Rating: 
Summary: Charge!
Review: I went into this movie cold. I had no idea who "The Rock" was (I'd read about him, but somehow did not connect him with this film) I did not know "The Scorpion King" was supposed to be a prequel of the Mummy movies, neither of which I had seen. So me and my popcorn had a clear, unbiased mind.The setting is long, long ago. Gommorah is still in business and gunpowder has yet to be invented. Arkkadian Assassin Mathayus (the Rock) has been hired to kill a sorcerer whose predictions are far too dependable. Mathayus' brother is tortured to death, and he vows revenge. When he discovers the sorcerer is a gorgeous young lady in a harem costume, he "liberates" her. His steed is a camel, the odds against him are never less than 50 to 1, and he lays them out like dominoes. After 90 minutes of mayhem, the good guys win the kingdom, the castle and the babe. Dwayne Johnson was a charmer in this potboiler. He has almost too good a sense of humor (I thought he was going to crack up a few times over his ridiculous lines. Shades of Crosby and Hope in a "Road" picture!) His face is expressive, his movements agile, and he is definitely eye candy. I wish him well in a movie career. I think he would be a fine action hero. I felt sorry for his sidekick, Philos (Bernard Hill). The script was so bad that the feeble jokes he was forced to utter wouldn't get a giggle out of a pre-schooler. With the exception of a few reprehensible villains and mighty Balthazar (Michael Clarke Duncan), the cast was uniformly beautiful right down to the starving children. The action is non-stop, so time passes quickly and all in all, I had a good time. "The Scorpion King" makes a good non-think rental. Laugh along with The Rock.
-sweetmolly-Amazon.com Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: Not mindblowing, but good fun
Review: While "The Scorpion King" isn't as suspenseful or as exciting as its two predecessors, it is an entertaining story. The key is to go into it in a character-oriented frame of mind, rather than a Big Scary Monster mindset. There are no supernatural forces to speak of, save for some sorcery which produces prophecy, not undead critters. The action is based entirely on fight sequences, most of which are well-choreographed, incorporating elements of martial arts, classic sword fighting, and out-and-out brawling. It's a very pretty movie, with lavish sets, great costumes, and good acting talent. Most of the time, it doesn't take itself too seriously, due in large part to The Rock's outstanding performance. The storyline takes place millenia before "The Mummy," in a time even before the pharoahs of Egypt. Civilization is largely tribal, with a few large cities here and there. In the city of Gomorrah (yes, the one of particular biblical fame,) a power-hungry man, Memnon, has taken control of legions of troops with the assistance of his sorceror, who can fortell the outcomes of battles. His intentions are perhaps good, but many suffer under his rule. Three men (Mathyus, his brother, and a man of unspecified origin) are the last of a tribe called the Acadians. They set out to end Memnon's reign by killing the sorceror, thereby robbing him of his unfair advantage. With the sorceror dead, other tribes will wage war upon Memnon, and with luck, defeat him. Naturally, there are snags along the way. Mathyus' brother and companion are killed in the initial raid on the camp where the sorceror lives, and Mathyus is left to kill the sorceror on his own. He reaches the chambers, and...is rather surprised by what he finds there. As things turn out, he doesn't kill the sorceror, and instead decides to go after Memnon himself. There are no edge-of-one's seat suspense or mysterious, supernatural foes here - it's a story of people struggling for their lives. The rest of the story is better left untold here; even though it's not a terribly original tale, it's still fun to watch it unfold. Most of us seem to enjoy even familiar tales told in new ways, and I surely don't want to steal anyone's good time! A large part of this film's charm is The Rock, who is a natural action hero; he brings fair acting talent, good fighting skills, a great sense of humor, and a highly-expressive face to his role as Mathyus, the future Scorpion King. He doesn't take himself or his acting too seriously, and this translates very well to this film. Also of interest is Steven Brand, who plays the bad guy, Memnon. He has excellent presence, very dark and quietly menacing, and carries off his fight scenes remarkably well considering he learned the skills only just before filming began. Kelly Hu is rather limited in her role, and I would have liked to have seen more of her special skills put to use throughout the movie. Michael Clarke Duncan does well as an initial adversary who becomes a partner with Mathyus. Sadly, his role is also fairly limited in how much he can express himself, but he does do some good fight sequences and looks appropriately intimidating. This edition of the DVD has some great extras, and in fact it might be a good idea to watch the "making of" special features first; they give a lot of inside information as to what was happening during the filming, what difficulties were encountered, and a general feel for the tone of the film. I think that, having watching the extras, I'll enjoy the film much more the next time around. There are some deleted scenes and a few out-takes, as well as commentary and alternate scenes that are enjoyable. It looks like everyone had a fun time making the movie, and that does show through in the final product. It's very pretty in all aspects (sets, people, costumes, soundtrack, colors, direction, special effects,) and I really enjoyed The Rock's acting in spite of myself. If you're looking for a nail-biter, this isn't it; however, if you're interested in who the Scorpion King was before he became, well, all evil and stuff, then you will probably like this. It does stand on its own, too, and I really do believe it will improve upon subsequent viewings.
