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The Scorpion King

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The Scorpion King
Theatrical poster
Directed byChuck Russell
Written byStory
Jonathan Hales
Stephen Sommers
Screenplay
Stephen Sommers
William Osborne
David Hayter
Characters
Stephen Sommers
Produced byStephen Sommers
James Jacks
Kevin Misher
Sean Daniel
StarringDwayne Johnson
Steven Brand
Kelly Hu
Grant Heslov
Bernard Hill
Michael Clarke Duncan
Peter Facinelli
Sherri Howard
Ralf Moeller
CinematographyJohn R. Leonetti
Edited byGreg Parsons
Michael Tronick
Music byJohn Debney
Production
companies
Distributed byUnited States
Universal Pictures
Non-United States
United International Pictures
Release date
April 19, 2002 (2002-04-19)
Running time
92 minutes
CountriesTemplate:Film US
Template:Film Germany
Template:Film Belgium
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million[1]
Box officeUnited States
$91,047,077
Worldwide:
$165,333,180[1]

The Scorpion King is a 2002 American-German co-production starring Dwayne Johnson, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan, and is directed by Chuck Russell. It is a prequel to The Mummy series, following 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 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 (Dwayne Johnson), the last true Akkadian mercenary, along with his half-brother and friend, is hired by King Pheron (Roger Rees) to kill a sorcerer, whose prophetic powers allow the vicious Emperor Memnon (Steven Brand) to rule his empire with an iron fist. He sneaks into Memnon's camp and finds his way to the sorcerer's tent, where he discovers that Memnon's sorcerer is actually a beautiful sorceress called Cassandra (Kelly Hu). Unfortunately, Mathayus is discovered and caught by the guards, thanks to a tip-off by Pheron's treacherous son, Takmet (Peter Facinelli), leading to Mathayus's half-brother and friend being killed. Before Memnon can kill Mathayus, Cassandra protests, saying it wouldn't be wise because the gods favor him and to kill him would bring misfortune. Unable to kill Mathayus himself, Memnon has him buried to his neck in sand for fire ants to come eat his head. With the help of the horse thief Arpid (Grant Heslov), he manages to escape. Now free again, Mathayus decides to avenge his brothers and kill Memnon.

At Memnon's palace, Cassandra tells Memnon that his armies will conquer the west and that Queen Isis (Sherri Howard) and her soldiers will scatter to the four winds. Memnon then gives orders to his men to have his soldiers prepare for the final campaign. When Cassandra tells Memnon that rivers of blood will never bring peace, Memnon responds that they can bring obedience and that when he becomes the King of Legends, Cassandra will take her place beside him as his queen. Cassandra tells him that if she becomes his lover, she will lose her prophetic sight, but Memnon says that once he destroys all his enemies, he will no longer need her gift of sight.

Mathayus gets into Gomorrah with the help of Arpid and a thieving little boy, Mathayus sneaks into Memnon's castle. He attempts to kill Memnon with his arrows, but when the boy who helped him gets caught and charged with stealing, Mathayus saves the boy by shooting the axe out of Tekmet's hands as he was about to cut the boy's hands off. This exposes him, and Mathayus is forced to retreat. After evading the guards, he literally falls into Cassandra's bath house and kidnaps her by going through its drain, Cassandra emerging from a fountain in the city, naked. Mathayus manages to wrap her up and get her into another outfit. He reveals that while he was hired to kill her, he thinks she can be more useful as bait to catch Memnon. The pair escape the city and meet up with Arpid and Mathayus's camel, heading out to the Valley of the Dead. Later that night, Cassandra tries to escape only to be tripped by a rope that is tied from her ankle to Mathayus. During their struggle, Cassandra tells Mathayus that she's not planning on returning to Memnon since he had her since she was a child. Mathayus frees her, but warns her that as long as she remains with him, she will be protected against even more dangers.

