IMDb RATING
5.5/10
150K
YOUR RATING
A desert warrior rises up against the evil army that is destroying his homeland. He captures the enemy's key sorcerer, takes her deep into the desert and prepares for a final showdown.A desert warrior rises up against the evil army that is destroying his homeland. He captures the enemy's key sorcerer, takes her deep into the desert and prepares for a final showdown.A desert warrior rises up against the evil army that is destroying his homeland. He captures the enemy's key sorcerer, takes her deep into the desert and prepares for a final showdown.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 4 nominations total
Dwayne Johnson
- Mathayus
- (as The Rock)
Scott L. Schwartz
- Torturer
- (as Scott Schwartz)
Michael Hilow
- Guard at Ant Pit
- (as Mike Hilow)
Featured reviews
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.
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.
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!
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!
Scorpion King is not exactly the best movie in the world but have a good scenes of action is reasonable fun and good to watch. Don't expected a sequel of the Mummy, this movie is more like Connan in the Desert, than the Mummy. However, it's a good movie to see, but i advise you to watch in the cable TV.
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.
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.
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.
Did you know
- TriviaIn one scene, Dwayne Johnson, lying on his back, springs to his feet. Director Chuck Russell wanted to include a physical feat which only Johnson could perform. Russell said he had never seen a 6-foot, 3-inch man do that.
- GoofsPhilos the Alchemist has gunpowder, which he claims is from China. Chinese "firepowder" was developed in the mid-200s BCE, and the movie is set almost 3,000 years before that.
- Crazy creditsThere are no opening credits, only with the Universal logo and the title for the film at the beginning.
- Alternate versionsIn the UK the distributor, UIP, removed a headbutt in the final fight sequence between Mathayus and Memnon after advice given to them by the BBFC. This was done to obtain a more commercial '12' rating.
- ConnectionsEdited into Le Roi Scorpion 3 : L'Œil des dieux (2012)
- SoundtracksMarching-In
Written by Sho Kosugi
Performed by The Taiko Drummers
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- El Rey Escorpión
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $60,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $91,047,077
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $36,075,875
- Apr 21, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $180,630,907
- Runtime
- 1h 32m(92 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content