Somewhat of a prequel to The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King is an adequate action movie starring WWF wrestling icon The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) and newcomer Kelly Hu.
The Scorpion King opens with an energetic rescue sequence that sets the tone for the movie: it's all about brawns and not brains. Mathyus (Dwayne Johnson a.k.a. The Rock) is one of the last Akkadians, mercernary nomads who have been hired to kill the sorcerer of the wouldbe conqueror of the world, Memnon (Steven Brand). While Akkadians are renowned assassins, they don't seem to be very successful: they're down to the last three at the opening of the movie. Maybe it has to do with their really corny credo: "Live free, die well." Maybe they should concentrate on living well and avoiding the dying part. At any rate Mathyus is soon in over his head, or should I say up to his neck in trouble as soon as he sets foot in the tent of the sorcerer. Beguiled, betrayed, and bestowed a reprieve, Mathyus eventually returns to do battle with Memnon, but not before he accumulates the requisite scrawny but funny sidekick, the inside info of a plucky street urchin, the knowledge of an old chemist, the hard won assistance of some Nubians and Amazons and most importantly the help of the beautiful Cassandra (Kelly Hu) who swoons at the hero's verve, strength, and unflinching confidence.
The movie features a bevy of scantily clad pin up grade women. No complete nudity, but it gets pretty close with some close up shots of pretty women, most especially Kelly Hu who runs around for most of the movie with some strategically placed swaths of fabric to keep the censors at bay and attention focused away from the bad dialogue and acting that permeates this flick. Actually, it's probably not fair to be too critical of this genre, but I think The Scorpion King would actually have been better if they had camped it up even more.
The movie is populated with every racial type imaginable: from the Nubian Warrior Balthazar (Michael Clarke Duncan) to the very white, very British Memnon. Personally I thought it a bit odd that he and the chemist were cast in their parts: Ancient Northern Africa might have been populated with denizens of African, middle Eastern and exotic Asian extract, but Memnon and his chemist were too Northern European for the period. The soundtrack is also somewhat of a mix: it starts out with a heavy metal number and then transitions to a more traditional orchestral score.
For his first major screen part, The Rock manages to translate some of the swagger and eyebrow raising expressions he's used in the WWF into the character of Mathyus. He certainly has the chops to step into the shoes of aging action stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallong. The image of him riding on a camel instead of a horse reminded me strangely of Alex Karras' Mongo riding a bull in Blazing Saddles. Kelly Hu's sorcerer reminded me a little of Jane Seymour's Solitaire in the Bond film Live And Let Die. Like Solitaire, Cassandra tells Memnon her prescience is dependent on her chastity and eventually switches side to topple the bad guy. While the movie is not going to win any prize for cinematic excellence, I did like the line where Cassandra, weary of being a pawn for violent conquest, says to Memnon "Rivers of blood can never bring peace." Not that this advice is heeded by Mathyus and company who fight to the finish to bring down Memnon and his crew.
Though the Scorpion King is supposed to be a prequel to the superior Mummy and Mummy Returns movies it doesn't really do much to explain the origin of the arachnid metamorphosis of the title character (there is a bit about being stabbed with an arrowhead dipped in scorpion venom and healed by Cassandra, but it doesn't relate directly to the origin ascribed to him in the Mummy Returns). So you could skip this outing and not miss much. On the other hand if you're in the mood for some mindless entertainment, the Scorpion King and company deliver the goods adequately with a lot of nonstop action and excitement.
