I just watched the latest Mummy movie. Overall I’d give it 3/5 because it is entertaining. However, the plot is predictable. Inevitably, the heroes are lured back into mummy-hunting, leaving a trail of explosions behind them.
Potential spoilers ahead…
There is a strong ‘family togetherness’ theme and a new young romance which didn’t come across as very realistic to me. Maybe I just didn’t think interracial romances would happen so easily and quickly over 50 years ago, especially between a mortal and an immortal. (Then again, there was Aragorn…) But I guess it is a necessary formula. When there’s a guy and girl of similar age, they MUST fall in love and do mushy things for each other. It worked with Titanic.
I thought that a couple of main characters were irreverent towards supposedly precious Chinese artifacts. I guess it’s a form of slapstick humour that appeals to some audiences. As can be expected by movies produced in the West, the white guys were mostly goodies while the bad guys were mostly Chinese/’Other’. And naturally, despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned, the heroes are able to escape all the time. You can predict what will happen in the end.
Also, while the ancient characters only spoke Chinese at the beginning of the show, towards the end, in the heat of the final battle, curses previously uttered in Chinese are hurriedly spoken in English. I thought it would’ve been more consistent to continue to utter them in Chinese but have subtitles. The evil Emperor also magically understood the heroes’ taunts which were spoken in English. The Singapore audience chuckled whenever the Westerners tried to speak Chinese because it was poorly pronounced, though it was cute in a way.
Ironically I returned home to find my family watching a serious re-enactment on the emperor who built the Forbidden Palace. The acting wasn’t over-exaggerated and I learnt some new facts. Maybe it’s just me. I prefer realistic non-fiction to explosive fairy tales.