The Scorpion King (2002)

The Scorpion King is the greatest prequel to a sequel of a remake. Why? Because I think it's the only one. But more than that, The Scorpion King is a very entertaining film. It's not going to lead an Egyptian independence movement like Braveheart did in Scotland, nor win any Oscars. However, The Scorpion King will give the Rock a better acting reputation than other pro wrestlers, like perhaps, Hulk Hogan.

Here's the story. The Rock plays Mathayus, an assassin sent to kill the sorceress of an evil king who is conquering all the tribes of the Nile region. Instead of killing her, he gets captured, but the sorceress saves his life. The Rock now vows to kill the evil king, but in the process bone the sorceress.

A very simple story, which is good, because there wouldn't be enough room for the non-stop action. Lots of fight scenes, jumping through fire scenes, and various other death-defying scenes. Scorpion King reminded me alot of Conan The Barbarian, except more fight scenes.

How did the Rock do? I wasn't really surprised that the Rock could make audiences believe that he was going to fight someone, win, and challenge someone else to fight. That's what he's been doing in the WWF for years now. The fights scenes with the evil king, Memnon, played by Steve Brand were very well done and very entertaining. He also had good chemistry with his co-stars as well which included the sorceress, played by Kelly Hu and the leader of another tribe, Balthazar, played by Michael Clarke Duncan.

It wasn't cheesy and filled with WWF Rock jokes, but Dwayne Johnson gave the Scorpion King a character of his own. A very entertaining film that everyone in the family could enjoy.