Scorpion King

Details

Long before the pyramids, the ruthless warrior Memnon is steadily conquering the tribes of the ancient world. His armies appear virtually unbeatable and, with each victory, the remaining free tribes become increasingly convinced that resistance is futile.

However, Memnon's success isn't simply the result of superior military strength. At his side is the beautiful sorceress Cassandra, whose ability to foresee the outcome of battles allows him to anticipate his enemies' every move. As long as Cassandra continues providing Memnon with her visions, defeating his army appears almost impossible.

Desperate to remove Memnon's advantage, the remaining tribal leaders hire Mathayus, one of the last surviving Akkadian assassins, to infiltrate the enemy stronghold and kill the sorceress. Accompanied by his brother Jesup, Mathayus sets out to complete what should be a relatively straightforward assassination.

Naturally, things don't go according to plan. Mathayus discovers that Cassandra isn't quite the willing servant he expected and, rather than killing her, eventually takes her with him. Unfortunately, this makes an already powerful enemy even more determined to hunt him down.

Joining forces with warrior king Balthazar and the remaining tribes, Mathayus finds himself at the centre of the rebellion against Memnon. If the scattered resistance can be united, they may finally have an opportunity to defeat the conqueror and free the people under his control. First, however, Mathayus is going to have to survive long enough to face Memnon himself.

Picture & Sound

The picture quality is reasonable throughout, with the colourful desert locations, elaborate sets and costumes reproduced with a good level of detail. Colours are generally strong and vibrant, particularly during the brighter exterior sequences, whilst black levels remain convincing during the film's numerous nighttime scenes.

There's plenty happening on screen during the larger action sequences and the transfer generally copes well with the combination of fast movement, dust, fire and computer-generated effects. The image isn't flawless, but there's little here that seriously distracts from the film itself.

The visual effects are something of a mixed bag. Much of the film relies on CGI to extend sets and create the larger environments, and whilst some of it is fairly obvious, the results are generally effective. Universal had already gained plenty of experience creating this sort of fantasy world with the previous two Mummy films and that experience is clearly being put to use here.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is suitably energetic, with the numerous battles providing plenty of opportunity for the surround channels and subwoofer to get involved. Weapons clash across the front soundstage, arrows fly between channels and the larger action sequences generate a decent amount of low-frequency activity.

However, the DTS soundtrack is definitely the audio format of choice and is another welcome addition to a Region 2 DVD. It has a little more weight and presence than its Dolby Digital counterpart, particularly during the larger battles, and gives the film's action sequences considerably more impact.

Dialogue remains clear throughout and the music is well reproduced, although it's undoubtedly the action that provides the soundtrack with its best moments. This isn't quite reference material, but turn the volume up and there's certainly enough happening to keep a home cinema system busy.

Menu & Extras

The extras are reasonably substantial and cover a good portion of the filmmaking process. There are two commentary tracks, one with director Chuck Russell and another featuring members of the cast, along with the usual collection of making-of and production featurettes.

The most interesting feature is the Enhanced Viewing Mode, which allows alternate and deleted material to be incorporated into the film as you watch. It's always nice to be able to see additional scenes within their original context rather than simply selecting them individually from a menu, and it's a feature that more DVDs should pick up on.

The Spotlight on Location featurette provides the usual behind-the-scenes look at the production, with contributions from Chuck Russell, The Rock, Michael Clarke Duncan, Kelly Hu and various members of the crew. Additional material covers the production design, costumes, physical effects and choreography of the fight sequences.

There's also a useful storyboard comparison, allowing you to see how the planned sequences eventually translated onto the screen, whilst the outtakes provide some lighter entertainment. A Godsmack music video, photograph montage and DVD-ROM material round off what is actually a fairly respectable collection.

The menus themselves make extensive use of action footage from the film for their backgrounds and transitions, but the actual selection screens are rather unimaginative. Given the amount of visual material available, you'd have thought something a little more adventurous could have been produced.

