The Scorpion King is the spin-off film from The Mummy series chronicling the beginnings of Mathayus who later comes to be known as the Scorpion King. Watching the The Mummy Returns is not necessary to watch this film but it does make as an interesting segway. Of course The Mummy series suffered considerable decline after the first film, but The Scorpion King is a decent and entertaining action adventure film set in ancient Egypt that we don't see a whole a lot of anymore.
Dwayne Johnson "aka" The Rock, returns in his role as The Scorpion King, a role that was limited in the second Mummy adventure. This time around we get a more in depth and personal look into the character. Mathayus is part slowly declining warrior tribe of ancient bounty hunter's, his brother is brutally murdered in front of him by a ruler named Memnon in an attempt to kill a sorceress who is guiding Memnon in his plan to over take the region. Mathayas manages to escapes and his vow to avenge his brother's death transforms him into the only hope a beaten people have of escaping Memnon's rule.
The Scorpion King is my least favorite film in the Mummy series (not counting The Mummy 3) but that doesn't mean it's a horrible film. While the acting may be highly mediocre, the plot played out, the hair pieces awful and the production value sorely lacking in comparison with The Mummy, it's still a well crafted no-brainer action film with a short run-time and non stop energy. Throw in the lovely Kelly Hu in a loin cloth for the entire film and there's definitely enough to keep most action / adventure fans entertained for 90 minutes. *Surprisingly, I just discovered a sequel currently being filmed entitled The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian, I must say it looks to be a huge disappointment as none of the cast will be returning and the actor playing Mathayas, is ten years younger than The Rock and about half as buff. I would have wholeheartedly welcomed the return of The Rock and Kelly Hu but when you can't even get those two to come back it's probably not a very good sign. So needless to say this sequel has flop written all over it, and is probably only being made in an attempt to garner some success off the new Mummy film.
7/10
*This review was originally written prior to the release of the direct to DVD prequel.
" The Scorpion King is a decent and entertaining action adventure film set in ancient Egypt that we don't see a whole a lot of anymore."
this is the exact sentence I repeat often myself :) And as far as I know, THE RISE OF THE ACCADIAN is not in production, it was released straight to the DVD market under Universal's banner :)
Yea, I know. This review was originally written back in 2008 prior to the release of the direct to DVD prequel, as it turned out to be. All my old Rotten Tomatoes reviews that I'm bringing over and polishing up a bit have the original dates under the posters, so some of the information in the reviews is old.
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" The Scorpion King is a decent and entertaining action adventure film set in ancient Egypt that we don't see a whole a lot of anymore."
ReplyDeletethis is the exact sentence I repeat often myself :)
And as far as I know, THE RISE OF THE ACCADIAN is not in production, it was released straight to the DVD market under Universal's banner :)
Yea, I know. This review was originally written back in 2008 prior to the release of the direct to DVD prequel, as it turned out to be. All my old Rotten Tomatoes reviews that I'm bringing over and polishing up a bit have the original dates under the posters, so some of the information in the reviews is old.
ReplyDelete