Yet another Brendan Fraser iteration of the Mummy franchise is upon us, let loose by movie executives seeking to excavate every bit of profit possible from this once-dead, but never-content-to-rest series. When the first of the latest generation of The Mummy movies debuted in 1999, it opened with $43 million in 3,210 theaters and went on to gross $415 million worldwide. This was soon followed by The Mummy Returns; then its spin-off, The Scorpion King (a vehicle for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson which followed the story of the Mathayus the Scorpion King character from The Mummy Returns); and lastly the blink-and-you'll-miss-it, The Mummy: The Animated Series.

For the most part, the movies bowed to mixed reviews: too many special effects, the action being far too slapstick, the villains lacking any real depth. But part of this could be laid to blame on viewer expectation. When one thinks of the classic Mummy pictures, one recalls a staggering monster skulking through the night, the fulfillment of a curse upon any who would disturb the rest of these eternal sleepers. However, the Brendan Fraser models, in truth, were action adventure movies using the trappings of a horror monster classic to propel the plot. Essentially, we have something closer in spirit to Indiana Jones than a horror monster movie.

The idea of mummies has always fascinated me. Seeking the answers to questions about life after death produced a veritable death culture, so much of their life and thought devoted to their burial, funeral, and tombs, seeing death as an enemy which could be beaten (and to achieve success in an afterlife) with enough preparation. Their god Osiris, with his story of death and resurrection, foreshadows the Christian story many people believe in. All to fulfill a desire for eternal life for which they are remembered some 4000 years later.

Symbolically, these creatures portray a resurrection to walking death. They are the living dead, with no hope, only the eternal existence in a "body of death" (Romans 7:24). They are particular reminders that there are worse things than death.

In the third go around, Rick and the gang (his wife Evelyn now played by Maria Bello, their son Alex by Luke Ford, and her brother Jonathan by John Hannah) battle a resurrected Han Emperor (Jet Li). In epic fashion, the action takes us from the catacombs of ancient China to the frozen vistas of the Himalayas. This go-around they face a Far East variant of the Mummy, again wielding unworldly forces, and with enough special effects spectacle to hopefully create a fun, distracting roller-coaster for moviegoers.

Granted, when the Brendan Fraser Mummy debuted, it was in the context of a movie landscape which had been without an Indiana Jones fix for nearly a decade. With the latest Indiana Jones bowing (and disappearing) earlier this summer, it will be interesting to see how audiences react to this "Indiana Jones for a new millennium" in this latest go-around. It was easier to sell an imitation brand when the original wasn't around. However, even the latest version of the original isn't what it used to be, so maybe Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor can give audiences the thrill they have been looking for.