Director Chuck Russel’s The Scorpion King is officially considered a prequel to the hugely popular blockbusters ‘The Mummy’ from the 1990s and 2000s starring Brendan Fraser. However, because the story takes place thousands of years before the plot, the fantasy or horror aspect is almost completely missing and there are only minimal points of contact in terms of content, one can only rightly speak of a spin-off at best. Nevertheless, the action-packed film became a huge success at the box office.
Dwayne Johnson’s charisma and physical presence may not have been entirely innocent. The Californian, who had previously risen to superstardom as WWF wrestler ‘The Rock’, took on his first leading role here after supporting roles in ‘Longshot’, an episode of ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ and of course ‘The Mummy Returns’.
“The Scorpion King” airs today, December 19, 2023 at 8:15 PM on Nitro. A repeat can be seen on December 20 at 10 p.m. If both dates don’t suit you, there are (4K/UltraHD) Blu-ray, DVD or paid versions available from Amazon & Co Video on demand* to have:
Besides Dwayne Johnson, there are several other well-known mimes. The biggest names include Michael Clarke Duncan (“The Green Mile”), Steven Brand of “Saw X”, Kelly Hu (“X-Men 2”), Bernard Hill (“The Mind and the Darkness”), Grant Heslov (“Good Night, And Good Luck”) and Peter Facinelli from the “Twilight” saga.
“The Scorpion King” on Nitro: That’s the story
Egypt, before the time of the pharaohs and pyramids: From Gomorrah, the ruthless ruler Memnon (Brand) begins to exterminate all nomadic peoples to increase his power. The tribes, who have usually been at war with each other, are forced to come together for the first time. After they find out that Memnon is using the visions of a sorcerer and clairvoyant, they hire the mercenary Mathayus (Johnson), who also does not speak well of the tyrant, to kill him.
With great skill and even more fighting power, Mathayus manages to break into the heavily guarded enemy headquarters. But there he experiences a real surprise. Because the mysterious psychic is actually a woman – and a stunningly attractive one at that. Instead of killing Cassandra (Hu), he simply kidnaps her into the desert. As the beauty quickly succumbs to Mathayus’ rugged charm, she is ready to aid him and his army, drawn from the ranks of the nomads, in the final battle against Memnon…
4 sequels (and once a reboot?)
Author Johannes Pietsch only gives an average of 2.5 stars in our FILMSTARTS review and is absolutely right. The very flat story and the script, which had some striking weaknesses and many clichés, did not allow for a better assessment. Due to the high fun factor and the cool fights that Johnson gets to fight here, it is anything but a failure for action fans.
The film was so well received by fans of the genre that a total of four direct-to-video sequels have been made over the years. However, they had to be realized without Johnson, who soon made much bigger and at least in some cases better films. In 2020, he announced that he would be working on a modern reboot of the series with his production company Seven Buck Productions.
The superstar would not reprise the title role, but would only serve as a producer and perhaps make a cameo appearance. The ‘Jumanji’ and ‘Fast & Furious’ star recently spoke quite enthusiastically about the 2021 project. There has been radio silence about the reboot since then. It is currently uncertain if and when anything will happen in this area.
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Source : Film Starts
I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.
