The Scorpion King
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By Todd Karella
May 1, 2002
~Poisons Crowd With Banal Plot~
This review was originally printed in The Coast Report at Orange Coast College.  Click here to see scan of original article.
   Neither the fight scenes nor any of the dialogue is even vaguely memorable. The special effects are nonexistent with the exception of a few explosions, and the plot is so unimaginative that a 10-year-old could have written it.
   The most memorable scenes in the movie are the ones that were stolen from other movies, including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
   Or when Mathayus is being hunted down in the caves by Memnon’s men and hides behind a wall of sand, bearing a striking resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger's mud scene in Predator.
  The new action movie starring WWF superstar The Rock took over the number one spot at the box office by taking in $36.2 million in its opening weekend, proving that a film's success can be due more to marketing and fan loyalty than actual quality.
   The Scorpion King is a prequel to the commercially successful movies The Mummy
and The Mummy Returns.  While the two mummy movies were overloaded with special effects, The Scorpion King has very few giving it the appearance of a typical B-grade movie.
    The story is about the evil king Memnon (Steven Brand) who is trying to conquer the known world with the help of his Sorcerer (Kelly Hu) who can see into the future.
    The few remaining groups of rebels that oppose the king hire the great assassin Mathayus (The Rock) and his fellow band of last living Akkadians to kill the Sorcerer, thus allowing them to kill the king.
   Mathayus and his men find themselves double-crossed and caught in an ambush when trying to complete their mission. Not only do they fail in their mission, but also they discover the sorcerer is actually a sorceress
who immediately falls for Mathayus and helps save his life.
   While no one paying to see The Scorpion King is going for a strong story line or great acting, they'll be sorely disappointed regardless of  their reasons for going.
   Even the loyal legions of The Rock supporters who are looking for lots of action combined with signature wrestling choreography and silly one-liners will be sorely disappointed.
  If you’re looking for a fun and entertaining movie to spend your hard-earned money on, don’t spend it on The Scorpion King. But if you just have to see it, at least wait until it comes out on video.