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The Scorpion King (Widescreen Collector's Edition) Customer Reviews (4 - 6 of 42 Reviews)

The movie is a prequel of sorts to "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns". It tells the story of how Mathayus [Dwayne Johnson, better known as The Rock] became The Scorpion King, although it never bothers to explain how he turned into the infamous villain of the earlier movies. [Perhaps the inevitable sequel will explain.] When his people are wiped out by the evil king Memnon [Steven Brand], Mathayus joins forces with former enemies to overthrow the tyrant. He must use his wits and his amazing physical powers to do this. He is aided in this by The Sorceress [Duncan Kelly Hu], a beautiful woman with mystical powers who has been enslaved for years by Memnon.

The movie works because it makes no pretense of being anything other than a comical action-adventurer. It virtually laughs at its own silliness and downright delights in its cheesy dialog and special effects. Greatly adding to its entertainment value is The Rock, who seems destined for a long career as an action hero. Like Schwarzenegger before him, he has a keen sense of both his abilities and his limits.

Entertaining in a Saturday Afternoon Kind of Way
I'm telling you right now, if you're looking for "Lord of the Rings" or some other brand of serious, pretentious fantasy film, you're going to be really disappointed. "Scorpion King" is a goofy, B-Level action film, which is really all I think it was intended to be. And, on that level, it's a huge success.

I had a blast watching this movie. It had good action sequences and special effects. In particular, The Rock was actually fun and could end up being a great action-movie star. This is one of those films that you have to expect a heavy dose of unrealism and corny one-liners to enjoy. But, that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. It reminded me of some of Arnold's earlier stuff that is all done tounge-in-cheek and is simply meant to entertain. I enjoyed this...it's good Satruday afternoon eye candy.

You've seen it all before, but The Rock makes this fun
You've seen this film before (Conan the Barbarian) --mysterious hero with goofy sidekick and sexy warrior babe girlfriend becomes king after a titanic, lopsided battle. That's the plot of "The Scorpion King" and half a dozen other flicks of this genre.

There are a lot of "realism" problems with this film, but, considering that it is cast with stars of the pro wrestling circuit and produced by Vince MacMahon, that's not too surprising. So I was all primed to sit back and enjoy Rock Eye Candy and have fun with this film. I wasn't disappointed, though there is a lot to overlook; for one thing, no one ever fought "The Mesopotamians"--boy, that sounds dumb. Who wrote that line? And newcomer Steven Brand is apparently a graduate of the "Branagh School of British Acting" so as a bully and brute of a king, he is disturbingly refined, with a Brit accent clashing with brutal swordplay, greasy archeo-punk haircut and nasty tricks with cobras, scorpions and the like. In fact, the mix of accents (from homie Michael Clarke Duncan's Nubian king, Brand's prissy British and The Rock's clear and unaccented American diction) is a bit jarring, but...never mind. The special effects are good and not overdone, the scenery is exciting. Even the women get fun stuff to do, not only the toothsome Kelly Hu as the Sorcerer/Sorceress (hey guys, I can definitely tell you, it's SorcerESS) and the Nubian lasses are very athletic. The one kid thrown in for cuteness doesn't get obnoxiously cute, amazingly enough.

Aside from having to accept that a lumpy camel can outrun an Arabian steed, this was quite entertaining and I look forward to seeing The Rock again, in anything. Heck, he could read a telephone book to me and I would be enthralled.