The Scorpion King

"The Scorpion King 1" redirects here. For the two factual pre-dynastic Egyptian pharaohs, see, see Scorpion I. For Scorpion II, see King Scorpion.

For other uses, see Scorpion King (disambiguation).

The Scorpion King
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chuck Russell
Screenplay by	Stephen Sommers William Osborne David Hayter
Story by	Stephen Sommers Jonathan Hales
Produced by	Sean Daniel James Jacks Kevin Misher Stephen Sommers
Starring	The Rock Kelly Hu Bernard Hill Grant Heslov Peter Facinelli Steven Brand Michael Clarke Duncan
Cinematography	John R. Leonetti
Edited by	Greg Parsons Michael Tronick
Music by	John Debney
Production companies	World Wrestling Entertainment Alphaville Films
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	April 19, 2002 (2002-04-19)
Running time	92 minutes
Countries	United States Germany Belgium
Language	English
Budget	$60 million
Box office	United States $91,047,077 Worldwide: $165,333,180

The Scorpion King is a 2002 American action film directed by Chuck Russell, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan. It is a prequel/spin-off to The Mummy series, and follows the story of Mathayus the Scorpion King, the character featured in The Mummy Returns.

The events of The Scorpion King take place 5,000 years before those in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, and reveal Mathayus' origins and his rise to power as the Scorpion King. The name itself is a reference to a real king of the protodynastic period of Ancient Egyptian history, Scorpion II.

Plot

Mathayus, his half-brother Jesup and friend Rama, the only three true remaining Akkadians, are hired by King Pheron of the last free tribes to kill the sorcerer of the ruthless Lord Memnon, who has recently invaded Egypt and conquered all but the small Kingdom of Ur, for twenty blood rubies. The Akkadians manage to sneak into Memnon's camp, but are ambushed by Memnon's guards, having been tipped off by Pheron's son, Takmet, who killed Pheron and defected to Memnon's side. Jesup and Rama are shot, but Mathayus manages to sneak into the sorcerer's tent, where he sees that the visionary is actually a sorceress, Cassandra. Mathayus is then ambushed by Memnon's right hand man, Thorak, and meets Memnon himself, who brutally executes Jesup in front of him. Cassandra, however, tells Memnon that the Gods wish Mathayus to survive the night, and to defy them would incur their wrath. Memnon has Mathayus buried to his neck in the desert to be devoured by fire ants, but manages to escape with help from a horse thief, Arpid.

Deciding to finish his mission and avenge his brother, Mathayus sneaks into Memnon's stronghold, Gomorrah, and manages to enter Memnon's palace with help from an urchin. He briefly meets Memnon's court magician, Philos, who hides him and then directs him to the courtyard where Memnon is training. Mathayus tries to shoot Memnon from the watchtower, but is forced to save the urchin from having his hand amputated by shooting the axe out of Takmet's hand, alerting the guards to his presence. Mathayus only barely manages to escape Gomorrah, abducting Cassandra along the way, knowing that Memnon will come for her. Cassandra tries to escape from Mathayus and even tells him that she has been Memnon's prisoner since she was a child. Sympathetic, Mathayus allows her the choice of leaving, but warns her of worse dangers and that she is likely safer with him. However, Memnon sends Thorak and a group of thugs to kill Mathayus and retrieve Cassandra, but Mathayus manages to slay them all single-handedly with the aid of a sandstorm. With his dying breaths, Thorak manages to stab Mathayus in the leg with a scorpion blood-laced arrow. Cassandra, however, uses her magic to save Mathayus's life. As an insult, Mathayus sends Thorak's blood-stained pendant to Memnon.

Mathayus, Arpid and Cassandra then run into Philos, who fled Memnon's palace and has perfected an explosive powder he was working on. However, they are ambushed by the rebels from Ur, now under the command of King Balthazar, who distrusts Mathayus. Though Mathayus defeats Balthazar in battle and earns his grudging respect and sanctuary, Cassandra has a vision of Memnon and his army slaughtering the entire rebel camp. She informs Mathayus and tells him of a prophecy Memnon once heard: when the moonlight reaches the House of Scorpio, the King on High will become the invincible Scorpion King, and Memnon believes himself to be the one destined to become the Scorpion King. Furthermore, she informs Mathayus that if he faces Memnon, he will most likely die, but Mathayus assures her that he will make his own destiny and they make love.

