james_davis_nicoll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2008-12-23 12:01 pm
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2008-12-23 12:01 pm
Random thoughts on Mummy:Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
This is not a good movie.
Given that the first movie squished together historical figures separated by over a thousand years, what this movie does to Chinese history is not unexpected.
The alternative to sorcerer supreme Qin Shi Huang taking over China is Mao taking over China (although Mao is never mentioned in the film and for all we know was eaten by a yeti some months earlier). I think this would be one of the cases where the communists are actually the less harmful choice, even ignoring the whole mastery of magic angle. I don't think there are enough films with villainous Legalists.
Interestingly, in the 23 years since the first Mummy movie, Rick has aged at most about ten years. It's probably all that exposure to mystic energies (or he's found some way to fuel his life force off his kid's intelligence).
So, Choi and her boss Yang: are we talking another Doomed Villainous Romance [1] or something closer to Smithers and Burns? Although I don't think of Yang as a villain so much as a patriot who selected an extremely poor method of saving his country.
I think characters in movies have the ability to shrug off damage according to the status of the character doling it out. It's very hard, probably impossible, for a minor character to actually kill a major one (although they can inconvenience the more significant character) regardless of the weapon they use. The Comic Relief is never going to kill the Second in Command for the other side, even if he drops a bomb on him.
1: The part of the second movie I hated the most was that poor old Imhotep went through seven kinds of hell for true love, only to be betrayed by his girl-friend.
Given that the first movie squished together historical figures separated by over a thousand years, what this movie does to Chinese history is not unexpected.
The alternative to sorcerer supreme Qin Shi Huang taking over China is Mao taking over China (although Mao is never mentioned in the film and for all we know was eaten by a yeti some months earlier). I think this would be one of the cases where the communists are actually the less harmful choice, even ignoring the whole mastery of magic angle. I don't think there are enough films with villainous Legalists.
Interestingly, in the 23 years since the first Mummy movie, Rick has aged at most about ten years. It's probably all that exposure to mystic energies (or he's found some way to fuel his life force off his kid's intelligence).
So, Choi and her boss Yang: are we talking another Doomed Villainous Romance [1] or something closer to Smithers and Burns? Although I don't think of Yang as a villain so much as a patriot who selected an extremely poor method of saving his country.
I think characters in movies have the ability to shrug off damage according to the status of the character doling it out. It's very hard, probably impossible, for a minor character to actually kill a major one (although they can inconvenience the more significant character) regardless of the weapon they use. The Comic Relief is never going to kill the Second in Command for the other side, even if he drops a bomb on him.
1: The part of the second movie I hated the most was that poor old Imhotep went through seven kinds of hell for true love, only to be betrayed by his girl-friend.
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*Well, obviously we have the same movies...
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The parallel universe theory explains when a critic's review seems to be of an entirely different movie than the one you saw, but with the same name.