Overall

My initial apprehension before seeing The Scorpion King was that it would amount to little more than ninety minutes of non-stop WWF action built around The Rock. Thankfully, for the most part those fears proved unfounded. The film is surprisingly enjoyable, moves along at a good pace, has a reasonable storyline and contains some excellent action sequences - which, after all, are the prime reason for seeing it in the first place.

There's even a reasonable amount of comedy thrown into the mix, which helps prevent the film from taking itself too seriously. That's probably just as well because this is hardly a film that would survive particularly intense scrutiny. It's essentially an old-fashioned sword-and-sandals adventure given the modern Hollywood treatment, and viewed on that level it works rather well.

The fight scenes are well staged and executed. Inevitably, The Rock's WWF background occasionally makes itself known, but it's generally kept within context. After all, if you wanted to watch WWF you could simply turn on the television. Most of the fighting here involves swords, bows and assorted ancient weaponry rather than endless hand-to-hand wrestling moves.

Dwayne Johnson - or The Rock as everybody still knows him - is surprisingly well suited to Mathayus. Nobody is going to mistake this for Shakespeare, but the role doesn't require it. He looks convincing during the action, has enough screen presence to carry the film and, perhaps more importantly, demonstrates a reasonable ability to inject humour into the character.

Michael Clarke Duncan also adds some much-needed weight as Balthazar and helps balance the film. It's hardly the most demanding role he's ever played, but his sheer physical presence makes him an obvious match for Mathayus and their initial confrontation is one of the more entertaining fights.

Kelly Hu is equally effective as Cassandra and thankfully gets a little more to do than simply stand around looking beautiful whilst the men hit each other with swords. The relationship between Cassandra and Mathayus is hardly the most sophisticated romance ever committed to film, but it provides enough motivation to keep the plot moving between battles.

Steven Brand's Memnon is a fairly standard fantasy-film villain: ruthless, ambitious, extremely confident and conveniently surrounded by enough disposable henchmen for our hero to work his way through before the inevitable final confrontation. There's nothing particularly original about him, but then originality isn't exactly what The Scorpion King is aiming for.

And that's probably the film's biggest weakness. A lot of the plot points and characters feel as though they've been borrowed from other films. The reluctant tribes uniting against a tyrant, the beautiful woman trapped alongside the villain, the comic sidekick and the hero gradually becoming a leader are all very familiar ingredients.

The general feel of the film is also slightly unsettled. At times it attempts to draw you into something resembling an authentic ancient environment, but it never quite succeeds. Most of the time it feels more like a modern action movie populated by people wearing ancient costumes. The dialogue, humour and characters are all unmistakably contemporary.

Perhaps that's hardly surprising. Despite being spun off from The Mummy Returns, this isn't particularly interested in historical accuracy or even matching the darker atmosphere of its parent films. It's a colourful fantasy adventure designed to provide ninety minutes of action, comedy and escapism.

Indeed, any knowledge of the previous two Mummy films is completely unnecessary. The character seen here bears little resemblance to the monstrous Scorpion King encountered in The Mummy Returns, and the story stands perfectly well on its own.

For me, both The Mummy and The Mummy Returns remain stronger films. They have better characters, more impressive set pieces and a much greater sense of adventure. But that doesn't make The Scorpion King a failure.

It's lightweight, predictable and occasionally rather silly, but it's also fast-moving, entertaining and packed with exactly the sort of action you'd expect. My initial fears of a feature-length WWF promotion were thankfully misplaced.

Don't expect another Gladiator. Don't even expect another Mummy. But if you're after an undemanding sword-and-sandals adventure with plenty of fighting, a little humour and The Rock hitting people with increasingly large objects, this is certainly worth watching.

Special features

• Extended Version in Enhanced Viewing Mode - alternate versions of key scenes incorporated into the film
• Feature Commentary with Director Chuck Russell
• Feature Commentary with Cast Members
• Outtakes
• Alternate Versions of Key Scenes
• Spotlight on Location: The Making of The Scorpion King
• Ancient World Production Design
• Choreography of the Fight Sequences
• Physical Effects Created for the Film
• Storyboard to Final Feature Comparison
• Costume Design Feature
• Godsmack Music Video - I Stand Alone
• Photograph Montage
• DVD-ROM Features including Total Axes