Leofwine_draca For a film that's the prequel of a sequel to a remake, you can hardly go in expecting cinematic gold. Maybe a little fun and plenty of action, if you're lucky. Thankfully, that's exactly what I got when I sat down to watch this, the offspring of THE MUMMY RETURNS, set in the ancient Middle East and detailing a strongman's rebellion against an enemy army. On the face of it, THE SCORPION KING is another in a long line of sword-and-sandal epics, bearing a superficial resemblance to the Steve Reeves-starrers of the '50s and '60s, but at heart this is a cheesy romp more in line with '80s offerings like CONAN THE DESTROYER. It doesn't care much about plot, originality, or authenticity: it's a kid's film designed to entertain, and that's exactly what it does.Now, I'm not a big fan of these movies. The Rock's first line is 'Boo' and we're immediately into muck-about action of the kind made popular in the two '90s TV shows, HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS and XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. Then the wah-wah guitar music starts, and I was reminded unfavourably of KULL THE CONQUEROR, a film very similar to this except that it had a much smaller budget. Still, as I watched, I realised something: this wasn't actually too bad. A lot of the goodwill I was feeling comes from the presence of The Rock, here in his first leading role; he has an immense likability to him, and the ability not to take himself too seriously, just as Schwarzenegger was in the '80s. Okay, so he's no great shakes as an actor, but his physicality fills the screen and he adds a lot of energy to what plays out.The rest of the film is so-so. The plot is average, and quickly becomes formulaic: escape from these guys here, chase there, recaptured here, a fight scene there, then a lead-up to the ending. The supporting cast is also utterly predictable: ruffian children tagging along; an Asian-looking sorceress (Kelly Hu acquits herself better than Tia Carrera in KULL THE CONQUEROR, but only just); a tough, handsome bad guy (forgettable Scotsman Steven Brand); an eccentric Bernard Hill (also starring in the excellent LORD OF THE RINGS movies around this time) and Michael Clarke Duncan, the only person who could conceivably give The Rock an ass-whupping; needless to say, the extended bout between the two is a highlight. The action is passable without being inspiring or well choreographed, but the budget – clearly lower than usual – is put to good use, especially for the explosive climax. Director Chuck Russell made one of my favourite B-movies, the '80s BLOB remake, but his creativity doesn't make much of an impact here. Still, I liked The Rock and the short running time meant I didn't get bored, so THE SCORPION KING must have something going for it.

Tweekums The film 'The Mummy Returns' introduced the character of The Scorpion King as the main villain with a brief flashback to his original rise to power and his later fall thousands of years before; this film gives us more details of his rise to power when he was still very much the 'good guy'.At the start Mathayus, the man destined to become the Scorpion King, is hired to assassinate the sorceress who is enabling the evil Memnon to conquer that part of the world… he also has a personal motive; Memnon killed his brother and he wants revenge. Things don't go according to plan and he ends up fleeing from Memnon along with his sorceress and Arpid, a horse thief, who had helped him. Mathayus must fight off many of Memnon's men and although he prevails he is stabbed by an arrow dipped in scorpion venom. The sorceress manages to save him but cautions that he will always have scorpion blood. Following a vision that shows Mathayus's death the sorceress returns to Memnon's palace. Soon afterwards Mathayus and his allies get there too and the inevitable final confrontation occurs.This film may not be a classic; much of it is fairly ridiculous but it was a lot more fun than I expected. The story is decent enough and serves to provide plenty of action; this is done in an exciting rather than gory manner of the sort that is probably suitable for older children. There are also a good number of laughs to be had. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson isn't the best actor but he does have a presence as Mathayus and the role hardly calls for a great thespian. Steven Brand is okay as bad guy Memnon but is a bit bland. The supporting cast are perfectly serviceable; Grant Heslov provides a good number of laughs as Arpid and Kelly Hu is solid as the sorceress even if her character seems to be a copy of Solitaire from 'Live and Let Die' and her costume, what there is of it, is clearly designed to catch the eye of male viewers… something it does successfully! Overall I'd say this is worth watching if you want a cheesy action movie with little to offend if you aren't bothered by the fairly bloodless violence.

Filipe Neto This film depicts essentially a civil war in which a group of warriors led by Mathayus will try to confront Memnon, an evil and ruthless king. The story seems to go up in Egypt before the time of the pharaohs, and seems to be slightly based on so-called "Scorpion Pharaoh", an obscure historical figure about which we know almost nothing. Directed by Chuck Russell, it has script by Stephen Sommers, the director who made "The Mummy" films, and which introduced in these films a hook for this one. The cast is led by Dwayne Johnson, the protagonist, and also has Steven Brand and Kelly Hu.This film resembles visually films like "Mad Max" or "Conan the Barbarian" and television series like "Xena: Warrior Princess". They are films that seem based on Antiquity, to some extent, and who seek to be war epics or, at least, adventure movies. Thus, this film brings very little new things. The hook made in "The Mummy Returns" for these movie resulted in a major continuity paradox because the hero of this movie, the Scorpion King, is depicted there as a powerful villain. The cast is regular and doesn't bring anything interesting. Kely Hu was apparently chosen only based on their appearance under clothing as Dwayne Johnson was selected for his ability to action roles. In fact, Johnson is far from the sensitivity and depth required for a more versatile actor. The scenarios are abundant in imagination just as the costumes, which seems to freely mix elements of ancient civilizations with other right out of comics or of any indie fashion studio.This movie could have been much better if it had been located properly in space and time. The problem with this film is the exaggerated imagination of the director and screenwriter. Everything has limits. The cast could also have been chosen better and the characters could have been built in a much more interesting way. Positive are the action scenes, using martial arts from Philippines about we never heard before, but that look good on the screen.

Rainey Dawn Dwayne Johnson (AKA The Rock) played a wonderful role as Mathayus in this film. I really enjoyed his character.To me, this film is outstanding! I can enjoy this movie as a stand alone film (away from "The Mummy" movie series). The story/script is good and well acted out by all of the actors. The sets and costumes are awesome - really took me back to the time of the Akkadian Empire. Action, action and lots of fun action in this adventurous film."The Scorpion King" would make a great double feature with a movie like "Conan the Barbarian " or "The Beastmaster".8/10