The Scorpion King (2002) User Reviews (466)

So he's...the bad guy?

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 7/10 · 24 October 2004]

Okay, I'm confused. The Mummy Returns portrays the Scorpion King as some evil tyrant who wants to take over the world by smiting any and all civilizations in his way. But that's exactly the opposite of the same character in his very own movie. In fact he struggles to overthrow an evil ruler for those very reasons.

So when, and why, did he become bad? I'm afraid I'm not following this. The movie, however, is entertaining, if rather short and silly. Chuck Russell tries to cram in loads of fighting and hokum as he can. It works and The Rock is very cool as said King (or Mathayus) and former Jason victim Kelly Hu is gorgeous as the scantily-clad Cassandra. Grant Heslov and Michael Clarke Duncan fill out their usual roles as ethnic comic-relief and big, muscley guy.

The film has slightly less integrity to it than the Mummy movies. This is evident with the fun and lively, but completely inappropriate, score by John Debney. I'm not expecting anything like his Passion of the Christ score but blaring death metal guitars seem kinda out of place in a movie set 3000 years BC.

But this movie is a cheeseburger, not a 17-course dinner. So why bother complaining. After all it's a prequel of a sequel of a movie that was a re-make of a movie that was made in the 30's. But it's well made and loads of fun so just go along with it and you'll enjoy.

Filmed in Panavision the DVD is in perfect 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with very loud and thrilling Dolby/DTS 5.1 sound. The extras are fluff, but that's to be expected.

A reasonably unrealistic "Kimmerian" movie

[andriy-tanatar · 7/10 · 28 September 2005]

To put it short, "The Scorpion King" is not a bad movie - for the genre. Just don't expect it to be realistic or have some deep plot.

If you have ever seen "Conan" movies, you probably know the setting: early ages, a bunch of "lost" civilizations, some "emperors" whose armies march the world and a lonely hero who tries to stop him. Blend in a touch of magic (old technologies, paranormal, whatever - just to taste), add some "slashnig" sequences - and - voilà - you get the movie.

Well, it sounds quite simple, but since "Red Sonja" I can't remember anything worth watching. Now this is the film: reasonably bad, quite cliché and not very imaginative. Still, it has quite a bit of eye-candy, and, in some sense, it's superior even to the famed "Gladiator" as it doesn't pretend to be any more than it is. Probably, it could have been at least 20 minutes longer, but let's blame it on the rising cost of production. Worth watching if you know perfectly well what you want. 7/10.

The Scorpion King

[jboothmillard · 4/10 · 28 November 2011]

From director Chuck Russell (The Mask, Eraser), this was the immediate spin off film made straight after The Mummy Returns, the film that introduced us to the title character, I suppose this one I had to watch as well. Basically, set in the days of the ancient Egyptians and pyramids, Memnon (Steven Brand) is the evil king who uses The Sorceress (X-Men 2's Kelly Hu) with her psychic powers to foretell his victories and take over the empire. The leaders of the free world have one last hope for freedom of the kingdom and to stop Memnon from taking over the world, that is sending mercenary assassin Mathayus (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) to kill the Sorceress and foil his plans. Meeting the Sorceress however Mathayus changed his plan and instead kidnaps her to make bargains or whatever, and he has trickster Arpid (True Lies actor Grant Heslov) and tribal leader Balthazar (The Green Mile's Michael Clarke Duncan) tagging along too. Obviously there are obstacles along the way, chases, battles and traps, but in the end Mathayus does manage to defeat the villain in the end, and fulfil his destiny becoming The Scorpion King. Also starring Bernard Hill as Philos, Peter Facinelli as Prince Takmet and Roger Rees as King Pheron. Johnson is fine as the lead character, and it is alright to see the character from The Mummy Returns good for the whole film, not just in the opening and later becoming a giant scorpion monster, the supporting cast are fine too, the story though could be a little bit fresher and original, it is almost same old same, cheesy and an only reasonably fun to watch action adventure fantasy. Okay!

This is not exactly the best movie in the world but ...

