The Scorpion King

This article is about the film. For the factual pre-dynastic Egyptian pharaoh "Scorpion II", see King Scorpion.

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

For other uses, see Scorpion King (disambiguation).

The Scorpion King
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chuck Russell
Produced by	Sean Daniel James Jacks Kevin Misher Stephen Sommers
Screenplay by	Stephen Sommers William Osborne David Hayter
Story by	Stephen Sommers Jonathan Hales
Starring	Dwayne Johnson Steven Brand Kelly Hu Grant Heslov Bernard Hill Michael Clarke Duncan Peter Facinelli Sherri Howard Ralf Möller
Music by	John Debney
Cinematography	John R. Leonetti
Editing by	Greg Parsons Michael Tronick
Studio	WWF Studios Alphaville
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	April 19, 2002 (2002-04-19)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States Germany Belgium
Language	English
Budget	$60 million[1]
Box office	United States $91,047,077 Worldwide: $165,333,180[1]

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 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 (Johnson), the last true Akkadian mercenary, along with his half-brother, Jesup, and friend, Rama, is hired by King Pheron (Rees) to kill a sorcerer, whose prophetic powers allow the vicious Egyptian Emperor Memnon (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 (Hu). Unfortunately, Mathayus is discovered and caught by the guards, thanks to a tip-off by Pheron's treacherous son, Takmet (Facinelli), leading to Jesup and Rama being killed. Before Memnon can kill Mathayus, Cassandra protests, claiming that the Gods favour Mathayus and killing him may incur their wrath. Unable to kill Mathayus himself, Memnon has him buried to his neck in sand for fire ants to eat his head. With the help of the horse thief Arpid (Heslov), whom Mathayus had encountered earlier, he manages to escape.

At Memnon's palace, Cassandra tells Memnon that his armies will conquer the west and that Queen Isis (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. Cassandra warns Memnon that his methods will never bring about peace, but Memnon refuses to listen, and states his intention to make Cassandra his queen once he has completed his conquest and become the legendary Scorpion King.

Mathayus gets into Gomorrah with the help of Arpid and an urchin boy, Tutu, who helps him sneak inside Memnon's palace. They briefly stumble into the laboratory of Memnon's sympathetic court magician, Philos (Hill), who directs Mathayus to the courtyard where Memnon is training. Mathayus attempts to shoot Memnon from above, but Tutu is caught and charged with stealing. Reluctantly, Mathayus saves Tutu from having his hand chopped off by shooting the axe out of Takmet's hand, alerting the guards. Mathayus flees back to Philos, who accidentally catapults him across the building into Memnon's harem, where the women disarm him and call the guards. Next, Mathayus falls into Cassandra's private quarters. After a long chase, Mathayus kidnaps Cassandra, reunites with Arpid and they escape, heading for the Valley of the Dead, where Mathayus believes Memnon will try to retrieve Cassandra. Cassandra attempts to flee from Mathayus, but he persuades her otherwise, on the basis that she is safe with him.

However, Memnon sends his right hand man, Thorak (Moeller), to kill Mathayus along with a group of soldiers. With the help of a sandstorm, Mathayus is able to kill the soldiers one by one, including Thorak, but Thorak manages to stab Mathayus in the leg with an arrow drenched in scorpion venom. At the risk of her own life, Cassandra uses her powers to heal Mathayus and they continue their journey. Memnon, meanwhile, learns of Thorak's demise and prepares to destroy his enemies the next day.

Deeper in the desert, the trio catch up with Philos, who managed to escape from the city. He has been working in the desert, where he has perfected his explosive powder by the use of salt the desert has. Overjoyed to see Cassandra safe, Philos joins forces with Mathayus. The group finds an oasis, where they are ambushed and kidnapped by a group of men working for Balthazar (Duncan), the Nubian King and the leader of Memnon's enemies, who distrusts Mathayus and intends to kill him, the other two men and Cassandra. A brutal fight ensues between Mathayus and Balthazar. Mathayus, albeit barely, wins the fight and persuades Balthazar that they are fighting on the same side. Begrudgingly, Balthazar allows them one night's sanctuary. However, Cassandra has a vision of Memnon and his army slaughtering the entire rebel tribe and informs Mathayus, also foreseeing that he will die if he faces Memnon. Mathayus assures Cassandra that he will make his own destiny, and they share a night of intimacy. The next morning, Cassandra returns to Memnon in the hopes of stopping him by herself.

Mathayus and Balthazar decide to team up to rescue Cassandra and bring Memnon's empire down once and for all. As Memnon finds Cassandra out and almost kills her, Mathayus intervenes and takes on the warlord himself. The rebels, led by Balthazar, battle Memnon's forces as Arpid and Philos plant bags of the explosive powder under the palace's foundation stone. Balthazar makes his way into Memnon's quarters and briefly helps Mathayus battle Memnon and his men, but a fire starts and they end up separated. Balthazar encounters and kills Takmet, avenging Pheron, while Mathayus takes his fight with Memnon to the edge of the palace roof. As seen in Cassandra's vision, Mathayus is shot in the back by a soldier, but not fatally. Cassandra kills the soldier as Mathayus uses the soldier's discarded bow and the same arrow to shoot the exhausted Memnon. The force sends Memnon falling to his death as the bags explode, killing the bulk of Memnon's forces. With their warlord defeated, the remaining soldiers bow to Mathayus and declare him the Scorpion King.

In the aftermath, Mathayus and Cassandra, now King and Queen of Egypt, bid their farewells to Balthazar, who wishes them well. Cassandra then reveals to Mathayus that her night with him did not strip her of her powers. It was a white lie to stop Memnon from taking advantage of her. She subtly warns Mathayus of a vision she has had of his horrific destiny, but Mathayus decides that they will make their own destiny.

Cast

• The Rock 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
• Conrad Roberts as Chieftain
• Joseph Ruskin as Tribal Leader
• Esteban Cueto as Rama
• Nils Allen Stewart as Torturer
• Tyler Mane as Barbarian Chieftain

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews. The Scorpion King currently holds a 41% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 130 reviews.^[2] Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 45% based on 30 reviews.^[3]

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."^[4] Dennis Harvey of Variety gave a positive review, saying the film "rouses excitement mostly from stuntwork and thesp agility rather than CGI excess."^[5]

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."^[6] 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."^[7] 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."^[8]

Box office

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

Soundtrack

The Scorpion King
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released	March 26, 2002 (2002-03-26)
Genre	Heavy metal, alternative metal, alternative rock, nu metal, post-grunge, hard rock,
Label	Universal

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]

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

• List of The Mummy characters

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "The Scorpion King". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=scorpionking.htm. Retrieved January 4, 2010. 
2. ^ "The Scorpion King". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scorpion_king/. 
3. ^ "The Scorpion King". Metacritic. Amazon.com. http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-scorpion-king. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
4. ^ Review by James Berardinelli, ReelViews
5. ^ Dennis Harvey (April 18, 2002). "The Scorpion King". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117917485.html. 
6. ^ Nathan Rabin (April 29, 2002). "The Scorpion King". The A.V. Club. The Onion. http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-scorpion-king,17437/. 
7. ^ Review by Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
8. ^ Review by Jonathan Foreman, New York Post
9. ^ "The Scorpion King [Soundtrack]". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r580844. 

External links

• Official website
• The Scorpion King at the Internet Movie Database
• The Scorpion King at the TCM Movie Database
• The Scorpion King at AllRovi
• The Scorpion King at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Scorpion King at Metacritic