The next morning, however, Cassandra returns to Memnon in order to stall him and possibly kill him. Mathayus, with help from Balthazar, Arpid, Philos and the army of rebels, launches an all-out assault on Memnon's stronghold, facing Memnon personally before he can kill Cassandra, while Balthazar confronts and kills Takmet, avenging Pheron. The battle rages on until Mathayus is shot by a guard as in Cassandra's vision. As Memnon takes his place in the House of Scorpio to become the Scorpion King, Cassandra kills the guard while Mathayus retrieves his bow, pulls the arrow out of his back and uses it to shoot the exhausted Memnon, sending him off the edge of the roof just as Philos and Arpid use the explosive powder to destroy the palace's foundation stone, bringing down the bulk of Memnon's forces. Memnon is consumed by the flames as he falls to his death. With the battle over, the remnants of Memnon's army bow before Mathayus, who is crowned as the Scorpion King.

In the aftermath, Mathayus and Balthazar share a good-natured farewell as the latter returns to his own kingdom. Cassandra tells Mathayus that she sees a period of peace and prosperity coming, but subtly warns him that it will not last forever. Undeterred, Mathayus decides that they will make their own destiny.

Cast

• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Mathayus
• Steven Brand as Memnon
• Kelly Hu as Cassandra
• Grant Heslov as Arpid
• Bernard Hill as Philos
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Balthazar
• Peter Facinelli as Prince Takmet
• Sherri Howard as Queen Isis
• Ralf Möller as Thorak
• Branscombe Richmond as Jesup
• Roger Rees as King Pheron
• Joseph Ruskin as Tribal Leader
• Tyler Mane as Barbarian Chieftain

Reception

Critical response

The Scorpion King was met with a mixed critical outcome, currently holding a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 134 reviews. Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 45 based on 30 reviews.

James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film two stars (out of four), saying: "It's possible to make an engaging action/adventure picture of this sort, but The Scorpion King isn't it." Dennis Harvey of Variety gave a positive review, saying the film "rouses excitement mostly from stuntwork and thesp agility rather than CGI excess."

Nathan Rabin of The Onion's A.V. Club gave the film a mildly positive review, calling it "prototypical summer-movie fare, designed to be consumed, enjoyed, and forgotten all at once." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a score of C+, calling it "plodding and obvious" but adding that The Rock "holds it together." Jonathan Foreman of the New York Post gave a negative review, saying that The Scorpion King "has none of the qualities — epic sweep, relative originality and heartfelt bloodthirstiness — that made Conan so trashily entertaining."

Box office

With a production budget of $60 million, the film grossed $12 million on its opening day and $36 million on the weekend. Its total domestic gross is about $91,047,077 while the foreign gross it made is $74,286,103, resulting in making $165,333,180 worldwide.

Soundtrack

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Track listing

1. "I Stand Alone" by Godsmack
2. "Set It Off (Tweaker Remix)" by P.O.D.
3. "Break You" by Drowning Pool
4. "Streamline" by System of a Down
5. "To Whom It May Concern" by Creed
6. "Yanking Out My Heart" by Nickelback
7. "Losing My Grip" by Hoobastank
8. "Only the Strong" by Flaw
9. "Iron Head" by Rob Zombie feat. Ozzy Osbourne
10. "My Life" by 12 Stones
11. "Along the Way" by Mushroomhead
12. "Breathless" by Lifer
13. "Corrected" by Sevendust
14. "Burn It Black" by Injected
15. "27" by Breaking Point
16. "Glow" by Coal Chamber

Video Games

The film spawned two video games: The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian for the Nintendo GameCube and the PlayStation 2 which served as a prequel to the film's events; and a sequel, The Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris, for the Game Boy Advance, in which Cassandra is abducted by the ruthless sorcerer Menthu and his lackey, the witch Isis (not to be confused with Queen Isis from the film), prompting Mathayus to undergo a quest to uncover the legendary Sword of Osiris and use it to defeat Menthu and Isis once and for all and rescue Cassandra.

Sequels

Following the film's release, there were initial plans for a sequel with Johnson to return as Mathayus, but these plans eventually fell through and the project was shelved. A direct-to-video prequel, The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, was released in 2008 with Michael Copon as Mathayus and Randy Couture as the villain, Sargon. A sequel, The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption, was released in 2012 with Victor Webster as Mathayus and Billy Zane as the villain, King Talus.

A fourth film in the franchise has been announced, entitled The Scorpion King: The Lost Throne. Victor Webster will be reprising his role from the third film. Michael Biehn, Rutger Hauer, Lou Ferrigno and former WWE female wrestler Eve Torres will be joining the cast.

External links

• Official website
• The Scorpion King at IMDb
• The Scorpion King at the TCM Movie Database
• The Scorpion King at AllMovie
• The Scorpion King at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Scorpion King at Metacritic