[lgilbertom · 6/10 · 27 February 2003]

Scorpion King is not exactly the best movie in the world but have a good scenes of action is reasonable fun and good to watch. Don't expected a sequel of the Mummy, this movie is more like Connan in the Desert, than the Mummy. However, it's a good movie to see, but i advise you to watch in the cable TV.

I didn't really like it that much

[0U · 21 February 2020]

Its not as great as the mummy films, and it felt more like a cheap tv show. However, the performance by dwayne wasnt all that bad. Overall still not enough to say what a decent action adventure.

Revives the lost art of the bad sword-and-sorcery epic

[JamesHitchcock · 3/10 · 12 August 2008]

Once upon a time there were a Mr & Mrs Rock who decided to name their son "The". Having a definite article for a Christian name, however, proved no drawback to young The, and he went on to become a well-known wrestler, as well as an occasional actor.

"The Scorpion King" is a spin-off from "The Mummy Returns", in which The played a relatively minor character called the Scorpion King. In the earlier film, however, this character was a villain, a tyrannical, power-crazed warlord; here he is a hero, a freedom fighter trying to overthrow a tyrannical, power-crazed warlord. The film does not have much in common with "The Mummy Returns"; it bears a much closer resemblance to the sort of sword-and-sorcery epics that the current Governor of California was making in the early eighties.

The film is supposedly set somewhere in the Middle East in the far-distant past, thousands of years before the Pyramids were built, although there are a number of anachronisms. The earliest Egyptian pyramids were built around 2,600 BC, but we see horsemen using stirrups, not invented until more than 2,000 years later. Gunpowder (said to be a secret formula from China) plays an important part in the plot; the Chinese did indeed invent gunpowder, but not until the time of the Tang dynasty, around 800 AD. There are characters with Greek names such as Philos and Cassandra, even though the supposed date of the film long antedates the rise of Greek culture.

The basic idea is that civilisation as we know it, or as we knew it several millennia BC, is being threatened by the evil tyrant Memnon, who is set on conquering the entire world. Memnon is assisted in his conquests by a powerful Sorcerer who can foretell the future. Mathayus, a professional assassin, is hired by Memnon's enemies to kill the Sorcerer, but then discovers that she is actually an attractive young woman, certainly far too attractive to kill. Mathayus decides that his best plan of action is to fall in love with her, get her to fall in love with him and enlist her help in the battle against Memnon. (Was Mathayus a distant ancestor of James Bond? He has made use of a similar plan of action on numerous occasions). You can easily work out the rest of the story from here.

The film is not quite as awful as some of the sword-and-sorcery films from the 1980s, but that is because of the advances in technology during the intervening period. The special effects are still fairly ropey, but they are not as hilariously bad as they were in something like "Red Sonja". The art of acting, however, has not advanced at all; The Rock is every bit as wooden as early-period Schwarzenegger. The beauteous Kelly Hu is rather better than the ghastly Brigitte Nielsen, who played the equivalent role in "Red Sonja", but then it would be difficult to be worse. Stephen Brand as Memnon is weak and Grant Heslov as the horse-thief Arpid who reluctantly becomes Mathayus's sidekick is simply annoying. Bernard Hill can be a very good actor, as he showed in "Lord of the Rings" and "Titanic", so it was a disappointment to see him in sorry trash like this.

The plot is no more than a succession of clichés and the dialogue is frequently ponderous and stilted. (Sample: "May the gods have pity on you, for my brother will not"). Notwithstanding the success of Peter Jackson's brilliant "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Scorpion King" proves that, even in the twenty-first century the art of making bad fantasy epics has not been lost. 3/10

Rousing adventure set in an ancient time , thousands of years before the Pyramids , a tyrant rules and ¨The Rock¨ exacts a relentless vengeance against him

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 16 July 2020]

