Le Roi Scorpion

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 .

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!

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.

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.

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.