Full Synopsis - The Mummy 3

The movie opens with Han (Jet Li), a warlord in ancient China conquering his opponents and becoming the first emperor of China, known as the Dragon Emperor. The first thing he does after becoming king is to order the construction of the Great Wall of China. He orders to bury all his enemies underneath it and puts a curse on them to hold it up forever. He, then, orders a witch, Zi Yuan (Michelle Yeoh) to find the secret of immortality with the help of General Ming Guo (Wong), his second in command. Han is much enamored by the beauty of Zi Yuan and openly expresses his desire for her. During their quest of secret of immortality, Zi Yuan and Ming fall in love. After casting her spell to, supposedly, make Dragon king immortal, Yuan says that she should be allowed to live with Ming as a reward for her services. This angers Han to no end and he orders the execution of Ming and manages to wound Yuan before she escapes. Prior to her escape, a very infuriated Yuan reveals that she has actually cursed Han and his army to become encased in terracotta. Immediately, China’s ruthless Dragon Emperor and his 10,000 warriors get entombed in clay as a vast, silent terracotta army and lay forgotten for eons.

Now, the action shifts to 1946, 13 years after the events of The Mummy Returns. Rick (Brendan Fraser) is leading a peaceful life with his wife Evie (Maria Bello) in a massive estate. They both are bored and sorely miss the adventures that had brought them together. But none of them is willing to broach the subject. Their 20 something son, Alex O’Connell (Luke Ford), is off to China without their knowledge and consent to look for Emperor Han’s tomb. Roger Wilson (Calder), an archaeology professor is providing financial support to Alex. After long and tedious work, they are able to discover Han’s tomb. Alex and Roger, accompanied by a few Chinese workers, enter the tomb with great excitement. They are stunned to see the gargantuan silent army, but to their horror, their companions start falling victims to hidden traps. Finally, Alex is attacked by a masked woman but he manages to fight her off and they succeed in bringing Han’s Mummy to Shanghai.

O’Connell’s are entrusted with Eye of Shangri-La to take it back to China as a gesture of good faith by the British government. On reaching China, they find, to their great consternation, that their son has been working on excavation and has discovered Emperor Han’s mummy. They are at once proud of him and worried that he has been putting his life in danger. It is revealed that Wilson is working in tandem with a paramilitary group led by General Yang (Chau-Sang) and his second-in-command, Choi (Meng). They believe that only Emperor Han, is capable of restoring greatness of China. Eye of Shangri-La is used to remove the terracotta encasing Han and he is resurrected. Choi and Yang request Han to accept them as his loyal servants, that he grants but kills Wilson. The young woman who had attacked Alex in the tomb, attacks Han with a dragger. A fight ensues and Han escapes with that dragger along with Choi and Yang in tow, followed by O’Connell family, Evelyn’s brother Jonathan Carnahan (Hannah) and the young woman. Despite their best effort, they are unable to stop Han, who gets away.

The young woman reveals that she is Lin (Leong), Ming and Zi Yuan’s daughter. She is immortal like her mother because of magical waters of Shangri-La. Now, Han must be stopped from reaching Shangri-La at all costs otherwise, he would become immortal. He could only be killed if he is stabbed through his heart with that magical dragger which Han has managed to take away from her. The entire group hires a small plane to take them high into the Himalayas so that they can find their way to Shangri-La by placing the Eye at the top of a tower. One the other hand, Han and Yang along with his soldiers also reach Himalayas to find their way to Shangri-La. A deadly fight breaks out between them. They are able to hold off the soldiers with the help of three Yeti’s summoned by Lin. But they could not prevent Han from learning the location of Shangri-La. Han also tries to kill Alex to stop him from starting an avalanche by throwing a dragger at him, but Rick comes in the way and takes it in place of his son. Yetis’ save them from the avalanche by covering them up and once it’s over, they dig their way out. Avalanche, set off by Alex, allows them to reach Shangri-La before Han and meet Zi Yuan who heals Rick’s wounds by using the magical waters of Shangri-La. Alex and Lin are attracted towards each other and get attached but Lin pushes away any relationship because of her immortality.

Han arrives there and amidst fight get into the magical waters of Shangri-La which, at once, restore his human form and youth, replenish his strength and give him power to shapeshift. He transforms into a three headed dragon, abducts Lin and flies to his tomb to raise his terracotta army. He declares that once he leads his legion across the great wall, an ancient spell would make them invincible. He intends to plunge the world into his merciless, unending service with the help of his unassailable army. But he is pursued by the O’Connells and Zi Yuan who sacrifices her own and Lin’s immortality to breathe life into those buried under the Great Wall of China and General Ming. The terracotta army and the army of undead clash with each other as Zi has a duel with Han. She sacrifices her life by jumping right into the blade of his sword in order to steal the dragger back from the sheath that is tied to his waist. Han transforms into a Chinese demon and goes under the Great Wall to draw back Ming and the army of the undead using his magical powers. Rick and Alex tackle Han but are outmatched when dagger breaks in two pieces. Rick, then, challenges Han to a fair fight and when Han change into human form, Rick and Alex attack him from both sides with hilt and blade, respectively. Dragger plunges deep in his heart and Hans dies. With his death, his army crumbles into dust again. The army of the dead celebrates briefly before going back to graves.

The O’Connells return to Shanghai. Lin and Alex, finally, become a couple and are seen dancing close to each other. Jonathan moves to Peru along with Eye of Shangri-La, which he had stolen for himself, thinking that there wouldn’t be any mummies in Peru. At the end of the movie, a statement appears on the screen stating that shortly after his arrival, mummy sightings have been reported in Peru.