The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Review - A Movie That Should Have Been Left Buried Beneath the Sands
How do you kill a mummy? Burning oil? Silver bullets? Decapitation? Hit it with a 2"x4" until it crumbles into dust? No, seriously, I want to know because someone needs to kill this one before it destroys Brendan Fraser's career. The mummy in question first came to life in 1999 in a movie named, appropriately enough, The Mummy which was a decent enough time-waster that mixed cut rate Indiana Jones shenanigans with nonstop action hijinks done up in Egyptian drag. Then it was resurrected in The Mummy Returns (2001) with an even bigger budget and enough jokes and well-staged action to make it the epitome of a the brainless, summer action adventure blockbuster. But seven years later, Stephen Sommers (the series' original mastermind) has been replaced by the dark wizard of hackdom, Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious). Cohen is an accomplished necromancer (or rather, necrophiliac) whose dream project was to make a martial arts film with a CGI-generated Bruce Lee who would appear as a ghostly Yoda-type teaching a white kid the true path of the warrior. Fortunately, Bruce Lee's widow, Linda Lee, came to her senses and withdrew her support for the project, driving a stake through its heart, hopefully, killing it once and for all. But who can stop Rob Cohen's mad plan to destroy Brendan Fraser's career with this new movie? Is it in the hands of the movie-going public to refuse to buy a ticket for this shambolic mess and bury it beneath the sands of failure, there to lie dormant for thousands of years?
Ever since the 1950s, the public has been wary of subliminal messages in the media. While researchers still struggle to this day to understand whether hidden messages in TV shows, movies, and music lyrics really have an effect on individual behavior, director William Friedkin tapped into public paranoia about mind control with his 1973 film 
