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Two out of Five stars
Running time: 117 mins

Disappointing threequel with a badly written script, irritating characters, dodgy CGI work, a miscast Maria Bello and an underused Jet Li.

What's it all about?
Several years after the events of The Mummy Returns, ex-adventurer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser, who doesn't seem to have aged at all) and his wife Evy (Maria Bello, replacing Rachel Weisz) welcome the chance to come out of semi-retirement when they're asked to deliver a priceless gem to China. When they get there, they encounter Evy's ne'er-do-well brother Jonathan (John Hannah) and, to their surprise, their grown-up son Alex (Luke Ford). Alex has just excavated the remains of the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li), who was imprisoned by a sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) over 2000 years ago and put into suspended animation, along with his 10,000-strong terracotta army.

Sure enough, it isn't long before the Dragon Emperor accidentally gets reanimated, reacquaints himself with his elemental-based superpowers and decides to revive his warriors and take over the world. Will Rick, Evy, Alex and a sexy ninja (Isabella Leong) be able to stop him?

The Bad
Maria Bello is badly miscast here, struggling with an unconvincing English accent (or Rachel Weisz impression) and there's no chemistry between her and Fraser. Similarly, Ford (who looks like Sean Slater out of Eastenders) is annoyingly smug and when it comes to irritating supporting characters, John Hannah's Jonathan is second only to Jar Jar Binks.

The Worst
In addition, the film completely wastes Jet Li and the script is shockingly inept, piling on ridiculous set pieces (don't mention the yeti) with scant regard for how the scenes actually link up. The plot is also almost insultingly stupid at times: for example, it completely misses the point of Shangri-La, fails to explain the yeti and, worst of all, insists on referring to the Dragon Emperor as a Mummy when he clearly isn't one.

Worth seeing?
In short, this is badly written, poorly acted and frequently infuriating. Here's hoping no-one reanimates the franchise for a fourth outing.