Nice first installment in The Scorpion King saga with lots of action , fights , sword-play and necromancy . Set five thousand years ago , predating the pyramids , in ancient Gomorrah . A desert warrior named Mathayus (Dwayne Johnson ,The Rock, who is the title star) rises up against the evil army commanded by Memnon (Steven Brand) that is destroying his homeland by convoking dark forces and using the psychic powers of his sorceress Cassandra (Kelli Hu) to fortell his great victories . The remaining free nomadic tribes are forced to form an uneasy alliance to put an end to mighty and tyrannical King Memnon , along with his underling as Takmet (Peter Facinelli), whose reign is full of evilness . Mathayus uses all his strength and cunning to outwit a formidable opponent who will stop at nothing to unlock a supreme ancient power helped by a bizarre witch . Then Malthayus captures the enemy's key sorceress , takes her deep into the desert and prepares for a final showdown . As Mathayus assisted by his motley allied group (Grant Heslov , Bernard Hill) has to rescue his lover from the claws of the feared Memnon who kidnapped her , resulting in Mathayus ends up getting much more than he bargained for . Now, with the help of his new powerful allies, including bouncing warriors as Balthazar (Michael Clarke Duncan) , Mathayus returns to the legendary city to infiltrate Memnon's impenetrable fortress in the desert and exact his vendetta supported by unexpected and resourceful allied people . It's up to Mathayus to fufill his destiny and become the great Scorpion King. Warrior. Legend. King.

This over-the-top actioner is more in the ¨Sword and Witchery¨ vein than a historical film . Yes it's cheesy at times , but it doesn't actually strive for any more . In the wake of WWF fashion , the action here is relentless and unstoppable and in which a hunk hero fights mercilessly , only to find himself up against a seemingly indestructible evil army , and , ultimately , doing a last ditch effort to stop Memnon from taking over the world . In terms of milking a cash cow this blockbuster was made to make money and at the same time was a spin-off to ¨The Mummy¨ saga directed by Stephen Sommers , here as a co-producer . But it's mindlessly amusing and entertainment all the same , and doesn't take itself seriously . All the men have the usual requisite amount , showing muscles and strength , while the women are all scantly clad . The main motivation behind the whole endeavour seems to be to make Dwayne Johnson , a movie star , and it was really achieved , as The Rock plays competently Mathayus , one of the few survivors and the last of the Akkadians, the brave assassin destined to be the next Scorpion King, as the leaders of the remaining free tribes hire him for an impossible task of executing , being entrusted to murder a villain king . Accompanied by the gorgeous Kelli Hu as the fortune-telling sorceress Cassandra , the always sympathetic Grant Heslov as trickster Arpid , Bernard Hill who was the famous captain of the Titanic picture and the early deceased Michael Clarke Duncan as the giant tribe leader. While the extremely evil Steve Brand plays a generalissimo who has bloodily seized the throne and demands cruel proof of blind loyalty . The picture was professionally directed by Chuck Russell who keeps matters rollicking , but it's wall to wall hokum nevertheless .

This thrilling Scorpion King saga is formed by the first and best¨Scorpion King¨ 2002 by Stephen Sommers with The Rock , Dwayne Johnson, Steven Brand , Kelli Hu , Grant Heslov , Bernard Hill , Michael Clarke Duncan . Followed by regular and routine sequels being actually inspired by the original ¨Scorpion King ¨in which since his rise to power developed in Scorpion King I¨ , Mathayus' kingdom has fallen and his sweetheart Sorceress has deceased by pest .¨Scorpion King : rise of a warrior¨ 2008 by Russell Mulcahy with Michael Copon , Karen David , Tom Wu , Andreas Wisniewski , Randy Couture, Natalie Becker , Jeremy Crutchley ; it was billed as a sequel to King Scorpion , it is really a prequel . ¨The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption¨ 2012 by Raoul Reine with Victor Webster , Temuera Morrison , Ron Perlman , Billy Zane , Selina Lo . ¨The Scorpion King: The Lost Throne¨ (original title) 2015 by Mike Ellliot with Victor Webster , Ellen Hollman , Will Kemp , Barry Bostwick Barry Bostwick , Rutger Hauer, Michael Biehn, M. Emmet Walsh . ¨The Scorpion King : Book of Souls¨ (original title) 2019 by Don Michael Paul with Zach Mcgowan , Nathan Jones Peter Mensah , Mayling .

Camels are smarter.....

[FlashCallahan · 4/10 · 27 February 2013]

In an ancient time, predating the pyramids, King Memnon is using the psychic powers of his sorceress Cassandra to for tell his great victories.

