Scorpion King: Verdict?

[reapersaurus]

It was an average episode of Xena, with the Rock substituting for Lucy Lawless. If you enjoyed Xena, you'll probably like this. If you didn't, you won't.

And you definitely need to turn off that part of your brain that analyzes a film for historical accuracy.

Maybe that's why my wife and i liked it!

Not only do we believe that fantasy and action have a LARGE need for films that take many ideas and approaches from Hercules/Xena, but we blessedly don't even POSSESS that insanely nit-picking part of the brain that way too many people appear to have that causes them to have the enjoyment of many things sucked away from them.

And everyone who hasn't gotten it yet:
The Scorpion King is a film about the Rock's character: it is NOT about the Mummy duo of films.
Hell, they hardly even have any Egyptian references in the film.

It was more a hodge-podge of historical styles, picked for their onscreen convenience and visual impact as well as their cheap cost.
Newsflash: that's what fantasy and action movies have done since the beginning of celluloid.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi there!

And the fact that that the bad guy made Flaming Scimitars without magic. I've put a knife in a very hot fire before. Metal does not light on fire!

I thought the braziers he thrust the swords into had oil (or somesuch) in them!?

 

[Archer]

Hey, it was better than the D&D movie. I like the Rock and the guy from the Green Mile. It had good special effects and lots of fighting. Its fairly short at 90 minutes and you don't really wish it was longer. I liked it and I went to the twilight show so it was cheaper and not very crowded. A little kid there thought it was great and that it should have come out before the mummy, but he didn't like it as much as the kid in the D&D movie who stood on his seat and announced that it was the greatest move he had ever seen. (He was about 6)

 

[trancejeremy]

Well, it had a good first weekend

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...21/media_nm/leisure_boxoffice_dc_48&printer=1

"The action-adventure, a spin-off of the two "Mummy" movies, pulled in $36.2 million for the three days since its April 19 release. The previous April record was held by "The Matrix," which opened with $27.8 million in 1999."

My guess is that it will drop off quite a bit in the 2nd week.

 

[THG Mage]

I liked it

My wife and I went to see The Scorpion King today, and both of us liked it a great deal. It was a fun movie to watch and a good way to spend an afternoon. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes action movies with a little campiness thrown in.

Also, did anyone else notice one of the connections to the Mummy franchise that my wife and I picked up on? When the guards are quickly marching in formation toward the end of the movie, readying themselves to I believe charge at Balthazar. They are a nod to the kick ass personal guards of the king in the Mummy movies that chase after the "heroes" in both movies. Nice small connection without being too blatant in my opinion.

All in all I liked the movie and believe that there will probably be another one. And I'll go see that one as well.

 

[Skald]

I saw the movie this afternoon also, and thought it was fun. In particular, I liked the women warriors who fought alongside Balthazar. They were a cool concept, and I thought it would have been mentioned that maybe they were refugees from an earlier tribe of Amazons that Memnon could have conquered. Of course, I'm looking past the near-perfect breasts, hips, teeth, and tans they all had as models/actresses, but that's beside the point...

I also noticed the marching sequence of Memnon's warriors that resembled the Pharaoh's guards in the Mummy, and thought it was well-done.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Well, it had a good first weekend

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...21/media_nm/leisure_boxoffice_dc_48&printer=1

"The action-adventure, a spin-off of the two "Mummy" movies, pulled in $36.2 million for the three days since its April 19 release. The previous April record was held by "The Matrix," which opened with $27.8 million in 1999."

My guess is that it will drop off quite a bit in the 2nd week.

If it folows trend it should pull in between 15 and 20 the second weekend, it has Jason X to go against and while I think SK is a better movie JX will pull in the teenagers/date crowd, week after that Spiderman, which they were already selling tickets for!

 

[d20Dwarf]

I liked it too. Go see it and treat it like a D&D adventure. You won't be disappointed.

 

[Black Omega]

A fun, mindless example of the genre. More Conan the Destroyer/Xena than Conan the Barbarian.

The Good:
The Rock: Better than Ahnold was in Conan. I definitely agree he has an action movie career ahead of him if he decides to go for it. I'm not so sure about a straight acting career though.

The Action: Generally entertaning. One thing I liked was that instead of the ultra acrobatic HK inspired action I've seen so much of, it's much more Conan pure power brawling with a couple of acrobatic touches. A little to my surprise, they almost completely avoided putting in pro wrestling moves.

Kelly Hu: I liked her in Martial Law and here we got to see another side of her

The Bad:

The opening scene: I know..I know. It's a mindless action movie. Even considering the genre this was almost painfully bad and silly at times.

The Big Bad Guy: Kinda scrawny. No real presense, leadership ability or menace. The instant his men find out the sorceress is not appearing in public with him, they seem to be saying "Great, now all we have is that doofus Memnon leading us, we're screwed". Based on the genre, the bad guy should seem like a real badass. He doesn't.

Mummy Spinoff: I was hoping there were be a much stronger Egyptian flavor than there was. I ended up disappointed the did the usual generic fantasy world instead.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi there!

The Big Bad Guy: Kinda scrawny. No real presense, leadership ability or menace. The instant his men find out the sorceress is not appearing in public with him, they seem to be saying "Great, now all we have is that doofus Memnon leading us, we're screwed".