“The Scorpion King 5: The Book of Souls” is the fourth sequel to “Scorpion King,” which was released in theaters in 2002 and stars current superstar Dwayne Johnson, who was just starting his acting career at the time. The show was a spin-off/prequel to the hugely popular The Mummy franchise starring Brendan Fraser from the 1990s and 2000s.
Johnson has been absent for a long time from “The Scorpion King 5: The Book of Souls,” which was produced for the home theater market in 2018. If you tune in, you’ll quickly notice that the title doesn’t exactly feature great visuals. The acting, the direction (Don Michael Paul, “Tremors 5-7”), the camerawork, the cheap-looking sets and special effects, and everything else is disappointing. But maybe you, as a fan of the series or historical action, would like to give it a try?
“The Scorpion King 5: The Book of Souls” airs today, January 31, 2024 at 11:35 PM on Nitro. Alternatively, you can currently stream the movie 24 hours a day with a flat-rate subscription from Netflix. The FSK-12 title is also available on Blu-ray, DVD or paid video-on-demand:
This time the title role was played by Zach McGowan (“Black Sails”). He is the fourth actor to play the hero in the fifth film. At McGowan’s side were Katy Louise Saunders (“Welcome Home”), Pearl Alsoi (“Fistful Of Vengeance”) and Australian ex-wrestler Nathan Jones of “Mad Max: Fury Road” in front of the camera. The villain was played by Peter Mensah, who most of you will probably remember as the Persian messenger from the iconic opening scene “This is Sparta!” from Zack Snyder’s ‘300’.
“The Scorpion King 5” on Nitro: That’s the story
In ancient Egypt, before the time of the Pharaohs: Nebserek (Mensah) is a warlord who is as powerful as he is cruel and is therefore feared everywhere. Of all the people, he then discovers a magical sword with which the owner gains more and more power the more people he kills with it.
The inhabitants of the empire, already mercilessly oppressed and squeezed by Nebserek, know that soon he will finally be invincible. That is why they place all their hopes on the ex-mercenary and demigod Mathayus alias Scorpion King (McGowan), who must stop Nebserek for them.
Fortunately, the warrior does not have to undertake this mission alone. At his side, the Nubian princess Tala (Thusi), the mysterious Amina (Saunders) and her golem bodyguard Enkidu (Jones) enter into battle. But first the four must find the mystical soul book. Because only with his help will they have any chance against Nebserek and his wonder weapon…
There is still life in the franchise
With a worldwide box office of $180 million against a budget of $60 million, The Scorpion King was a hit in 2002. But it probably wasn’t successful enough to be made into a series of films. Furthermore, Dwayne Johnson had already made it clear that he would no longer be available for a sequel. But seeing another opportunity to make money, Universal Studios decided to continue with cheaply produced direct-to-DVD films.
However, from title song to title song, these enjoyed less and less popularity among paying film fans. So it was almost a given that “The Scorpion King 5: The Book of Souls” would likely be the final installment of the series. In 2020, Dwayne Johnson also announced that he and his production company were planning a modern reboot of the first film.
“That’s it,” the show’s producers probably thought. In the summer of 2023, ‘The Scorpion King 5’, which was new to the streaming service at the time, suddenly became a hit on Netflix. No one knew exactly why. Maybe it just had to do with the fact that the title was familiar to action fans and, in the absence of exciting current titles, they all caught up with the 2018 film. A similar phenomenon could already be observed with the series “Sniper”, when the eighth part “Sniper 8: Assassin’s End” debuted on the red N years after the DVD release.
What all of this undoubtedly shows is that there is still interest in the ‘Scorpion King’ brand. And if Johnson doesn’t come around soon with his reboot, which has been suspiciously quiet of late, there might yet be a ‘Scorpion King 6’ – with whoever plays the role of the age-old hero. And then maybe even directly for Netflix? Luckily, “The Scorpion King 5: The Book of Souls” can still be seen on free TV today.
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