LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Eddie Cantillo The Scorpion King (2002) Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Kelly Hu, Michael Clarke Duncan, Steven Brand, Bernard Hill, Grant Heslov, Peter Facinelli, Ralf Moeller, Branscombe Richmond, Roger Rees, Sherri Howard, Conrad Roberts, Joseph Ruskin, Esteban Cueto, Nils Allen Stewart, and Amy Hunter Directed By: Chuck Russell Review WARRIOR. LEGEND. KING. This is written by the king of popcorn movies (in my opinion) Stephen Sommers. After making it big with two mummy movies he wrote this as the start of a spin-off series for the character in The Mummy returns. In the notorious city of Gomorrah, an evil ruler is determined to lay waste to all the nomadic peoples of the desert. The few remaining tribes, never natural allies, have to unite or perish. Knowing their enemy relies on the visions of a sorcerer, they hire a skilled assassin, Mathayus to eliminate the visionary. After infiltrating the enemy camp, Mathayus discovers that the sorcerer is in fact a beautiful woman. Rather than eliminate her, he takes her deep into the desert badlands, knowing that the ruler's henchman will stop at nothing to rescue her and bring her back. Seriously wounded in the ensuing battle, Mathayus must find the strength to lead his scrappy band of allies back to Gomorrah for a final confrontation. This film is going to go on my guilty pleasure list whenever I make such a list. This film came out in a time when wrestling was big and popular which is why it's produced the WWE. They got the WWE's most charismatic and likable wrestler The Rock. The Rock does a fairly great job considering I do believe this is his first movie role. Kelly Hu who played Lady Deathstrike in X-Men: United is the beautiful sorceress Cassandra and she's just hot. She pulled a good performance but did I mention she's hot. Michael Clarke Duncan is also in this as Balthazar and he was doing pretty good not as great as some of his other performances but I believe he knew what kind of movie he was in. You can tell its written by Stephen Sommers because only Stephen would have Mathayus as the badass hero, Cassandra as the beautiful love interest and Arpid as the comic relief. Much like Van Helsing, Anna, and Carl. His films are very clichéd, adventurous and action packed. They've made for great fun. This film has great ton of action and has that adventure vibe. It even looks like The Mummy Returns in production design but that's probably because it's a spin-off set in Egypt. The direction from Chuck Russel is pretty good, he's done great films like the mask with Jim Carry and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors tow films I really enjoy. This time around its like he saw the script and said you know what lets have fun with this and tried to take care of the actors so they can put out a good performance. Some of his shots in the action scenes are not always great but that's just from like one scene where Mathayus is about to shoot Memnon but then shoots the guard who's about to ax the kid. Once he gets down from the roof there was like this really bad shot from the camera as he fled. Apparently The Rock is a method actor so in that scene where the fire ants are about to eat his flesh those are real ants he said apparently even though they look fake. The Scorpion King is a fun action-adventure fantasy romp that tries to be just that and nothing more. It has good performances, some pretty decent direction and fairly good writing, some poor shots and effects but its fun from beginning to end. You can ask The Scorpion King no more than that. I'm giving The Scorpion King a three and a half out of five.

