By Samantha Ofole-Prince
This needless third installment of “The Mummy” franchise shifts the action to ancient Asia with Fraser returning as the thrill seeking archeologist Rick O’Connell.
Set in post-WWII China, it kicks starts with a prologue detailing a clash between the first Chinese Emperor (Li) who seeks immortality and a local witch Zi Juan (Yeoh) summoned to perform the ritual. After Zi Juan places a curse on the evil emperor and his army, it fast forwards to Oxfordshire in 1946 where Rick and wife Evelyn (Bello, stepping into the role vacated by Rachel Weisz) now retired from the espionage game are getting used to domesticity in their English mansion.
The duo is soon coaxed out of retirement and accepts a mission to deliver a priceless gem to a Shanghai museum. It’s an action which spirals out of control when they discover their cocky college-age son Alex (Ford), who has inherited his parents’ heedless sense of adventure, has stumbled upon the long-sought tomb of the Emperor and his massive army buried beneath the desert.
Joining forces with Alex and his Bilingual girlfriend (Leong) who speaks yeti and can communicate with abominable snowmen that resemble giant furry puppets, the quest becomes to stop the awakened Emperor from drinking the pool of blood and completely resurrecting his powers.