Word: tomb
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Toward the end of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh launch into a vigorous sword fight - and what a grand pleasure it is to watch these two world-class stars in action again. In the mid-'80s-to-mid-'90s Golden Age of Hong Kong films, Li was mainland China's most gifted movie martial artist and Yeoh the preeminent fighting femme. They played together in only one previous picture: Tai Chi Master in 1993, the busiest year of the Hong Kong Renaissance, when the colony's robust movies enthralled action fans around...
...British government asks them to deliver a valuable document to Shanghai, they jump at the chance to throw off the sedate life and immerse themselves in the one thing that makes them feel alive: peril. It happens that Alex has taken up his dad's trade of amateur archaeologist / tomb raider. Guess what he's stumbled on: the key to unleashing the Emperor and his army...
...camera, as if this were a rough cut, with the punch line to be edited in later. To camouflage the dearth of smart dialogue, Fraser and Bello indulge in sheepish smiling and sweet preening; the film's working title might have been Indiana's Clones and the Dimple of Tomb. Fraser and Ford do get to run around a lot, and knock out some malefactors, but they are largely occupied staring at the real action stars and the special effects...
...These are pretty terrific. The tomb Alex enters has crafty trap doors and cool gear mechanisms (yes, just like the ones in the real Indiana Jones movies, but deftly executed nonetheless). The terracotta warriors, once they are revived, move with the balletic precision of armored Rockettes. There's a decent chase scene through Shanghai streets with Art Deco buildings draped in chinoiserie. The whole production is handsome, and the second-unit work first-rate. Finally Li and Yeoh have their big face-off, and the movie rekindles old Hong Kong glories while offering some new ones...
...Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Directed by Rob Cohen; rated PG-13; out now Brendan Fraser takes his third crack at this Indiana Jones--knockoff action series. This time, a 2,300-year-old warrior (Jet Li) is trying to gain the secret to eternal mischief. Nifty stunts and effects and top turns from Chinese stars Michelle Yeoh, Isabella Leong and Anthony Wong are the treasures worth seeking amid the musty debris of Mummy...