Move forward in time four years. The economy of the United States has collapsed, unemployment and crime are on the rise and private corporations run even more of the prisons than they do now. Zoom in on one of said prisons: Terminal Island Prison.

This prison broadcasts to the world, via an internet paysite, a popular reality show called 'Death Race'. 'Death Race' is not only a race to the finish line, it's a battle pitting car against car ((ndash)) cars equipped with missiles, with explosives strapped to them and a myriad of other violence-inducing goodies.

The drivers are serious offenders who can gain their freedom by winning 5 races. Two of the drivers are Machine Gun Joe (Gibson) and a masked driver known as Frankenstein (David Carradine in a cameo appearance). When Frankenstein's defensive systems fail and Joe destroys Frankenstein's car he is assumed to be critically wounded, or dead. From here on the plot becomes ever more complicated, convoluted and involved ((ndash)) and also less and less believable. New characters are introduced, all of whom turn out to have some sort of past link to each other through murder, robbery or other violent crimes.

If you are into films with unrealistic plots, corny dialogue, fast cars, car chases and races, explosions, mayhem and violence, with a smattering of love interest, then this is the film for you.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has former adventurers Rick and Evelyn O'Connell (Fraser and Bello), bored with domestic tranquility, jumping at the chance to get back into a new adventure at the request of the British Army. Unfortunately they are duped a little and as soon as their son Alex (Luke Ford) has unearthed the titular Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the family delivers an artefact and a mummified immortal Emperor to the baddies. Help arrives in the form of one of those beautiful martial arts babes who kicks ass as well as Evelyn's brother Jonathan (Hannah, still the best character in the series) who is reluctantly roped into the adventure. Throw in the brilliant martial arts stars Michelle Yeoh as the sorceress Zi Juan and of course Jet Li as the Dragon Emperor himself and you've the makings of a rollicking adventure.

Overall the film is good-natured and easy viewing, with scenes like the Yeti fight and the firework chase being quite fun. It does have elements of great Hong Kong martial arts fantasy films but falls a little flat, due to an over-reliance on computer-generated imagery. There is the wonderful re-teaming of Yeoh and Li (previously working in Tai Chi Master) but Li is lost behind the expanse of CGI for most of his scenes. It does have enough to entertain, albeit lightly, for its screen time, but seems to be "dragon" its feet somewhat.