Filmstalker: Rob Cohen blogs The Mummy

Rob Cohen has started blogging about the production of the next in the Mummy franchise, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

The thoughts haven't been positive about this fourth one in the franchise, the fact that it's Rob Cohen directing after the poor performance of Stealth and the news that Rachel Weisz is being replaced, but look at it another way. Cohen has directed The Fast and the Furious, xXx and Daylight which were good fun, as well a bunch of good TV shows, and Rachel Weisz is being replace by the superb Maria Bello.

So could it be all bad?

I have to admit I'm really dubious about the whole move to China thing, nothing against China, it's just that the franchise has been about one particular Mummy to date and that's from Egypt, and the plot has held fast to the duality of the two stories of true love on either side of the good-bad line, a line that blurs with the original story line.

Still, it could be that this is being recreated with The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and that perhaps the move will bring something new to the series, after all in Cohen's words on his new production blog for the film where he writes about the plot in quite a bit of detail, he has a strong cast and crew:

“My film stars Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Anthony Wong, and new-comers Luke Ford and Isabella Leong...
...Simon Duggan (“Live Free or Die Hard” “I, Robot”) is my director of photography and the production is being designed by Nigel Phelps (“The Island” “ Troy” and “Pearl Harbor”) and, of course, the powerful stunts of Vic Armstrong. Steve Sommers, Bob Ducsay, and Sean Daniel produce.”

What do you think? Have we been too harsh on it? Could it work out as something strong or indeed as good as or better than the original? The facts remain that the gorgeous Bello has a lot to live up to, as does Cohen. We need that adventure and the spark to return, and so we'll have to wait.

The good thing is that his blog will keep us informed of it all, and the feed is now pulled into the Filmstalker Filmmaker's Feed page.

Comments

I have a open mind but the fact remains is that this film smalls like a bomb. First the bad script reviews that several web sites have reported is disheartening, not to mention the fact that it also been reported by several sources that Rachel Weisz had walked away from the film because of how bad the script was. Maria Bello is a fine actress but seems gravely miscast to fill Weisz's shoes( this seems more like a payday for her than anything of quality) and Rob Cohen at the helm does not give me confidence at all.

The story also seems like a repeat of the first film but with Jet Li this time as the mummy which in itself sounds more like a gimmick than good casting.

Sorry but this film does not sound good at all.

Posted by: Hans | August 31, 2007 3:25 PM