This is essentially the same generic all flash with little substance kind of action movie I’m starting to come to expect from Stephen Sommers. Though he only wrote this one it seems the same derivative Hollywood stylings there. While admittedly this movie has tons of high flying action, The Scorpion King brings hardly anything else to the table. Add to that the various cheesy details thrown in for good measure and you have an utterly mediocre film.
The plot is your standard revenge on your brother’s killer while saving everybody around you in the process kind of fare. While technically there is no problem with this kind of plot the movie fails to do anything to make their version stand out. Apparently all those action scenes are at the expense of the story. Wait until you find out why they call this guy Scorpion King. Has to be the dumbest thing I ever heard and it’s put in almost as an afterthought. The blood of scorpions flows in your veins… BAH! The supporting characters are almost completely disposable and the main characters lack any real depth or development. What’s with the goofy inventor and comedy relief? Basically the storyline just sits there and is only a vehicle for the incessant action.
And I do mean incessant action. While some of the action scenes are pretty cool and all you just can’t escape the action. EVERY single scene in this movie has action in it. There is no change in the movie’s pacing and there is no room any plot or character development because of it. To make matters that much worse the sound effects are over the top along with the rest of the special effects. I mean if I hear another squishing noise every time The Rock stabs someone I’m going to scream. There are some cheesy flashy effects on this movie like flaming swords, bad CG effects and explosions (especially when there shouldn’t be any explosions). Top it all off with the occasional rock music mismatch and there is hardly any decent production values in this movie at all.
Still if you like non-stop action and don’t care that much for substance behind it then this is one great flick. If derivative themes and cheesy special effects bug you then I guess you’ll have to make a judgment call on whether or not you can accept the movie’s popcorn simplicity over the cheese. Ultimately if you don’t take this movie seriously… and I really mean not seriously at all… then The Scorpion King might be a decent getaway from reality.
this movie is not good, at all, I want Mummy 3, not a wrestler starring spin off, this isn’t Mummy 3 simply because theres no Mummy, no Rick O’ Connell, it’s just a bad spin off