The Scorpion King (2002)

Sort of interesting....
Ever heard of The Mummy movies? This movie is supposed to be related to them, but I see no simularities except for the name, which you must see the 2nd Mummy movie for.
Unlike The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, The Scorpian King deals with a sharper and less humorous plot. In it, some great muscled warrior ( played by " The Rock. " Must I say more?. ) who apparently saves poor people goes and tries to kill an evil ruler, but is sidetracked when a beautiful woman ( of course- what's a movie without an attractive girl? ) tricks him. The guy decides that he can use her to get to the cruel ruler.
The plot is pretty predictable after that. First the woman and our hero hate one another then fall in love ( never heard that before, right? ) and are joined by an annoying side-kick who cracks boring jokes, a fat leader, and a freaky scientist. ( played by Michael Caine )There is an interesting fight between the hero and the evil ruler. Other than that, the story is your tipical war hero story.
An okay movie at heart, The Scorpian King would have been better if it's plot was more.... seat-clutching. It has neat fight scenes, though. I warn young TV watchers and their guardians- there are numerous scenes that suggust nudity and a strong suggestion of sex. Basicly, little guys can't watch it. There is also plenty of violence. ( actually, he runs around with pretty unicorns. Of course there's violence! )
A shame that it wasn't better, otherwise I'd like it more. It's good enough to buy and watch every six months.
I hope this review helped!
Most Sincerely,
Moonwhisker

Accomplished what it set out to do
This film is no epic panorama. It was not meant to be. When the film begins to get serious, the humour of the hilarious main character pulls it back to reality. He actually makes the story more believable in doing so. The fact that there are so many campy and over-the-top scenes actually testifies to the absurd brilliance of this epillion. It is pure entertainment and tragi-comedy, great action and satisfying ancient-style plot, you only have to be willing to humble yourself to benefit.

Buyer Beware: Some Discs Still Defective
I must agree with the gentleman who indicated that Universal had not done a good job with the HD-DVD version of this movie. I bought it, settled in with the grand kids and watched until chapter 17 when the movie came to a grinding halt (it stuttered, it jerked, it pixelated, it finally froze) just as the action was beginning. We tried everything from cleaning the disc to cleaning the tray. We could skip chapter 17 and watch the rest fine but there went the story. Eventually we flipped it over and watched the final chapters on the regular DVD side. Frustrating I must say when so-called cutting edge technology turns out to be 'get it out there in the market and let the consumer deal with the glitches' technology. A search of the web garnered that this was indeed an ongoing problem with this particular DVD and others from Universal (do your own homework - this is a review of Scorpion King). With a nod to Amazon for a no-problem return policy we should have a new copy by the time you read this. If defective I will edit this review to indicate the fact that it was two in a row (re-edit should be up by December 20, 2007 at the latest). If not I will let it stand and you make up your own mind. Either way our big adventure movie night was ruined and became a session in stress. Never a good way to relax and enjoy the grand kids.

UPDATE: The replacement sent by Amazon worked fine. It even appears to be a better Hi-Def version of the movie. The Grand Kids (yes they watched it again as only kids can do - sans me - reported that it played fine and the picture was much better) So some defective ones still get out but Amazon as usual makes it right.