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If you actually read the book by Robert Ludlum, enjoy it, then take a step back from it consider two things.

1) Thia book was written years ago, in 1980

2)Carlos Ilyich Ramirez, aka Carlos the Jackal - was still at large in 1980. He is not now, as he was jailed by French Authorities, once again, many years ago.

You cannot take a theme that was resolved in real life and superimpose it into fiction and expect your audience to respect the work. As Carlos was the central theme of all three books(The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum-all excellent by the way), it is both painfully obvious and decididly necessary to change the central theme of the film to reflect the secondary theme of the book, IE what National Secrets could this Rogue Agent/CIA Assasin impart to the wrong people/Government if coersed, bribed or whatever.

My opinion is aside from the obvious and necessary meandering from the Carlos angle, the film is a decent and effective attempt at bringing the thrust of Bournes struggle to find who and what he is, whilst avoiding shadowy hitmen at every juncture.

You simply cannot take a 500-600 page book written in 1980(as a techno/espionage thriller), leave it entirely intact and have it still appeal to a mass market.

I went into this movie with an open mind, as I usually do, and whilst I would have liked to see more depth to Clive Owens and the other assains characters, and more explaination behind the purpose of 'Treadstone 71', I feel this is still a movie to enjoy, so I recommend you give it a shot.

There is nothing new in this film, and every cliche is mapped to infinity, yet you still get the feeling that more thought went into this than any number of Hollywood slash'em'up's. I don't class this film as a horror per se, as the actual werewolves are so hooky you never see them in full light(yes I know its at night, I mean by lamp, torch, room light, etc).

They even remind you of the crappy Buffy The Vampire Slayer werewolf. But hey, I'm not really a fan of the genre and don't think there actually are any scary films made nowadays(making you jump does not make a horror movie, its a cheap trick, nothing more)

That said, watch this film if you just want to switch off and have a laugh. Its better than a lot of the crud out there that makes a profit on the main screens.

I am a critic at the best of times, and I appreciate a film on its merit and on faults likewise. I can appreciate that yes, this film is formulaic and unoriginal(I.E. taking the prophetic 'witch' character from 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' et al, but are people that blind that they cannot see entertainment in its most basic form?

For F**** sake, this is an enjoyable and well choreographed movie, something that harks back to the 80's and before, the Conan type of film, innocent in its projections, and its demands, on the viewer.

Can you not see that this is not The Mummy 3? Yes, its a prequel, but I personally find it a vast improvement on the ghastly Mummy 2(returns)(which was poor), and by that token, disenfranchise it from the series, even though there are many crew and writers that serves all three films.

Personally I find this the logical and natutral next step in the (different) progress of the Mummy films. There is clearly no further room for any more Arnold Vosloo Mummy movies as he now has no further reason for being re-incarnated after 'she' disowned him at the end of "The Mummy Returns", a film I found to be tired and boring)so early in the series, too). (the airship, in 1920/30's? Turbo powered? Pigmy mummys? Rubbish!!!

To me, The Scorpion King is a natural and enjoyable rout to follow in the series. Despite the criticism, Dwayne Johnson IS a good enough actor and those of you who disagree are blinded by the fact that Brendan Fraser is not in it(and he sure won't be in any future sequel/prequel!).