O Escorpião Rei

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 .

FIRST: Let us FOCUS on the Title's Content and Context.....

WELL, a LOT of big names involved in this TITLE! Makes me want to ask... Right from the GITGO.... What¨s NOT to like about this Feel-Good... Something For Everyone... Action Extravaganza!?!?!?

In the '80s and '90s, Arnold Scharzennegar was the King of Hollywood action films. But nothing is forever. With the The Scorpion King, there seems to be a new pretender to the throne ...The ROCK! More charismatic and certainly a better actor (but then again, who isn't?) Than "AHNULD" was 20 years ago, The Rock, here appearing in his first title role, has had the good fortune that the film, and his participation in it, seems to have been relatively successful in every sense of the word!

"SCORPIAN" from beginning to end, is a roller coaster of action, adventure, intrigue, romance, magic and beautiful women. A Hollywood capsule of pure adrenaline. If there is anyone in the family who does not like movies of this genre, hard not to be entertained by this minor gem. But Be forewarned! Scorpian may not be the most suitable of films for kids under 9 or 10.....

7.5*STARS*....... ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!

Its not as great as the mummy films, and it felt more like a cheap tv show. However, the performance by dwayne wasnt all that bad. Overall still not enough to say what a decent action adventure.

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.

To put it short, "The Scorpion King" is not a bad movie - for the genre. Just don't expect it to be realistic or have some deep plot.

If you have ever seen "Conan" movies, you probably know the setting: early ages, a bunch of "lost" civilizations, some "emperors" whose armies march the world and a lonely hero who tries to stop him. Blend in a touch of magic (old technologies, paranormal, whatever - just to taste), add some "slashnig" sequences - and - voilà - you get the movie.

Well, it sounds quite simple, but since "Red Sonja" I can't remember anything worth watching. Now this is the film: reasonably bad, quite cliché and not very imaginative. Still, it has quite a bit of eye-candy, and, in some sense, it's superior even to the famed "Gladiator" as it doesn't pretend to be any more than it is. Probably, it could have been at least 20 minutes longer, but let's blame it on the rising cost of production. Worth watching if you know perfectly well what you want. 7/10.