(Originally posted at www.LesterSmith.com)

In this third of the series of Mummy movies, the O’Connells find themselves in China, battling the resurrected Han emperor, who wields magical powers, and his army of terra cotta warriors.

The Good: Pretty much everything about this film is good. Visually, it’s powerful, with great settings and excellent special effects—fully up to what you’d expect, given the previous films. The story itself is well written, with a clear arc of rising conflict, driven by the desires of opposing characters, and those characters are, themselves, well conceived. Everyone has a believable motivation, even the emperor’s modern toady. Further, the dialog is well-written, with some great little moments of true humor injected into otherwise tense scenes. (“The next time I say we’ve been in rougher spots before, this is the spot I mean!”) The acting is right on target from opening to ending, without a hitch. And the action itself is so smoothly integrated into the story that I forgot I was watching an action film.

The Bad: Not much to complain about. I might argue that the nod to Shangri-La was unnecessary, and not really in keeping with the water of life in the cavern on the way to that valley—but then, I’m a fan of the original Lost Horizon novel (and of the Lost Horizon film, although it wimps out on the ending a bit, reducing the effect.) A more significant complaint might be that Rachel Weisz did not reprise the role of Evelyn this time, and while Maria Bello did an excellent job, the casting change interfered with my initial enjoyment (especially given that the opening scenes deal so much with the domesticated days of the O’Connells attempting retirement). Imagine if someone other than Brendan Fraser were cast as Rick, and you’ll know what I mean. And finally, there is a plane landing that stretches the limits of credulity a bit more than I’m comfortable with, but not enough to spoil the movie.

Final Thoughts: I’m surprised, genuinely surprised, that reviewers and viewers alike rated this film in the C range. It struck me as every bit as good as the original movie, considerably better than the second, and certainly worthy of my admiration. This one goes into my favorites list, to be watched again on DVD for certain!

—Lester Smith

(Originally posted at www.LesterSmith.com)

*sigh*

Yes, that’s one of the cheesiest titles I’ve ever heard for a movie. Yes, you’re right, I must have no pride at all to even think of watching such a film.

But you know what? The film surprised me. Imagine if Joss Whedon decided to jam Buffy and Serenity together into one movie—and wrote the script on one of his off days. The result could very well have been this film. It certainly has the sort of cast Mr. Whedon might have put together, and the dialog is well written. Even the special effects are respectable—while you can see where they had to cut some corners on location shots, they did a great job with what was available, and the computer animation is considerably better than average.

Now, given that concept, what would you have titled it?

Exactly. There are simply no good options for titling a movie about vampire hunters in outer space.

Buy Vampire Wars at Amazon

—Lester Smith

(Originally posted at www.LesterSmith.com)

Just to be clear, of the four movies by this title, I’m talking about the 2007 film, about a murdered lady ventriloquist taking her revenge on the town that killed her.

Not being a big fan of slasher flicks, I’m happy not to have known ahead of time that this film was created by the same team that created the Saw trilogy. Some people might actually find that an added attraction, of course, but I might have avoided Dead Silence in lieu of something else on the agenda.

And I would have missed out on a great film. There’s pretty much everything to like about this one. The story is tight, with surprise turns right up to the end. The concept is creepy, as are the events. (I got chills several times.) The acting is transparent, by which I mean that the characters are so well played that you get caught up in the story, forgetting it’s just a movie. And the cinematography is some of the best I can recall. There’s a starkness to the colors that leaves the impression of black and white, with just a touch of jaundiced green, against which dark red elements stand out, and the angles are carefully chosen to heighten the dreamlike effect.

It’s obvious the creators of this film poured their love into it. I’m impressed! Guess it’s time to reconsider watching Saw.