From director Chuck Russell (The Mask, Eraser), this was the immediate spin off film made straight after The Mummy Returns, the film that introduced us to the title character, I suppose this one I had to watch as well. Basically, set in the days of the ancient Egyptians and pyramids, Memnon (Steven Brand) is the evil king who uses The Sorceress (X-Men 2's Kelly Hu) with her psychic powers to foretell his victories and take over the empire. The leaders of the free world have one last hope for freedom of the kingdom and to stop Memnon from taking over the world, that is sending mercenary assassin Mathayus (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) to kill the Sorceress and foil his plans. Meeting the Sorceress however Mathayus changed his plan and instead kidnaps her to make bargains or whatever, and he has trickster Arpid (True Lies actor Grant Heslov) and tribal leader Balthazar (The Green Mile's Michael Clarke Duncan) tagging along too. Obviously there are obstacles along the way, chases, battles and traps, but in the end Mathayus does manage to defeat the villain in the end, and fulfil his destiny becoming The Scorpion King. Also starring Bernard Hill as Philos, Peter Facinelli as Prince Takmet and Roger Rees as King Pheron. Johnson is fine as the lead character, and it is alright to see the character from The Mummy Returns good for the whole film, not just in the opening and later becoming a giant scorpion monster, the supporting cast are fine too, the story though could be a little bit fresher and original, it is almost same old same, cheesy and an only reasonably fun to watch action adventure fantasy. Okay!
Review of The Scorpion King