In a last ditch effort to stop Memnon from taking over the world, the leaders of the remaining free tribes hire the assassin Mathayus to kill the sorceress.

But Mathayus ends up getting much more than he bargained for.

Now with the help of the trickster Arpid, tribal leader Balthazar and an unexpected ally, it's up to Mathayus to fulfill his destiny and become the great Scorpion King.....

A silly spin off of an even sillier movie, The Scorpian King is by the numbers Conan piffle, but it does show that Dwayne Johnson had very good screen presence, even though the script is dire.

Russell is a good director, and knows how to handle a high concept movie, but here he loses the plot.....and then some.

So what we are left with is Johnson and the great film writer Grant Heslov walking around the desert, bickering, having fights, bickering some more, and chasing after the cut price Sean Pertwee.

There isn't any urgency in the movie, the set pieces are lethargic, and Kelly Hu's hair is always in the wrong place.

It's the Fast and the Furious of sword and sandals movies, and it just plods on and on, until the predictable finale.

If your a fan of Johnson, forget this, and start with The Rundown, at least it's fun.

For the nostalgia

[Calicodreamin · 6/10 · 28 May 2022]

This movie is good for the nostalgia, its early 2000s and the Mummy franchise is happening. Upon closer inspection, characters have no depth, storyline is basic, and acting is bland.

if Conan the Barbarian had bimbos and rock'n'roll...

[Acetylcholine · 3/10 · 18 April 2002]

But to say that degrades Conan the Barbarian, which is a world with slut-goddesses and pagan idols of gore and bloodshed. But It's pretty clear early on that this is not a movie capable of that level of intelligence. The Scorpion King is so vapid, obvious, styleless, thoughtless, inconsequential, and derivative that it only wanders away from the action/adventure cookie-cutter to make jokes in the 'Indiana shoots the swordsman' kind. Acting would be less hollow if it were performed by a print mold. But i did learn some things:

Metallic blades are very sharp and loud(*shling*), humans sound very juicy. It's fun to carry around human heads to prove points in conversation. Nipples magnetically cling to human hair and clothing. Repeating jingles makes it ok when your friends die. No such thing as an ugly woman in Barbaria. Even nomad mercenaries need blithering smart asses and zany inventors as sidekicks. "Why is The Rock willing to die to kill the seethy villain? He killed who? Oh, I forgot about him.." Women will kick you.. you know where. Only virgins have special powers.

I've seen too many movies where a kid can disembowel someone and a second after look so "Aww don't you just wanna squeeze him and wobble his head he's so cute." This movie is as bad as Wild Wild West.

An enjoyable film that got action, comedy and a love story

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 22 September 2008]

Dwayne Johnson plays a natural-born hero called Mathayus… He starts off as an Akkadian mercenary crossing the ancient lands looking for his brother who is slain before his blazing eyes by a Nordic barbarian horde whose name is Memnon…

What has kept the vicious tyrant as the absolute conqueror of the land is the fact that he has a visionary sorceress by his side who knows when he should attack his enemies… Mathayus finds out that she's a sexy gorgeous woman who looks amazingly beautiful (Surely the audience is teased ceaselessly by her cleavage-revealing…). So Mathayus forgets his commission to kill her, and a kind of romance begins to flourish between the two as he tries to carry out his assignment…

Kelly Hu plays Cassandra, the female sorcerer who had beauty, charisma, cleverness, and enigma… In the beginning of the film, we're not quite sure where she stands… But when she first sees Mathayus, she's interested in the well-mannered warrior who's strong, brave, loyal and sincere… She realizes that he might me the future king who can save her from her power-mad jailer…

As the ruthless conqueror, Memnon (Steven Brand) has got all of the skills needed to attain global domination… He has also got the force and the will to accomplish it… The combination was pretty scary…

Michael Clarke Duncan plays the fearsome Balthazar, the Nubian King, the strong ally of Mathayus…

Chuck Russell's "The Scorpion King" is a visual feast, and an entertaining action film… It has sexy harem girls, poison arrows, quicksand, an army of red ants, black scorpions, cobras, explosions, and a lot of fun… So don't miss it!

