Time Raiders (2016)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Young Wu Xie (pretty boy Lu Han) comes from a family of treasure hunters. However his Third Uncle is reluctant to let him join their dangerous missions. On their next mission to raid the tomb of the Snake Empress (Mallika Sherawai), Third Uncle finally allows him to follow. They are joined by the mysterious and super skilled Zhang Kylin (Boran Jing). Once in the treasure tomb, they are attacked by mercenaries led by the pretty but deadly Ning A (Ma Sichun), who are employed by the eccentric Hendrix (Vanni Corbellini) who is looking for the fountain of youth.   

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Time Raiders is a copy of The Mummy and of course Tomb Raider. Which were themselves inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark. Less auspiciously, Time Raiders also resembles Michelle Yeo's 2002 flop The Touch.

It might be entertaining to younger audiences but for the rest of us, we've seen it before. The story is derivative and has no new ideas. Its slow pacing doesn't help matters either. The first half hour of buildup is unnecessary and doesn't help much with character development.

Things seem to improve when they finally reach the Snake Empress's tomb. Unfortunately, after a fun shootout with the mercenaries, the pacing bogs down again. The evil puppet room scene is fun but too long. As is the Mummy-derivative flesh-eating spiders sequence.

Running a gauntlet of murder machines? Come on guys, can't you do anything original? They even copied the mapping drones and 3D video map from Prometheus. 

The final showdown with the Snake Empress? Too long and drawn out. So yeah, the movie is a slow theme park ride of booby traps and killer bad guys, with not much story. The male-bonding between Wu Xie and Zhang Kylin feels forced and is unconvincing.  

The Mummy had fun characters, and good pacing. It was also funny. Director Daniel Lee and writer Uncle Three have no clue as to what made The Mummy so much fun. 

On the plus side, the visuals are good. The many mechanical gadgets are intriguing. The lighting is beautiful but also distracting. All the underground rooms in the tomb have pretty light shooting in from windows. So where is the light coming from? 

In the end, Time Raiders is an excuse for special effects eye candy, with a flimsy plot and cardboard characters tacked on as an excuse to justify the action. What a disappointment.