The next day, in the Valley of the Dead, Mathayus spots a small group of Memnon's soldiers looking for them, led by Memnon's right-hand man, Thorak (Ralf Moeller). Mathayus hides Arpid and Cassandra under a blanket, and rides off to challenge the soldiers under cover of a sandstorm. Mathayus brings down all of the soldiers until Thorak is apparently the only one left. After a brief struggle, Mathayus impales Thorak in the stomach, but Thorak uses his last moments to use his secret weapon: An arrow drenched in scorpion venom, which he uses to stab Mathayus in the leg before dying. The sandstorm passes, and Arpid and Cassandra find Mathayus half-dead from the poison. That night, Cassandra manages to heal him with her powers, despite the risk it poses to her own life, and says from then on Mathayus will have the blood of scorpions in him - hence the name "Scorpion King." Mathayus wonders why she would help him, and Cassandra explains that she believes he can save the people and free them from Memnon's tyranny.

Deeper in the desert, the trio catch up with Philos (Bernard Hill), Memnon's court magician (whom Mathayus had earlier encountered in Gomorrah), after he managed to escape from the city. He has been working in the desert, where he has perfected his explosive powder. Overjoyed to see Cassandra safe, Philos joins forces with Mathayus.

As their journey continues, they meet up with Balthazar (Michael Clarke Duncan), the leader of Memnon's enemies, and the two join forces, after a very intense battle between Mathayus and Balthazar in which they eventually realize they are on the same side. During a celebration at the camp of Balthazar's people, Cassandra has a vision of Memnon destroying the people and killing Mathayus. But Mathayus is undeterred, saying that he will kill Memnon. After an intimate night with Mathayus, Cassandra returns to Memnon to keep him from attacking the camp.

Mathayus and Balthazar go after her. A huge battle occurs between Memnon and his armies, and Mathayus and Balthazar and his people. Balthazar encounters, battles and kills Takmet, avenging Pheron. Mathayus, while fighting Memnon personally, is shot by an arrow but recovers, and uses the same arrow to kill the exhausted Memnon. The battle ends in victory for Balthazar and his people. Mathayus ascends to the throne as king, with Cassandra by his side as queen. She had not lost her powers of sight, it was a pretense to keep Memnon from taking advantage of her. She tells him that his rule will be peaceful and prosperous, but no kingdom lasts forever. Mathayus responds that the kingdom will make its own destiny.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

The film had mixed reviews. The Scorpion King holds a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 130 reviews.[2] Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 45% based on 30 reviews.[3]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars (out of four), saying: "It has high energy, the action never stops, the dialogue knows it's funny, and The Rock has the authority to play the role and the fortitude to keep a straight face."[4] 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."[5] Dennis Harvey of Variety gave a positive review, saying the film "rouses excitement mostly from stuntwork and thesp agility rather than CGI excess."[6]

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."[7] 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."[8] 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."[9]

Stephen Holden of the New York Times was not impressed, saying that "the entire movie looks like an overblown cartoon."[10] Also unimpressed was Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post, who said the film is "ultimately undone by its sheer busyness."[11] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, enjoyed the film, calling it "a genial action movie that succeeds by finding the right tone (fairly light) and the correct pace (medium fast) and by placing appealing characters at its center."[12] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com also praised the film, saying: "If you can think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon, I want to hear about it."[13]

Box office

The film earned $165,333,180 and had a production budget of $60 million.[1]

Soundtrack

Untitled
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

Prequel

A prequel titled The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior was released on August 19, 2008 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Michael Copon replaces Dwayne Johnson as a younger Mathayus.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Scorpion King". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  2. ^ "The Scorpion King". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  3. ^ "The Scorpion King". Metacritic. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  4. ^ Review by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
  5. ^ Review by James Berardinelli, ReelViews
  6. ^ Dennis Harvey. "The Scorpion King". Variety.
  7. ^ Nathan Rabin (April 29, 2002). "The Scorpion King". The A.V. Club. The Onion.
  8. ^ Review by Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
  9. ^ Review by Jonathan Foreman, New York Post
  10. ^ Review by Stephen Holden, New York Times
  11. ^ Review by Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
  12. ^ Review by Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
  13. ^ Review by Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com