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The Scorpion King (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

The Scorpion King (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Action Packed and Plenty of Extras
Review: The DVD release of 'The Scorpion King' is what the DVD format is all about: a movie and plenty of extra features. 'The Scorpion King' score high on both accounts.

First, the movie. The Rock, a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson, plays Mathayus, one of the last survivors of a clan of assassins. The movie opens with Mathayus's brother being held captive by another band of cutthroats. Mathayus dutifully rescues him in over-the-top-action style, and wraps up the scene with a nice Scwarzeneggeresque one liner. Then it is on to the prologue, where we learn that Memnon, the greatest known swordsman and played by Steven Brand, leads an army bent on conquering all. At his side is a beautiful sorceress capable of predicting the outcome of any battle. Mathayus is hired by a collection of the few remaining unconquered clans in the land to kill the sorceress and open the way for Memnon's defeat.

The movie is a lot of fun. From the action packed start to the all-stakes battle at the finish, it is almost non-stop action with a few breaks for exposition thrown in. One of my favorite scenes involved Mathayus leading a band of Memnon's men into a cave during a sandstorm and then picking them off using traps set up in the cave. It was well done, and allowed the audience to believe that the Rock was playing a character that was more than just another Conan.

The Rock does an admirable job as the action hero and assassin. I suppose all his years in the wrestling ring prepared him for the action sequences, but his acting at least is different from that of his personna as the Rock. Try as he might, his down home American accent managed to peak through every once in a while.

This movie is in a way a prequel to 'The Mummy Returns' in which Mathayus appears as the 'Scorpion King.' In that movie, the Rock's character appears briefly at the beginning to set up the events that Brendan Frasier and company will explore thousands of years later, and then his character shows up again later in the climatic action scene. This movie does not explain how Mathayus fell, so to speak. In addition, 'The Scorpion King' doesn't rely on mystical aspects as much as 'The Mummy' and its sequel did, even though there is a sorceress present.

As mentioned earlier, the DVD has plenty of extras. The producers of the DVD tried to include a little bit of everything. The best feature is the ability to enable alternate scenes. The scenes in themselves don't change the outcome of the story; however, they add a prophecy that had been edited out of the final cut. The prophecy speaks of a new king being crowned when the full moon is in Scorpio, and ties the whole movie together. In fact, if they had left the prophecy in the movie, it would have made more sense and elevated the movie to something more than just an action flick.

In addition to the alternate scenes, the extras include 'making of' mini-documentaries on special effects and the use of animals. There are bios on the cast and crew. There is a director's commentary and other 'making of' featurettes. Godsmack's "I Stand Alone", which gets played during the credits, appears as a bonus video. There is even a documentary on the real 'Scorpion King.' The DVD is a considerable value.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fresh adventure heroes.
Review: Surprisingly decent adventure/action flick. The Rock is fresh and amusing as a Matias. The fight scenes are entertaining, and the plot, although not too sophisticated, smooth enough to enjoy the movie. Other actors are also doing an excellent job, and music rocks the boat. It's definitely not the "Mummy", but it could be a fine beginning for another 'Egyptian' franchise.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Talk about a stinker
Review: I have kept watching this movie to see just how bad it gets.
The writing is bad, the costumes are bad, the story is bad.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: well......
Review: If you like the Rock's body then there are scenes in the movie you will surly enjoy, but it definatly does not come close to the movies that it is actually a dirivative of (The Mummy & The Mummy Returns).

Honestly, it is not worth buying in new condition. I'm glad I only rented it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not bad
Review: This wasn't to bad of a movie, could have been better with someone else as the leading actor. The Rock plays the same character all the time. The movie was good but could have been better.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining but lacks intelligence
Review: Always the victim of impulse buys, and worse the sucker to have all in a series or collection, I have purchased 'The Scorpion King' today along with a new Sony progressive scan DVD player (model NS715P, see separate review.) After viewing the movie I can not say I was not entertained to some degree or totally disappointed with the flick. Aside for some major flaws in the plot and historical reality, the movie was watchable. I feel I must point out the flaws as I always do and two of the largest lay on the shoulders of the Villain played by Steven Brand. Why on earth
would the director and casting allow a British actor to present his lines in native accent? Hugo Weaving (agent Smith) did not do it in 'The Matrix,' why would Steven Brand do it here? Second, in one scene, he used a French phrase, this a language not born until the seventh century. C'est plus qu'un crime, c'est une faute.

Overall, like its sister series 'The Mummy' and ' The Mummy Returns,' this DVD is full of interesting extras and vignettes worth watching. However, the feature lacks intelligent dialogue, is tainted with twenty-first century humor and all the CG special effects could have spent more time rendering in the computers (the snakes were ridiculous and half the ants were missing shadows). I choose to save ten dollars and not buy the release that included the CD
soundtrack. Why, oh why a hard rock soundtrack for such a period movie? I might recommend this movie, but I would not have bought it had I rented it first.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: THE SCORPION KING ain't art, but still fun.
Review: Basically a spin-off of the greatly successful MUMMY movies, THE SCORPION KING tells the story of an Akadian assassin (Dwayne Johnson AKA The Rock), who defeats an evil warlord and becomes the powerful Scorpion King. Borrowing from genres as old as Conan the Barbarian, this is an old fashioned sword and sorcery flick that, while it might not be art, still has more than its share of entertainment. The Rock has a solid screen presence and makes a credible action hero in the title role, while Kelly Hu is lovely as the sorceress who captures his heart. Of course, there are the obligitory sidekicks and fellow warriors, including the always dependable Michael Clarke Duncan as a Nubian warrior. At about 90 minutes, the film moves at a brisk pace and doesn't allow one to dwell too much on the obvious absurdities that too many films of this type may have. Having said that, THE SCORPION KING makes for a fun flick for those who love their action epics with a big helping of cheese. Recommended for those who love action films and have a good sense of humor.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not as good as Mummy, but it had a little something
Review: I am not a WWF fan, nor a big The Mummy fan, but this movie had a little something. Like Vin Diesel, The Rock isn't the best actor in the world, but he's got something -I guess you could call it screen presence. Whatever it is, it shined in this movie. He had only like 15 lines of dialogue (there's not much in the entire movie) and most of those were delivered like a rock tossed in a puddle of mud. (pun intended, friends!)
The story was what you'd expect. Fun was had by all. When you watch the DVD, make certain you watch the outtakes. They add a significantly different twist to the story that I think should have been left in. Apparently The Rock's character was some sort of pawn in a prophecy, but all references were cut from the movie. Draw your own conclusions. I thought it would have added a little depth to the story.
Definetly worth a rental. Go get it!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Scorpion King
Review: Not what I expected from the previous Mummy movies and The Rock's promos on History Channel. For some reason the writers moved the story from Egypt to Palestine. Ignoring what is currently believed about the Scorpion King and what he may have actually been involved in. For a mindless 90 minute romp with fighting and swashbuckling it was pretty decent. Don't look at this as a prequel to the Mummy movies it does not fit.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: You've seen it all before, but The Rock makes this fun
Review: 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.


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