The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Two Disc Deluxe Edition
Directed by Rob Cohen
Starring Brendan Frasier, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Luke Ford, Michelle Yeoh, Isabella Leong
Universal Home Entertainment
Release Date: December 16, 2008

The third installment of The Mummy series is sure not to disappoint. Well, one thing is disappointing and I have to say it right from the beginning. What happened to the real Evelyn O’Connell? I really hate to start a review like this. I like to tell a bit about the movie and then give my feelings, but I couldn’t, and I am sure you won’t be able to. It’s not that Maria Bello (Thank You for Smoking, A History of Violence) is bad in her depiction of Evelyn, it’s just that, Rachel Weisz is our Evelyn. Maybe Weisz’s decision to do Definitely, Maybe or My Blueberry Nights blocked her from The Mummy project. If it did, I have one thing to say: she should have stuck with The Mummy series. No judgments on the other two movies, but, you get my drift.

In The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, a new kind of mummy is released, Emperor Han (Jet Li), by mistake of course, and it is up to Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn, along with their now-adult son Alex (Luke Ford) and Evelyn’s brother John (John Hannah) to save the world from complete enslavement.

The Mummy franchise has yet to disappoint me and Rob Cohen does not do so now. In the interest of not giving away everything in the movie, I am keeping my review short, but I will go in detail about this DVD edition’s many bonus features.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Blu-ray
Directed by Rob Cohen
Starring Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, Luke Ford, Michelle Yeoh
Universal Home Entertainment
Release date: December 16, 2008

I admit it – I’m a Brendan Fraser apologist. What can I say? I like the guy. He’s just so damn”¦ likable! I can watch him in pretty much anything and enjoy it. School Ties – Check. Monkeybone – Check. Blast from the Past – Check. George of the Jungle – Check. Encino Man – Guilty. So I look back on the release of The Mummy with fond memories. It was a funny, adventurous rollicking old-school action flick that remembered what made such films work — it was fun. And Fraser captured that sense of “gee whiz” fun playing Rick O’Connell. When The Mummy Returns came out it was disappointing, but not awful. It felt more like an excuse to try to set up a franchise for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson than it legitimate continuation of the series.

So it was with a healthy dose of skepticism that I popped in the Blu-ray of the newest entry into this series — The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. And all I can say is – Brendan Fraser tried. He really, really tried”¦ and I’m sure he’s sorry.

After Sylvester Stallone‘s little phase of Rocky and Rambo sequels (which is likely to continue eventually), he’s going to write, direct, and star in an original movie called The Expendables.

Not much is known about the movie yet except the fact that it will also star Jet Li and Jason Statham with Stallone as a group of mercenaries out to take down a South American dictator.

This doesn’t really sound unique, but who knows, it could be fun if done right. Or it will just end up being another Rambo, or maybe something more modern like Tears of the Sun!

Black Mask
Blu-ray (1997)
Starring Jet Li, Karen Mok, Chin Wan Lau
Lionsgate
Release Date: September 2, 2008

In an effort to cash in Jet Li‘s crossover from Hong Kong to America, several of Li’s movies were re-dubbed and re-packaged for the American population. One of these films was the high-flying Black Mask.

Based on a comic book, Black Mask tells the story of Michael, played by Jet Li. Michael is part of a secret group of super soldiers commissioned by an unknown government entity. Known as “The 701,” these men and women are virtually impervious to pain, thanks in part to an experiment, which destroyed the nerve endings in their bodies. When the project is shut down and the soldiers are decommissioned, Michael seizes his opportunity and escapes. Fast-forward to the present where Michael is living a quiet and content life as a librarian. All is well until the 701 reappear, leaving mayhem and destruction in their path. Michael has no choice but face his “friends” head on in an effort to preserve his normal life as the superhero Black Mask.

John Fusco‘s latest screenplay to hit the big screen and about to be released on DVD this Tuesday is The Forbidden Kingdom, which will be remembered for the first on-screen appearance of both Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Fusco was the pen behind the Young Guns films, as well as the Viggo Mortensen flick Hidalgo, and he also scripted the Weinstein Company’s upcoming re-imagining of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai.

Geeks Of Doom: Were you aware of the Chan and Li team-up when you began writing the script?

John Fusco: It actually began as a bedtime story for my young son who was beginning martial arts. Because I have a background in kung fu, I wanted to introduce him to what I felt was the right foundation: the philosophy and literature and mythology that informs the practice. If I had tried reading Lao Tzu or the Four Classics to him I would have lost him. So I made up a fun time travel journey that would be something of a primer.

While I was out in the desert with Casey Silver making Hidalgo I told him about this story I was making up for my kid and why. He felt that I was onto a movie and he encouraged me — and hired me — to start the screenplay.