Scorpion King: Verdict?

[Klaus]

I enjoyed this movie a lot. It's light-hearted and action oriented. It's the movie version of a good ol' kick-in-the-door game. When Mathayus and that kid were standing side-by-side in Memnon's palace, I was all like "Look! A half-orc and a halfling!".

I must say this movie is a great inspiration for a Dark Sun game (just change the metal items to obsidian). Mathayus look was perfect for a Dark Sun character, and the oasis could be placed in the Verdant Belt.

The villain isn't too imposing, IMHO. I'd love to see Vin Diesel play him.

Minor gripe: Why can't someone come up with a decent name these days? They cast a chinese girl (Kelly Hu, love her, she's very fine in this movie) to play a mid-eastern girl (the default descent of everyone who didn't mention their origins) with a greek name (Cassandra? Why not Ishtar?).

The "amazons" were a nice touch, and the fact that Balthazar called himself a Nubian gives credence to the thought that the movie shows the founding of the Egyptian kingdom, before the first dinasty. So for those who wanted more egyptian bits, Egypt didn't appeared yet.

As for the stats given to Mathayus, I agree with most of it, but if you consider his exotic weapons as a military pick and throwing daggers, he'll have two feats to spare. And in a all-human campaign, I'd waiver the no same species unless he's evil" restricyion to Favored Enemy. After all, Acadians were called "cutthroats" and "assassins" in the movie.

Good movie! 8 out of 10 (LotR was a 12, DnD was a 4, Conans were 9 and 7, Kull was 7).

 

[Jaligard]

Wow, 5 pages and I'm the first person to complain about the ending...

Okay, I enjoyed the movie. I wasn't expecting much, and the opening scene was so far over the top that I was able to turn off the historical-accuracy and realism portions of my brain and just enjoy the movie for what it was.

It was campy, poorly written, and actually a lot of fun. My gripe comes from the ending. Without giving it away, the ending essentially awards Matthius and the audience for not paying attention.

I'll treat it like a D&D adventure a little. If you establish that the BBEG is immune to fire, an even mildly intelligent party would not try to kill him with fire. If they did, an even mildly intelligent DM would smack them down for being idiots.

They establish a rule in the story and the only way the hero succeeds is by breaking that rule. And they don't give any reason for the rule being broken--in fact, it was a pretty ideal situation for the enemy--he essentially rolled a 1 and the movie ended. The heroes succeeded not by their success, but by his failure.

 

[Eryx]

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I'll treat it like a D&D adventure a little. If you establish that the BBEG is immune to fire, an even mildly intelligent party would not try to kill him with fire. If they did, an even mildly intelligent DM would smack them down for being idiots.

Ok, I'll bite. At what part in the movie did they say that the bad guy was immune to fire? I have to admit that I don't remember that.

 

[Thaiger]

Ok, I'll bite. At what part in the movie did they say that the bad guy was immune to fire? I have to admit that I don't remember that.

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I believe that he is refering to Mathayus Killing Memnon with an arrow. We knew from a privious scene that when aware of the attack, Memnon could catch an arrow fired at him.

However, in that scene, the archer was using a normal standard bow. Mathayus's bow was NOT standard. Please recall the scene when Whats-His-Name-Who-Killed-His-Father was trying to impress a group of girls and went to draw Mathayus's bow. He could barely draw it an inch. With its much hirer draw wieght, his bow would launch the arrow a lot faster than the normal bow. Memnon probably wasn't aware of this and tuned his reflexes to deflect a slower arrow.

 

[Jaligard]

Cat out of bag...

I believe Matthius had used the very same bow to fire an arrow at the BBEG earlier in the movie; it was deflected. In fact, when he did it the first time it was under less than ideal conditions. The second time, the BBEG had time to prepare to deflect an arrow that was being fired squarely at him--the very conditions (besides lighting) that he practiced regularly under.

They established this rule early in the movie and reinforced it well. The bad guy can deflect arrows--he did it in battle, they showed him practicing, and Matthius even took a shot at him earlier. They didn't establish that he could deflect arrows most of the time. They established that he could deflect arrows at his whim.

And then they threw it out the window for the finale. Were you paying attention to the movie? Yes? Too bad.

 

[Black Omega]

The "amazons" were a nice touch, and the fact that Balthazar called himself a Nubian gives credence to the thought that the movie shows the founding of the Egyptian kingdom, before the first dinasty. So for those who wanted more egyptian bits, Egypt didn't appeared yet.

I think you are giving a little too much credit here. Remember, The Rock later attacks Egypt and then prays to an established Egyptian God. The action is simply taking place in the area od Sodom and Gamorrah(sp). And they threw in a little of everything. A Nubian, a Greek, Amazons, Samoans under the name Akkadians. It's a fun movie but any relation to history is purely coincidental.

 

[GrimJesta]

I knew I shouldnt have read this post, cuz now I know the ending. Even with the BIG FRIGGIN sign that said spoilers, did I look away?

NOPE!

Damn my curiosity!! LOL!

-=Grim=-

 

[Thaiger]

I believe Matthius had used the very same bow to fire an arrow at the BBEG earlier in the movie; it was deflected.

When? I honestly don't remember him shooting an arrow at Memnon until the end. It's been over a week now, and my memory for such things isn't great.

 

[Eryx]

You can't be successful at everything you do no matter how good you are. Thats my excuse for the bad guy failing to deflect the arrow and he had been beaten up quite soundly IMO.

 

[Shadeus]

I loved the movie for the non-stop action. It's totally mindless, so don't try to overanalyze it or you'll lose the magic.

Someone asked about about how the Scorpion King became that thing at the end of Mummy Returns. According to the Mummy Returns (the very beginning), he eventually goes on a quest to conquer the known world. He gets beat and is driven into the desert. His army destroyed, he makes a pact with Anubis who spares his life and gives him Anubis' warriors (the jackle-headed warriors). When had conquered the world, Anubis collected on his debt killing him.

So the Scorpion King movie is leading up to when he is crowned king. It would have to be the second movie where they show his dark side and his ambition to rule the world.

And, incidently, I figured Mathias to be a pure ranger using the desert as his favored terrain.