The Scorpion King 4 - Der verlorene Thron

Some of the Scorpion King movies try to be... sort of serious. And some try to be... sort of funny. This fourth movie combines Monty Python style British humor, with lots of pratfalls. The movie-maker tried for sexy, and didn't utterly fail. Seen on Tubi, the free streaming site; which has many low budget films, indie films, foreigns, and now, live TV.

"The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power" is the fourth of five instalments in the series, now direct to DVD, that was spun off from The Rock's cameo in "The Mummy Returns".

Victor Webster, most well-known for his appearances in a handful of Hallmark movies, is the only holdover from the last movie, returning as Mathayus. Ron Pearlman and Billy Zane are nowhere to be seen, which is a good thing, because the third one was not good.

The Scorpion King is betrayed by someone he thought was a friend and following that must team up with a beautiful woman (who, of course, has her own secrets) to stop the bad guy from gaining the ability to unlock a powerful ancient power that could see him rule the world.

Not the most original plot line, I know, but it does the trick in this instance. A lot of fighting, not much blood. Some differing acting: some okay, some horrible.

You get what you expect, more or less.

Passably entertaining.

Credit where credit is due, the Scorpion King franchise was nowhere near as bad as it could have been or by all rights should have been.

In this 4th and likely final instalment we see the return of the titular character once again played by Victor Webster who does a decent enough job.

The plot is brainless but acceptable and the action and laughs come thick and fast and once again the film doesn't take itself seriously at all (Which works in its favour).

Again it's like watching Hercules or Xena, and since fantasy movies are so few and far between I'll take what I can get.

The odd thing is how many stars are in The Scorpion King but how little screen time they get. Rutger Hauer, Eve Torres, M. Emmet Walsh and Lou Ferrigno (Who plays a big part of the cover art) are all in one single scene each which seems like a bizzare waste.

Dumb stuff, but passable this rounds The Scorpion King franchise out for me at 22/40 which isn't all that bad. I would however say that this perhaps should be the last film and it shouldn't be milked any longer.

The Good:

Some oddly good comedy

M. Emmet Walsh & Barry Bostwick

Scorpion King wasn't recast again

The Bad:

No Olaf

Most of the famous names are little more than cameos

Weak CGI

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Watching Scorpion King 4 is like watching an extended episode of Hercules, except the leading man isn't a complete moron

Agents of Shield Grant Ward is the Scorpion King? Who knew!

Rocks are secretly soft and will protect you from large falls

Women always have spare clothes that would neatly fit 6"5 men

Making wrestlers do their finishing moves in movies is still tacky

You can change actors but the result is still horrible, worse and worse. Steroids, bad dialogues, annoying rethoric, weak plot. Just commercial machist poor movie. As the other chapters it can make you reevaluate The Rock: it doesn't need anything else to say.

The negative reviews for this film abound. It seems most are comparing it to the first Scorpion King, with "The Rock." Admittedly, the three that have thus far followed it aren't nearly of the same quality. But if you put that aside and just take it for what it is, it's a fun film, with some wit and levity that even had me chuckle out loud a couple of times. It wasn't full of gratuitous sex or vulgarity. It's just a fun action adventure popcorn movie. It will not rank among the best movies of all time nor is it trying to do so. I had just returned from another 7-hour chemotherapy session and this film hit the spot: Brainless and fun entertainment. If you just take it for what it is, I hope you'll enjoy Scorpion King 4 as much as I did.