Taste in film is subjective. Sure, we can argue the pros and cons of each and every film that comes along, but at the end of the day, it’s up to the individual viewer. I have little doubt that there will be some out there who will scoff at the way I have ranked the 10 Mummy films made by Universal Studios between 1932 and 2017. Perhaps even many will sneer. That’s fine!
It really all boils down to how you like your mummy movies. Do you prefer haunting tales of undead romance? Do you prefer screwball adventure comedies with an added layer of the supernatural? No matter what your preference, chances are that in this franchise’s 85 years, Universal has probably released one fitting the bill. Now, without further adieu, let’s bust out some tana leaf tea and drink to immortality as we go through eight and a half decades of cloth-wrapped chaos! From Imhotep to Kharis to Ahmanet and all others in-between, let’s do this…
10. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
How do make a movie that contains evil general Anthony Wong, sorceress Michelle Yeoh, heroic Yetis, a dragon, and Jet Li as an undying monsters boring? Ask Rob Cohen, because he achieved just that with flying colors just under a decade ago. In the wake of the awful Van Helsing, fandom was crying for Stephen Sommers head and happy that he wasn’t coming back for this one. We were wrong. We were so very wrong. Minus Sommers, Rachel Weisz, Oded Fehr, and Arnold Vosloo, this third film is nothing more than a hollow shell of what came before. What should have been a slam dunk, given the material, ends up being an utter bore of a fantasy adventure film. Curse this film to the hell of being sandblasted with hot popcorn kernels!
