The Scorpion King (2002)

Average rating

(57%)

Starring:	Dwayne Johnson \| Michael Clarke Duncan \| Kelly Hu \| Bernard Hill \| Grant Heslov \| Ralf Moeller \| Steven Brand \| Roger Rees \| Peter Facinelli
Director:	Charles Russell
Studio:	UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK VIDEO RENTAL
Run time:	96 mins
Collections:	100 Big Adventures \| 100 Swords and Sandals Films
Genres:	Action/Adventure \| Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Languages:	English
Hearing-impaired:	English
Released:	October 07, 2002

Wrestler-turned-actor The Rock gets his first starring role with THE SCORPION KING. A prequel to Stephen Sommers' wildly successful THE MUMMY (1999) and THE MUMMY RETURNS (2001), THE SCORPION KING tells the action-packed story of Mathayus (Rock), an Akkadian assassin who is the only man strong enough to destroy the vile Memnon (Steven Brand). Memnon, a power hungry warlord, uses the prescience of Cassandra (Kelly Hu), a beautiful seer, to ensure an endless succession of victories. Understanding that to defeat Memnon one must first eliminate Cassandra, Mathayus journeys to Gomorrah to infiltrate Memnon's palace and kill Cassandra. But when he lays eyes on the sultry beauty, he is unable to take her life. It isn't long before sparks begin flying and Cassandra is using her powers to aid Mathayus and his cohorts, including the bumbling Arpid (Grant Heslov), and Balthazar (Michael Clark Duncan), a powerful tribe leader who is also looking for a way to end Memnon's reign. Ignoring a vision from Cassandra that predicts his death, Mathayus charges into battle nonetheless, hoping to silence Memnon once and for all. Playing the sensitive, courageous hero, The Rock proves that his appeal is not only relegated to the small screen.

Highest rated reviews

68 out of 70 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
superb

williamsgwynfa from , 3rd May, 2007

this film is superb. Mathayus, an Akkadian mercenary, is assigned to kill Memnon's sorcerer, who gives him tyrannical powers. He sneaks into Memnon's camp and finds his way to the sorcerer's tent. However, his plans change when he discovers that Memnon's sorcerer is actually a beautiful sorceress called Cassandra. He shoots one of the guards, and is about to kidnap her, when he is discovered, and his brother is killed right in front of him. Just as he is about to be killed, Cassandra protests, saying it would not be wise, because the gods favour him, and to kill him would bring misfortune. Now free again, Mathayus decides to avenge his brother and kill Memnon. He gets into Gomorrah, with the help of a thief, who earlier on saved him from a gruesome death by fire ants. With the help of the thief and a little boy, Mathayus sneaks into Memnon's castle. He gets into Cassandra's tent and kidnaps her. He discovers he can use her as bait to catch Memnon. During one of Memnon's attempts to kill Mathayus, he is shot by an arrow with scorpion venom, thus the term Scorpion King. Mathayus faints from the pain, but his life is saved by Cassandra, who believes he can save the people and free them from Memnon's tyranny. As their journey continues, they meet up with Balthazar the leader of Memnon's enemies and the two join forces. During a celebration at Balthazer and his people's camp, Cassandra has a vision of Memnon destroying the people and killing Mathayus. After a romantic night with Mathayus, Cassandra returns to Memnon. Mathayus and Balthazer go after her, and a huge battle between Memnon and his armies, and Mathayus and Balthazar and his people takes place. At one point in the battle, Mathayus gets shot by another arrow but miraculously recovers, and uses the same arrow to try to kill Memnon. i am not going to tell you if he succeeds or not, because that would spoil your enjoyment of watching the film. well worth renting out.

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