Tied Too Loosely To "The Mummy"

[EmperorNortonII · 7/10 · 8 May 2002]

"The Scorpion King" is a prequel from the "Mummy" franchise. However, fans of the previous "Mummy" movies may be in for a disappointment. Granted, the imagery may be impressive, and the action is exciting, but apart from a very few details, "Scorpion King" may as well be a completely different movie. In quality, it fares about as well as the average sword-and-sandal epic. There is a camp factor that hangs over the story, that you feel when listening to some passages of dialogue. Also noticebale are Grant Hislov's comic relief role as Arpid, and Kelly Hu as the belly-baring sorceress Cassandra. Wrestling fans may enjoy this vehicle for the Rock, but I don't think many others will.

Did I pay to see this?

[johnh-15 · 5/10 · 21 April 2002]

I'm ashamed totally ashamed to say that I actually paid to see this movie. This is one of those movies where you are either hung over, sick or just veggin on the couch and there isn't anything else to watch....Don't waste your money seeing it in the theater.....I wouldnt even waste the money to rent it.

NOT TOO BAD...COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

[Big Movie Fan · 23 April 2002]

Firstly, there were many great things about The Scorpion King. The Rock played a real good part and he certainly has a bright future in the acting industry. The beautiful Kelly Hu showed that she can be good on the big screen and the ever reliable Michael Clarke Duncan played a great part as well. The action scenes were hard hitting and brutal and the scenery was fantastic as well.

The only thing that spoiled the film for me was the fact that it was not an original idea. The plot has been done in so many movies before. Sometimes in the movie world, certain plots are churned out time and time again and you just get that feeling of deja vu. The plot for this film has been done in dozens of movies and countless TV shows.

I saw this film with a friend of mine and he really really enjoyed it. However, he usually likes cop movies and hasn't seen many fantasy adventure movies so watching this was a first for him. I have seen dozens of movies like this and whilst it was very good, I did get that feeling of familiarity.

But anyway, I still recommend it. The fight scenes are awesome and there are some funny scenes in it. And again, the Rock does have a future as an actor. I just hope that his next project is a fresh idea.

I'm going to really be awkward here but there's three other things that bothered me about this movie. There was a short scene with an Indian elephant in. Did ancient Egypt have elephants? I'm no wildlife expert but I didn't think they did. Secondly, wasn't it amazing that there was such a variety of accents in the film. Lastly, gunpowder in ancient Egypt? No way!

I'm just getting old though-watch and enjoy!

Wasn't the first Conan sequel punishment enough?

[oshram-3 · 4/10 · 20 April 2002]

Scorpion King isn't a horrible film, but it isn't a very good one,

either. While the Rock and Kelly Hu are fine, every single other

character in the film is a stock cliche, trying desperately to have two

dimensions, let alone three. The film has some nice production design

and with a decent script and better direction could actually have been

something honestly enjoyable. But its plot, stolen from the first Conan

film, and its tone, bafflingly swiped from the second Conan film, leave

a lot to be desired. Here's hoping next time I see the Rock and Ms. Hu

is something else it will be a little more worthy of at

Thoroughly enjoyable! Stephen Sommers' "Mummy 3" indeed!

[ruby_fff · 7/10 · 5 May 2002]

Stephen Sommers, who wrote and directed "The Mummy" 1999 and "The Mummy Returns" 2001, also co-wrote the story and the screenplay, and co-produced "The Scorpion King" this year!

The Mummy energy, practically a trademark of Sommers, is definitely encompassed in this entertaining action/legend movie of "The Scorpion King." Led by Dwayne Johnson "The Rock" as Mathayus the Warrior with a heart, lovely Kelly Hu as Cassandra the Sorceress and object of beauty, sought by Steven Brand as Memnon the convincing evil menace of it all, and Michael Clarke Duncan as the equally brave ally Balthazar to Mathayus, this is your basic good vs. evil story splashed with fun and suspense - almost like an animated Disney film but with real live actors. An action packed myth/legend of a story, with humor/laughter sprinkled here and there at good pacing, along with special/digital effects, I almost felt at times it feels like the epic animation "Princess Mononoke," where they have the villagers (tribes here) rounding up and backing the heroine (Mathayus here) and fighting to get rid of the evil source (Memnon here.)

