Guardians of the Tomb (2018)

An innocent discovery of a well-preserved mummified Chinese Emperor from 200 B.C. unearths a two-thousand-year-old nightmare, a secret that should have remained buried.

Review

Okay, so this is a weird one. I thought it was a kids movie. It's basically a Brendan Frasier Mummy rip off, and has Kelsey Grammer in it, in some aging Indie Jones role. Then I watched it. Director Kimble Rendall (Bait) really wanted a kids film that didn't hold back, obviously. You remember the scarab beatles in the Mummy? Yeah. This is a whole movie of that. The direction is spot on. The film flows well, and has a nice feel to it. It really is everything you want from an Indie Jones type movie, but with some scenes of... horror.

It's a fun romp, with martial arts, evil creatures, a biblical maguffin, double crossing, true love... yada, yada. The action scenes are solid. The horror scenes are for a middle grade age, but they're surprisingly effective.

The cast is mostly solid. Kelsey Grammer (The Expendables 3) does really well for 73. Bingbing Li (The Meg) shoulders the weight of the film well. It's not all roses with Kellan Lutz (Twilight) in the major action man role being... his usual self, but you can't have everything.

There isn't much more to say. If you like the Mummy films, or the Indiana Jones Films, you'll likely like this. It's slightly lower budget, but also pretty edgy with it's content, and certainly comes recommended.

On a technical note, the film is paced almost perfectly. It makes the run time disappear without thought and feels... right. It's strangely right footed for something that I didn't expect to be as good as it turned out.

Oddly, all of the posters call it "7 Guardians of the Tomb" and the font is weirdly similar to some other Galaxy Guardians one could mention.