When Evelyn Draper (Rachel Weiss) met O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) it was under the unlikeliest of circumstances. He knew the location of the lost city of the dead and agreed to take her there. Unfortunately they managed to accidentally awake a Mummy and almost cause an apocolypse.

A few years later, after they were married and had a kid, they got tangled up in another Mummy adventure when the Mummy Returned to life thanks to some mad people searching for the lost armies of the Scorpion King. After amazingly sending both Imhotep and the Scorpion King back to the underworld they returned to their lives in London.

Now a few years later, their son is now a full grown archaologist and making his own discoveries. The O'Connells, bored of their retirement, accept one last mission - delivering an amulet to China - just where their son and Jonathan (Evie's brother) happen to be and, you guessed it, they manage to wake up a Mummy - of sorts.

The dragon emperor, who had learnt of sourcery allowing him to control all the elements, had been imprisoned in stone, along with army, until a drop of selfless blood were spilt on him. So with the help of a mysterious Chinese woman, whom baby O'Connell (Alex) has a thing for, the set about trying to stop him taking over the world.

The first two films were really good fun and, believe it or not, had a really good plot. However, the problem with this film was the fact that Rachel Weiss' character was being played by a different actress. Not that the lady (Maria Bello) who played her was bad or anything - its just that she stood out like a sore thumb. They did even try to make light of it - her first line was "I am not her".

The problem is that because the part was played so well by Ms Weiss, that the interaction of characters was thrown off. Also, the now grown up Alex (obviously played by a new actor) was not cast all that well. The original character was very much a cross between the two leads, which was funny.

Unlike 1 and 2, also, the storyline was completely different. In 2 you could clearly see scenes that were from no 1, but in a different context - which was clever. This had none of that.

As an action adventure, standing alone, this would have been a good film - but as a Mummy Sequel it fell a bit flat. So if you're in the mood for action and there's not much else around that you haven't seen then see this - if not wait til its in the sales.

see also:
National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Fantastic Four, The Golden Compass, Welcome to the Jungle

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photo © Universal Pictures.