Other films have similar themes before: an earlier endeavor of Stephen Sommers, who wrote and directed "Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book" 1994, with Jason Scott Lee, Sam Neill, Cary Elwes, Lena Headey and John Cleese; director Xavier Koller's (received Oscar's Best Foreign Film "Journey of Hope" 1990) "Squanto: A Warrior's Tale" 1994; not forgetting director Richard Donner's "LadyHawke" 1985 with Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Alfred Molina.

If you want to escape and have an enjoyable action movie, to forget your stress and strains beyond the world of cinema, go for it!

Retread Garbage

[masalsky · 2/10 · 22 April 2002]

This is something you have seen many times before. Take any of the other barbarian type movies from your past (Conan 1&2, Beastmaster, etc.), plug in the Rock as the hero and you can watch it again for another $7. The jokes aren't funny, the action sequences have too many quick takes and the acting is horrible. I like the Rock as a personality, but he is not enough to make this movie tolerable.

Old Fashioned Fun

[mary-262 · 6/10 · 18 May 2004]

Do you want a good movie? One that will make you laugh, but has

great action adventure scenes? Do you want to look at good

looking people in little clothing? Do you like "historical" pieces that

take you somewhere else for a short bit of time [i.e., while you're

watching the movie]? Well, this could be the movie for you.

Granted, there are points in this movie where you are laughing at

the silly comments coming from somebody's mouth [and they

were to be serious]...but hey, mistakes can be funny too. My

personal favorite is where Duncan's character produces a line

[paraphrasing here] "Will you stand alone before the fury of your

enemies?" [I don't think that's a spoiler, that was in many teaser

trailers] I thought I would howl with laughter. My husband and I

will quote that line often out of the blue at home just to watch the

other crack up with the knowledge of the scene. Very funny. I like

the Rock in this one. This was his vehicle, and he did it well.

This movie hurt my brain.

[Nobrayn · 2/10 · 19 April 2002]

I normally don't go for these no-brainer action flicks, but once I received 2 passes to the advance screening in Vancouver, I thought 'Ahhh, who knows - there might be some decent special effects and kickass sound... I mean, it *is* basically 'The Mummy 3' right?'.

Oh.....dear......Lord...! Instead, I got to witness one of the most dull, unoriginal, overacted pieces of cinema filth ever created. I'm sorry if I sound harsh (gee, do I?!) but I was so upset that I wasted $7 in public transit fare to get to the theatre and back.

I'm just going to quickly spout off here. 1) The fire ants looked like CGI from the early 90's. Weak! 2) Gratuitous use of everyone's favourite 'Sckhgghtcchh' sound whenever someone gets stabbed. It got tiring after the first few deaths. 3) This movie had absolutely NO innovative ideas whatsoever. I spent the first 5 minutes figuring out how the rest of the movie was going to go. I wasn't far off...

Bah! I was hoping that I'd at least be able to laugh at this movie, but it was *so* bad that I sat there, writhing and twisting and groaning in my seat, anxious for the ending. When it came, the entire audience let out a sigh of relief, and piled out of the theatre. I overhead this comment:

"Well, he's a better actor than Hulk Hogan." "Ah, that doesn't say too much though".

Mmm, true.

Bad guy gone ... good?

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 25 May 2022]

I am not sure why the short cameo or whatever you want to call it, The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) had in The Mummy 2 made him eligible to have his spin-off. And not only that: they made it so succesful, it had more sequels than the "original" Mummy movies (with Brendan Fraser). Well the first one was quite good - so there is that.

The movie is well made and fortunately the Rock is physically there and not a CGI thing or whatever that was that made it to the end of the Mummy 2.

But this is an origin story ... a story about the good Scorpion King ... you know, before he went mad and bad. I don't even want to know what the other 4 movies are about. But I might watch them one day ... I actually have watched at least one more ... can't recall it, but that's why I do the reviews too. To remember myself in case I forget ... which happens - and is not surprising when you consider the amount of movies I've watched.

Ancient Egypt: populated by Chinese people and Londoners.

[Alex-Tsander · 2/10 · 8 April 2006]

The Scorpion King.

