The Mummy 3: Insult To China and Chinese People?

Yet the first two movies were popular in China. Shouldn’t the Egyptians be pissed off in the same way about those other movies? How can people like the first ones and be so angry about this one which simply follows in the same spirit.

It is certainly not meant to be anti-China. In fact, the Chinese emperor was used because he is so famous and known world wide. Would the movie be as interesting if it focused on some minor leader from early Uzbekistan? This is an example of Chinese “chip on the shoulder” syndrome… the ability to see offense where none was intended.

I know how strongly Chinese feel about the whole “sick man of asia” label and I agree that that is an infuriating and insulting thing but by reacting so over the top to something that was done with no insult intended only highlights an inferiority complex.

“Why so serious” —–Joker, Heath Ledger

Kai,

I wouldn’t expect you to understand, you get away under the radar no matter what you do. And yes, I appreciate the positive comments. I don’t know if you are an ABC or what, but after 10 years in China I have learned one thing.

1. Chinese hate foreigners (insert country)

I imagine if you faced the kind of racism I do on a daily basis you might just have a chip on your shoulder as well.

it’s some kind of marketing ploy, like paying people to queue up for playstation or something. those are fake commentors paid to stir up controversy so that everyone rushes to watch a really bad movie.

What an absurd over-reaction by some of the Chinese! I can’t believe the hate venom being spewed out by these ultra=nationalists! Get a grip! Its the movies.

@ fcuk

I am not saying that there is ANY excuse EVER for blatant bigotry in any form but consider how isolated these people are and the sort of drivel they’ve been fed about foreigners and their legitimate distrust of foreigners from generations of wars and colonialism. I am a born and bred ABC and I understand that China is a contradiction – there is so much growth in all areas yet so much of their society is backwards.

I do not know how you came to live in China but after a decade, if you hate it that much, why do you not opt to leave? I’m not saying this to be facetious but I assumed that you would have some means to get out of there, bespecially if these feelings have been stewing for so long. If you are an American born in China, then perhaps you are feeling what generations of Blacks in the US feel.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’
Starring Brendan Fraser and Jet Li, a series’ latest offers special effects and spectacle more than a sense of fun.

By Kenneth Turan, Times Film Critic
kenneth.turan@latimes.com

“THE MUMMY: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” has the longest title of the trio of modern “Mummy” movies as well as the most elaborate set pieces and most extensive special effects. Bigger, however, does not necessarily mean better, and though the new film has some good things, it does not have enough of them to make the third time the charm.

Despite some 1,000 visual-effects shots and more skeletons than a ride at Disneyland, this latest “Mummy” adventure, set in China instead of Egypt, is not nearly as much fun as 1999′s “The Mummy” or 2001′s “The Mummy Returns.”

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It’s not as if those films were small and delicate flowers better suited to a slot at Sundance. They were also envisioned as high-grossing popcorn movies, but as written and directed by Stephen Sommers (who returns as a producer here), they had a genuine sense of off-handed fun that the new version strives for but can’t recapture.

Instead, as directed by “The Fast and the Furious’ ” Rob Cohen and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, this new “Mummy” can’t shake its pro forma feeling. The Gough and Miller plot is certainly serviceable, but the film’s feeble attempts at banter are on a par with the writers’ best-forgotten work on “Shanghai Noon” and “Shanghai Knights.”

It’s not just the script that’s a sticking point here; there are problems with some of the acting as well. Brendan Fraser, returning for his third go-round as intrepid archaeologist Rick O’Connell, is noticeably uninvolved with the role this time. Maria Bello, stepping in for Rachel Weisz as the plucky Evelyn, loses some of her naturalness to her British accent. And Australian Luke Ford, as the couple’s grown-up son Alex, is nothing to write home about.

Given all this, it’s fortunate that the film’s trio of Chinese stars, not burdened with fake-jokey dialogue, come off well. Jet Li is appropriately fierce as the emperor of the title, Mr. Ruthless when it comes to ruling China, and Isabella Leong does her best as Alex’s mysterious love interest. Best of all is Michelle Yeoh, who radiates integrity in every role she takes on and who holds our attention as a powerful sorceress.