Leofwine_draca For a film that's the prequel of a sequel to a remake, you can hardly go in expecting cinematic gold. Maybe a little fun and plenty of action, if you're lucky. Thankfully, that's exactly what I got when I sat down to watch this, the offspring of THE MUMMY RETURNS, set in the ancient Middle East and detailing a strongman's rebellion against an enemy army. On the face of it, THE SCORPION KING is another in a long line of sword-and-sandal epics, bearing a superficial resemblance to the Steve Reeves-starrers of the '50s and '60s, but at heart this is a cheesy romp more in line with '80s offerings like CONAN THE DESTROYER. It doesn't care much about plot, originality, or authenticity: it's a kid's film designed to entertain, and that's exactly what it does.Now, I'm not a big fan of these movies. The Rock's first line is 'Boo' and we're immediately into muck-about action of the kind made popular in the two '90s TV shows, HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS and XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. Then the wah-wah guitar music starts, and I was reminded unfavourably of KULL THE CONQUEROR, a film very similar to this except that it had a much smaller budget. Still, as I watched, I realised something: this wasn't actually too bad. A lot of the goodwill I was feeling comes from the presence of The Rock, here in his first leading role; he has an immense likability to him, and the ability not to take himself too seriously, just as Schwarzenegger was in the '80s. Okay, so he's no great shakes as an actor, but his physicality fills the screen and he adds a lot of energy to what plays out.The rest of the film is so-so. The plot is average, and quickly becomes formulaic: escape from these guys here, chase there, recaptured here, a fight scene there, then a lead-up to the ending. The supporting cast is also utterly predictable: ruffian children tagging along; an Asian-looking sorceress (Kelly Hu acquits herself better than Tia Carrera in KULL THE CONQUEROR, but only just); a tough, handsome bad guy (forgettable Scotsman Steven Brand); an eccentric Bernard Hill (also starring in the excellent LORD OF THE RINGS movies around this time) and Michael Clarke Duncan, the only person who could conceivably give The Rock an ass-whupping; needless to say, the extended bout between the two is a highlight. The action is passable without being inspiring or well choreographed, but the budget – clearly lower than usual – is put to good use, especially for the explosive climax. Director Chuck Russell made one of my favourite B-movies, the '80s BLOB remake, but his creativity doesn't make much of an impact here. Still, I liked The Rock and the short running time meant I didn't get bored, so THE SCORPION KING must have something going for it.

jbonner71 The way I see it, there are two ways to look at The Scorpion King: as a guy's guy, in which case TSK is the best movie ever made in the history of cinema, or as a critically thinking, intellectual male, in which case TSK is a somewhat amusing, 90-minute exercise in historical inaccuracy. Either way, I think the world would be an infinitely better place with Kelly Hu running about in skimpy outfits whilst pretending to be important. But…that could just be the (highly uninformed) opinion of my penis. Mr. Penis tends to cloud my judgment sometimes and here, he almost succeeded in convincing me that The Scorpion King is a good movie. But, all he really convinced me of was that I like Kelly Hu. A lot.There really isn't much story in The Scorpion King — a spin-off of The Mummy movies — but what little story there is focuses on Mathayus (The Rock, in his first starring role), the last of the Akkadians, and his quest to capture the precognitive sorceress (the aforementioned Hu) of the despotic king, Memnon (Steven Brand). There is also some nonsense about a band of "free" rebels, led by Balthazar (Michael Clarke Duncan) but, at the end of the day, all this flick needs is The Rock kicking much ass. And he does that. Quite well, actually.The Scorpion King was originally in theaters in 2002, but was just released on Blu-ray this recently. Both visually and aurally, this disc shines. It both looks and sounds great in the high-def format. It's in the extras department where this disc is lacking. There are interactive, documentary featurettes that you can access at various points in the film, but I always find these distracting and they don't really offer any great insights into the filmmaking process. I mean, who really wants to hear The Rock waxing rhapsodically about the desert locations where the film was shot? I know I don't. All I want to see is the goddamn People's Eyebrow, which is noticeably absent from this entire production.There is also a commentary track from director Chuck Russell, which is informative on a certain level but you won't be missing much if you decide to it skip entirely. And that's it for special features on this disc.All in all, if you're a fan of The Rock, the WWE, and big, dumb action movies then, by all means, this is the disc for you. Crank it up and let the Godsmack tunage blow you through the back wall of your goddamn living room. Otherwise, save your money and wait for the Blu-ray release of the infinitely more satisfying (on many, many levels…) Dark City.

SanteeFats This movie is a follow up from the Mummy movies. The Scorpion King never really shows up in the film. There is Dwayne Johnson who fights the evil dictator after his brothers are killed. Kelly Hu is soo hot as the sorceress who flees from Memnon the dictator when she is grabbed by the Rock. She loses her powers when she loses her virginity to the Rock but she still plays the game. They hook up with some rebels that are hiding at an oasis, including the late Michael Clarke Duncan. Such an early loss!!! The rebels organize around the Rock and Duncan. They attack the city where the bad guys are and end up winning when the Rock finally kills Memnon. All is then well with the ancient world.