One of the most ridiculous rag-bags I've ever seen and surely the most ridiculous depiction of "Ancient Egypt" ever made. Here we have the Essex Pharoah with a mullet, living in an Egypt populated by Chinese people, Indians and Londoners. In fact, his court appears to be almost entirely Chinese apart from the henchmen, who appear to be from Delhi.

"The Rock". What a ridiculous notion in itself. All the acting skills of, well, a rock. Oh, and again we see the timeless axiom that muscle-men wear the hairdo's of women! Then there are the desert renegades, whose community resembles the fiefdom of Tina Turner in a Mad Max film. They couldn't get her, so instead they cast a black Rock with even more lithian acting skills and …hold on, not really a "woman's hairdo" but, another extreme mullet-cut! The plot: predictable. The action: hum-drum. The humour, formulaic.

Oh, yeah, I waited for that Elton John song but where was it…. "The treacle of life".

The Rock is the next Arnold!

[videofreak2002 · 10/10 · 29 April 2002]

"The Scorpion King," The Rock's film debut, after "The Mummy Returns," is an excellent movie. It was exciting from beginning to end. Great story, great characters, great action, and great special effects make it all into one wild ride of a movie. It's so good to see Chuck Russell (director of "A Nightmare On Elm Street 3," "The Mask," and "Eraser") back in the director's chair after his disappointing 2000 film "Bless The Child." The Rock (The People's Champion) is going to be the next action hero in the future, but, right now, he's concentrating on his wrestling. After all that, I'll be glad to see him back on the big screen. If you're a big fan of The Rock, then check out "The Scorpion King." He rocks! Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky!!!!

A+ ****** (out of ****** stars) 13/13

Fun for the shear cheese of it

[breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com · 6/10 · 16 March 2015]

The ability to win over new fans is not easy when one is shoved into the limelight so quickly. After briefly appearing as The Scorpion King in Stephen Sommers' anticipated sequel The Mummy Returns (2001), Universal Studios believed that it was time to create their spin-off starring none other than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Originally only taking part in wrestling, Johnson was bit by the acting bug and agreed to star in this film as his feature debut. As known by many, this spin-off movie was a prequel, to a sequel of a movie that was a remake of an older movie. Sounds confusing, but it can be understood. Once you think about it, it does make sense. As for being a well-written story,..not really. There are a lot of pluses to this film but it has its drawbacks too.

As a film that tells the background to how Mathayus, The Scorpion King (Dwayne Johnson) got his name, it doesn't really declare itself publicly. Yet somehow, everyone knows by the end. Originally, Mathayus belonged to a group of hired assassins during a time when a ruthless dictator known as Memnon (Steven Brand) was looking to conquer everybody and anybody. Mathayus and his fellow assassins were hired to take out Memnon and a powerful sorceress (Kelly Hu) who sees visions of the future. All the same like other assassins hired to kill, they end up getting caught caring too much. This happens when Mathayus and the sorceress become attached to each other. As an origin story, the narrative is mostly predictable. Also, since it is a prequel, audiences already have an idea of what is going to happen. However, this doesn't make the viewing experience unwatchable. Aside from the story being a touch too cliché, there are a couple of other setbacks.

The first belongs to the sorceress' powers to see into the future. There isn't any logic behind this other than it just being shown that she has these powers. In other words, the audience just has to accept this as a fact and not care about the reasoning. Yet for viewers who have a harder time shutting off their brain or are just more inquisitive, the understanding behind how she acquired her powers would've been appreciated to have. The other issue is the tone of the script, which constantly flip-flops in the midst of goofy and serious. Thus, the end result tends to be an entire cheese fest because you want to take the story seriously but can't because of how certain situations are handled. Having a character give a rather immature nod to the audience because someone went to bed with them, kind of breaks the rules on how serious a viewer can take this story. Another example is pairing up the protagonist with mildly unneeded sidekick named Arpid (Grant Haslov). Most of his comments are just too obvious to be even said.

