 years after the events of The Mummy Returns, Alex O'Connell (Ford), son to Rick (Fraser) and Evelyn (Bello), locates Han's tomb with the financial backing of Roger Wilson (Calder), an archaeology professor. Alex is attacked by an unknown woman, but succeeds in bringing Han's coffin to Shanghai. Meanwhile, the British government entrusts the O'Connells to take the Eye of Shangri-La back to China as a good faith gesture to the Chinese. It is revealed that Wilson is in league with a paramilitary group led by General Yang (Chau-Sang) and his second-in-command, Choi (Meng), who see Han as the only one who can bring order and greatness back to China. The mysterious woman from the tomb attacks Han in his coffin, which only turns out to be a decoy. Yang and Choi use the Eye to remove the terracota encasing Han and resurrect him. Han accepts the service of Choi and Yang but kills Wilson. The woman from the excavation site tries to kill Han with a dagger cursed by Zi Yuan, but is unsuccessful and Han takes the dagger.
The woman reveals herself to the O'Connells as Lin (Leong), Zi Yuan's and Ming's daughter, who is immortal due to the power of the waters of Shangri-La. The group, along with Evelyn's brother Johnathan Carnahan (Hannah), travel to a tower in the Himalayas that will reveal the path to Shangri-La when the Eye is placed on top of it. They hold off the soldiers under Yang with the help of three Himalayan Yeti summoned by Lin, but are ultimately unable to prevent Han from learning the location of Shangri-La. He also tries to kill Alex to keep him from starting a avalanche by throwing a dagger at him, but Rick jumps in and takes it in place of his son. The avalanche triggered by Alex allows them to reach Shangri-La before Han and meet with Zi Yuan. Zi Yuan heals Rick's wound. Alex and Lin have grown attached to each other but Lin pushes the relationship away due to her immortality. However, Han attacks them in Shangri-La, where he bathes in the waters which restore his human form and youth, replenishes his powers, and gives him the ability to shapeshift. He transforms into a three-headed dragon, kidnaps Lin, and flies to his tomb where he raises the Terracotta Army. Han announces that once he leads his army across the Great Wall, an ancient spell will make them invincible.
The O'Connells and Zi Yuan pursue Han to the Great Wall where Zi Yuan sacrifices her own and Lin's immortality to revive those buried beneath the Great Wall and General Ming. The undead army and the Terracotta Army fight while Zi Yuan fights Han, sacrificing herself to steal back a cursed dagger- the only weapon that can kill him. Han transforms into a Chinese demon and goes beneath the Great Wall in order to use his powers to draw Ming's army back underneath it. Rick and Alex tackle Han with the dagger but are outmatched and the dagger is broken. Rick challenges Han to a fair fight, and when Han transforms back into human form, Rick manages to plunge the dagger broken hilt into Han's heart while Alex stabs Han with the tip of the blade, piercing his heart and killing him. With Han defeated, his army crumbles and turns to dust. Ming's army celebrates briefly before going back to rest.The O'Connells return to Shanghai, where Alex and Lin fall in love. Jonathan decides to move to Perú with the Eye of Shangri-La, which he had stolen himself, believing there won't be any mummies there. An ending sentence appears, explaining that shortly after his arrival, mummies were soon discovered.
