The Scorpion King Review
by Bob Bloom (bobbloom AT iquest DOT net)April 20th, 2002
THE SCORPION KING (2002) 2 stars out of 4. Starring The Rock, Kelly Hu, Steven Brand, Bernard Hill, Grant Heslov, Peter Facinelli, Ralf Moeller and Michael Clarke Duncan. Story by Stephen Sommers and Jonathan Hales. Screenplay by Stephen Sommers and William Osborne and David Hayter. Directed by Chuck Russell. Rated PG-13. Approx. 90 minutes.
The Scorpion King can best be described as a guilty pleasure movie - one you'd be ashamed or embarrassed to tell anyone you enjoyed, even slightly.
It's a popcorn-crunching time filler, reminiscent of those old badly-dubbed, Italian sword-and-sandal features of the early and mid-1960s. And some of the dialogue in The Scorpion King makes it sound like someone had translated the script from another language.
Not that there is much talk, not with The Rock in the lead.
The few lines of dialogue this wrestler-turned-performer - truth in advertising forbids me to call him an actor - growls are mostly one or two sentences before he is slashing or bashing some inept underling of his main adversary.
With its PG-13 rating, The Scorpion King's violent quotient rests near the top of the scale, but director Chuck Russell in a smart move never shows blood. We hear swords plunging in and withdrawing from bodies, but no fountain-like geyser of red follows.
As an actor, The Rock looks good, a walking action figure. He can ride, look tough, determined or fierce with the best of 'em - as long as his dialogue is kept to a minimum. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, his actions speak louder than words.
Thankfully, The Rock goes through most of the film with a slight twinkle in his eye, sending a subtle message to the viewer: Hey, I'm having fun and not taking this seriously, so why should you.
The Scorpion King, sort of a prequel to The Mummy Returns, is merely hokey fun.
The movie exudes an old-fashioned charm. Special effects are limited - the most fake being an army of red soldier ants. The film unreels like an ancient WWF prime-time special with bulky body throwing bulky body across the screen. No wonder Vince McMahon received an executive producer's credit.
No dramatic demands are made on any members of the cast, including Kelly Hu as The Sorceress (she has no other name), the woman The Rock's Mathayus is originally sent to kill; Steven Brand as the evil Memmon, out to conquer all the desert tribes and bring them under his tyrannical rule; nor Oscar-nominee Michael Clarke Duncan as Balthazar, The Rock's main ally.
Stupid, childish and silly are apt words to describe The Scorpion King. But at a little under 90 minutes it will fly by and keep your mind off whatever ails you. That's worth a little something.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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