As for who wrote those moments into the script, it most likely belonged to William Osborne (best known for writing Twins (1988) & everyone's hated Stallone film Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)). The other writing credits belong to Stephen Sommers (rightfully so) and David Hayter (X-Men (2000), X-Men 2 (2003) & Watchmen (2009)). So it's not like every writer behind this production didn't have the credentials. The directing was also headed competently by the underrated Chuck Russell (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), The Blob (1988) remake & The Mask (1994)). Even with its cheese factor, the main cast is able to perform okay. Dwayne Johnson was no doubt the right choice to be Mathayus because what would a spin-off origin movie be if the actor doesn't return to play the role he made? Steven Brand is a worthy opponent to Johnson but it probably would've been an even better idea if Michael Clarke Duncan (who plays along side Johnson) was the enemy. It just would've been a better showdown.

Kelly Hu is attractive in her own right and doesn't give a bland performance either. The rest of the cast (including Grant Haslov) also act okay but nothing that is of much importance. They do help near the end and add to the overall cheese at times but they a necessity. Cinematography was ably contributed by John R. Leonetti who was able to mimic Adrian Biddle's work from Sommers' The Mummy (1999) universe. There are lots of desert shots, while the set pieces appear grand and ancient. The action was also well choreographed and since sword fights aren't exactly the most used types of action sequences; it entertains. For the musical score, John Debney composed behind the film. For this listening experience, Debney uses a blend of organic orchestra with what also sounds like occasional rock/pop beats. This was probably used in order to accommodate Johnson's fans but the beats actually don't mess with the score too much. The action cues sound appropriate with the scene it follows and it's in line with the genre. If the story to this movie was taken a little more seriously, this probably would've entertained more.

Its script is not clear on everything and its unequal tone makes the actors look occasionally cheesy on film. It's okay in some ways and others not so much. Luckily, the camera-work, action, music and main cast are able to manipulate it in their favor to entertain on very mindless level.

almost unwatchable

[thegreenarrow-28184 · 2/10 · 20 July 2021]

Not long after it started i knew it was going to suck, sometimes you can just tell. Skip this one and all the others that follow, actually with that being said just watch the first mummy and call it good.

Makes The Mummy look like Battleship Potemkin but will probably satisfy teenage boys with its MTV version of a swords and sorcery adventure film

[bob the moo · 19 April 2006]

Mathayus is a legendary warrior but his people face a deadly foe in the form of Memnon and his evil army that is sweeping through the lands. Despatched to assassinate Memnon, Mathayus is forced to save a child and misses his opportunity. Fleeing the city, he kidnaps Memnon's sorcerer Cassandra (who he is also meant to kill) and heads into the desert. Deep in the Valley of the Dead, he intents to use Cassandra to draw Memnon out of the safety of his loyal city and into the desert where he will be more vulnerable and easier to kill.

Despite not being impressed at all by Mummy Returns, I thought I would veg out in front of this prequel/sequel/spin off thing which was just as well since vegging out mindlessly in front of it is pretty much all it is good for. The plot is essentially a collection of action scenes held together by some overly-serious plot with a bit of flesh and titillation thrown in just in case the teens get restless. It is very derivative and very obvious and, if you are actually paying much attention to it then you'll find it pretty tiresome at times. Of course in my brainless state I found it to be brightly colourful and noisy which was enough to keep my eyes busy and let my head rest. It would have been much more fun if the material had had its tongue in its cheek and allowed the performances to match this, but by taking itself a bit too seriously at times it only ends up looking silly.

The Rock is a solid star for this sort of thing but he isn't very versatile – he needs the material to match him rather than the other way round. By having a big character in an overly serious tale, he looks ill at ease and doesn't suit it that well. Brand is a by-the-numbers villain who fills the role but not much else. Hu is undoubtedly attractive and at first I felt that she was being exploited by having her in tiny clothes and as much flesh as possible; however then I watched her performance and realised she was just playing to her strengths. Duncan takes himself too seriously and his scenes lack fun – surprisingly even in the action scenes. Support from Hill, Heslov and others don't do much other than fill out the cast.

Overall then a fairly bland, uninspiring action movie that lacks excitement, tension, characters, story and indeed fun (which is where the biggest problem lies). It is probably enough of a film to satisfy teenage genre fans but I must confess that there was so little that was special that I could barely care about it when it was on and found it unmemorable by the time it was finished.