United States, Germany, Belgium · 2002
Rated PG-13 · 1h 32m
Director Chuck Russell
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Steven Brand, Michael Clarke Duncan, Kelly Hu
Genre Action, Adventure, Fantasy
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In ancient Egypt, peasant Mathayus is hired to exact revenge on the powerful Memnon and the sorceress Cassandra, who are ready to overtake Balthazar's village. Amid betrayals, thieves, abductions and more, Mathayus strives to bring justice to his complicated world.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
It is possible to make an engaging action/adventure picture of this sort, but The Scorpion King isn't it. The movie isn't godawful, but it's far from inspired, and, as I sat through its 90 minute running length, I found my mind wandering.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Liam Lacey
The style here is much more in the spirit of the smash and slash of the Conan movies than the banter and computer-generated monsters of the Mummy movies.
Baltimore Sun by Michael Sragow
Plays like Abbott and Costello Meet Conan the Barbarian.
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
Like every other action movie, it's designed for a 14-year-old boy's mentality, but it's enjoyable enough to turn most people into 14-year-old boys.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Isn't incompetent; it's just plodding and obvious. If anything holds it together, it's The Rock's ironic ability to tread lightly, which the movie is neither fast nor inventive enough to recognize as different from the spirit of Arnold.
Miami Herald by Rene Rodriguez
The good news about The Scorpion King is that The Rock turns out to be a charismatic, ingratiating screen presence.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker
The Rock manages to play both with a crude candor more genuine than the entertaining if contrived spectacle around him, and a surprising big-screen charisma and ease that makes him a natural-born screen hero.
The Scorpion King, so far from perfect it isn't funny, is nevertheless one of those movies that catches you up in something bigger than yourself, namely, an archetypal desire to enjoy good trash every now and then.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
As this chaotic barrage of muscle flexing, swordplay, fireballs, crude digital effects and comic-book quips hurls itself off the screen, it's like having several garbage cans clogged with stale pizza, lukewarm cola, soggy French fries and greasy, ketchup-stained napkins emptied over your head.
For a movie with such a misplaced sense of history, The Scorpion King seems afraid to have more fun with its own stupidity.
He Redefines Revenge.