In some ways “The Mummy’s” prologue, set in 50 BC and featuring only Chinese actors, is the best part of the film. Moving briskly, it introduces the dread emperor, modeled loosely on the real-life Qin Shi Huang, who left behind a huge army of terra cotta soldiers, and details the start of his rivalry with Yeoh’s sorceress.

Then, sadly, the film moves forward to 1946, with Rick and the missus “retired from the espionage game” and bored silly as a result. Unbeknown to them, son Alex is in China, rashly digging up the tomb of that evil emperor, who is a good bet to enslave all mankind if he manages to come back to life. Naturally, Alex’s parents end up getting involved, and all hell threatens to break loose.

Considerable time and money have no doubt been invested in the film’s numerous action set pieces — some fierce Yetis (don’t ask) are especially effective — and the best thing about “The Mummy” is the sense of spectacle and epic scale director Cohen, cinematographer Simon Duggan and production designer Nigel Phelps bring to the proceedings. If it weren’t for all that inept banter, this might have been a different film indeed. As it is, when Evelyn O’Connell insists that “there’s something terribly romantic about raising the dead,” she’s speaking, regrettably, only for herself.

“I know how strongly Chinese feel about the whole “sick man of asia” label and I agree that that is an infuriating and insulting thing”

This shows part of the problem- it WAS an infuriating and insulting thing. If you asked people living in the west what ‘sick man of asia’ referred to, I doubt many people would know what you were talking about.

Looking at the comments, i see a strong diversity of opinion amongst the Chinese commentators with a decent thoughtful to idiot ratio. Do bear in mind that people in China aren’t PC-trained to Western standards, yet still managed to be broadly warm hearted and friendly to foreigners.
If you take offence at the negative comments, I suggest you need to grow a thicker skin and fúck off the Internet until you do (how often you hear peeps whinge about Chinese “thinskin” and then get worked up cos we hurt their fragile sensibilities).
Take a fúcking look at Daily Kos, Freeper and Stormfront. Left wing, right wing, extremists; all the fúcking same. Everybody hates us, cos we are apparently uniquely “nationalistic”.
What a fúcking joke.

As an American, I feel like that forum discussion could easily happen on an American board like youtube. I see some stupidly patriotic people, but I also see many rational individuals telling them to quiet down.

I feel like I’m looking in a mirror here.

This movie has to be viewed in context. If there were a bunch of other movies made in which the hero is Asian and the villain is White, then people wouldn’t be so upset about this movie. But time after time, in Hollywood movies the White guy is the hero and the Asian or Arab guy is the villain. And there’s always some Asian chick who falls for the White guy while running from the evil Asian men. It’s irritating.

@fcuk dalu ren. Being a white-looking half Chinese guy who lived in China for a year, I can sympathize with what you’re saying. However, racism towards Chinese exists in equal measure or more from the western world, though usually in less obvious ways. Also, Chinese mainlanders will act really proud in front of westerners, but oftentimes they privately have an inferiority complex. The way to tackle this is to get beyond the concept of race entirely. Race is a social construction. We are all human and have equal capacity for intelligence. To paraphrase the Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh, you can spend your whole life railing against racism. However, it is much better to cultivate knowledge of who you are, to understand the ground of your being so that you aren’t as bothered by what other people think, and you can walk in full confidence of who you are. Part of this is accepting that people will not understand you until after getting to know you for a long time, and even then they may not totally understand who you are. That’s why it’s vital that you be certain of who you are. One way to do this is meditation, because it helps us realize the emptiness of thoughts.

That being said, although I love Chinese culture and am ethnically half-Chinese, I’m not sure if I will ever live in mainland China, simply because it’s so hard to get past peoples’ stereotypes about “foreigners.” I don’t blame them, but I know that it would make me irritated if I lived there for a long time.

“…show me a single Chinese made movie that doesnt involve foreigners being evil, immoral, or just stupid. They don’t even need movies to tell them how bad we are, they are taught it in kindergarten, primary, high, and university.”

the same can be said about Hollywood movies (Ming the Merciless, Fu Manchu, Long Duck Dong, Hop Sing, etc. etc.) that involve Asians being evil, immoral or just stupid. Whites are taught that they are the saviors of the world from backward natives.