Brendan Fraser plays a hero who refuses to be mummified in “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer.” AP photo

The third ‘‘Mummy’’ installment dutifully sends its characters to China where they participate in international competitions of mummy fencing, yeti vaulting and synchronized senselessness. ‘‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’’ finds Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) and wife Evelyn (Maria Bello taking over for Rachel Weisz) heading East in hopes of recapturing the adrenaline of adventure. They’re retired following World War II, apparently living richly off of the $800 million worldwide box office of the first two ‘‘Mummy’’ films. The O’Connells are British aristocrat-adventurers who have retired too young and are begging to get back in the mummy-slaying game. The film, directed by Rob Cohen (‘‘The Fast and the Furious’’) who takes the franchise’s reins from Stephen Sommers, opens with our historical backdrop: a ludicrously extravagant tale of ‘‘a mythic battle between good and evil played out in ancient China,’’ as a narrator informs.