Rating: 
Summary: I want a piece of The Rock!
Review: While it is true that this movie is of the pointless action film genre, it was FUN to watch! The stunts are marvelous and, although not accurate, the costumes are great. And there is true chemistry between the cast members. Try to remember that this is intended to be an enjoyable movie, not realistic or serious, just entertaining. And have fun!!!
Rating: 
Summary: One of the cheesiest movies I've seen
Review: I had been wanting to see this movey for a long time, only to be totally dissapointed. This movie is what I would call a tragic-romance-comedy type of movie, where he "pretends" to be a good actor. My opinion, his performance in The Return of the Mummy was WAY better, maybe because it was mostly computer generated.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of money
Review: Well I'll admit that I already walked into the movie not expecting much (based on watching the Mummy and Mummy 2), and walking out still unsatisfied doesn't say much for this film. The movie did pull in a few chuckles here and there, pulling in the same type of corny humor from Brendan Frasier's troupe. But overall, the script was very weak, and the choreography was only slightly better than Hercules/Xena fighting. Then again, we can't expect much from just a wrestler and an all-evil guy who only learned his moves shortly before the movie was filmed. Of all of the actors, why didn't we see more of Kelly Hu flexing her martial arts knowledge (well, as much as she can deliver?). She has had experience on Martial Law with Sammo Hung, plus she mentioned in a recent interview that she is currently studying a particular form of martial arts now. Maybe I've been spoiled by all of the kung fu movies I've seen with Jet Li! It's like drinking instant coffee after knowing what coffee in Europe tastes like. Now that America is experiencing more and more kung fu movies in recent years, these monster box office movies have to bring their fighting choreography up to par. 1 out of 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining in a Saturday Afternoon Kind of Way
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Same old sameold
Review: I think three stars is a pretty good rating for what is generally a pretty unimaginative Hollywood action picture. The producers have spent a decent amount of dollars creating a world of long ago. They hired a lot of actors for big battle scenes, and are fairly generous with the computer special effects. And Da Rock does carry himself fairly well in his first starring role. But I think that even the producers would agree that that's about as ambitious as they needed to go. The folks that brought you the recent "Mummy" movies also brought you this one, and it looks like they'd like to keep a franchise going. While those movies weren't perfect, they did have a very worthy villain in the Mummy. This one is basically your standard plot of go and rescue the beautiful virgin, which is very reminiscent of Arnold's old "Conan" movies. The battle scenes are ok here, but when the camera settles on Da Rock, we just see him going through his wrestling motions. The computer effects were better in the other films, even with the unconvincing beetles in those movies being replaces by only slightly better fire ants. Just one more criticism of what is an ok film to see once. In this story we have the virgin with magical powers who loses them when she shacks up with the hero. Another plot borrowed from probably several movies, but "Live and Let Die" comes to mind. What is irritating though is how carefully choreographed her clothing and hair is done to fall on all the right places which give tantalizing peeks at her, but keeps the movie from getting an "R" rating. I hate when Hollywood does this.
Rating:
Summary: very disappointing
Review: We loved the Mummy and Mummy Returns movies and hoped that this DVD would provide the same well rounded entertainment. Unfortunately, all the movie does is provide a vehicle for the Rock to exhibit his fighting abilities.
Rating:
Summary: Well, I was expecting much more
Review: Given the quality of special efects and acting in The Mummy, and The Mummy Returns I was expecting much more. However, it's still a good movie, with decent acting. The special effects aren't really great, and the costuming is something of a 'biker-barbarian' type. Think of a middle-eastern/egyptian take on 'Conan' and you've got the idea. There's plenty of eye-candy in the form of scantily dressed men and women. A belly-dancing scene however, is a take off of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video, which adds quite an element of cheezy ripoff. There's many more take offs and snips of barbarian-b movies and others. I watched it through without the 'extra scenes' first, and was rather confused since there were really no 'scorpion' refrences. The 'extra' scenes filled in the peices however, and I can't see why they would leave those out(must be the method of getting people to get the DVD edition). Taken in it's context, as a cheezy b-flick, it's prety good. Taken in context with The Mummy and Mummy Returns is's dissapointing, and cheaply done. I can imagine there would be a sequal to explain how the heroic scorpion king goes bad.....but am not going to expect one from this next one.
Rating:
Summary: Good Action Film
Review: This is a flashy action film that delivers exactly what the audience expects. The Rock puts on a decent performance.
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