Le Roi Scorpion : La Quête du pouvoir

'The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power', quite literally, continues the downward spiral of this spin-off series. This one does one or two things to a mildly OK level, though all in all it is a slog to sit through. The previous one at least had a small spark to it, this is just boring.

This fourth entry does at least have the same lead as its predecessor, which is a first for these movies. It is sod's law that they actually do so when I wasn't too keen on the actor, in this case Victor Webster. He is, admittedly, the best part of this 2015 flick, not that that is saying much.

Ellen Hollman is alright beside Webster, they have some onscreen chemistry to be fair. Barry Bostwick and Rutger Hauer make for known faces that appear, whilst I also noticed Leigh Gill (aka Gary Puddles) and Esmé Bianco (aka Ros). I do like how random these cast lists get.

A bit more of an entertainment factor, albeit rather unsuccessful à la the previous few installments, then this wouldn't be far adrift of the Ron Perlman and Billy Zane entry. As it is, though, it's far too dull.

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

... the actors are having fun and you could also have some. Kind of of course. I mean you can only shake your head at the "Dragon" of the movie. It's ridiculous beyond any words I could muster to write here. Yes it is low budget (though still under the Universal banner!?), but even Harryhausen made more believable "monsters".

Anyway back to the actors, the female lead known for her role in Spartacus (at least to me) is obviously playing it for laughs and has some funny lines to say. The action sequences are not really good, but I've seen worse. Actually there is a decent stunt scene thrown into the mix here and there. If you are in the right frame of mind (and maybe like the people involved), there is fun you can have

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.

I couldn't help it, even though I knew what I was getting myself into. Being a teenager in the early 80's, I grew up with the low budget sword and sorcery flicks. Deathstalker, Ator, Barbarian Queen, Amazons and several others. I've always enjoyed those "films", no matter how bad. After watching this one, all of those titles flashed into my head. I would compare this one to those. Just a little more modern day cheese.

Is it a good movie, no. If you like those bad 80's titles, you may be able to make it through this one. If your taste is not those type of movies, don't watch it. It's always good to see name actors in these type of movies. Go through the motions and cash the check. Easy money.