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Scorpion King (The)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (31st July 2008). |
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The Film
 Anachronisms aside (though they speak English some 5000 years ago, at least they don't speak it well), this movie is still kind of enjoyable. On the heels of 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' (1995-1999) and 'Xena: Warrior Princess' (1995-2001), it plays a lot like one of their episodes then the two movies that inspired it. Change The Rock for Kevin Sorbo, and nobody would ever know the difference. It's kind of cheesy and grungy and brainless, but it's a lot of fun. It's actually a lot better than 'The Mummy Returns'. After all the hoopla about The Rock being in 'The Mummy Returns', it's nice to finally see him in a real acting gig, in a real movie. After the not-more-than-a-cameo appearance in 'The Mummy Returns', I was wondering what the story for this movie would be. It's not exactly the legend of The Scorpion King, as told in 'The Mummy Returns', and as some of the promo material would promise. It's just some typical plot of a good guy trying to defeat a bad guy so a bunch of people can live without fear. There's nothing new in this plot, but that doesn't matter. The movie doesn't aim particularly high to begin with, and it does what it aims to achieve. The Rock has nice charisma, so he can carry this movie. The pretty Kelly Hu helps out by playing a sorceress. Together, they have decent chemistry. They don't spend all that much time together, and Miss Hu is nothing more than eye candy. She does justice to that task. Bad guy Steven Brand is pretty one-dimensional, but he's supposed to be evil, and he's is. The Rock can also certainly fight his way through anything. He certainly does that here. Director Chuck Russell and the team of writers keep getting him into all sorts of trouble. The action is well done, with plenty of scenes to keep anybody interested. The Rock punches, kicks and slams his way through various dingy bad guys. While the movie isn't too modern (with the lady-in-distress plot, no less), but it's a guy movie and, for a PG-13 rating, you get everything a guy could want. If you liked the Hercules and Xena shows (and, for that matter, 'Kull, The Conqueror' (1997)), you'll probably enjoy this. Chuck Russell is quite capable of doing bad movies (I hope you've forgotten 'Bless the Child' (2000)), but this is definitely one of his enjoyable movies. It has little to do with 'The Mummy' movies, but that doesn't matter much. The Scorpion King's appearance in them was a memorable one, but not for the right reasons. Conversely, this movie is better, but may not be as memorable. Which is better? Watch and decide.
Video
2.35:1 widescreen, using the VC-1 codec. The picture is very good, with a very clean and smooth picture. The skin tones are accurate, and the earthy, grungy tones of the movie are never too bright, but very accurate. Contrast is very nice, with subtle differences coming in through. Black levels are very strong, but shadow detail could be a bit better. This, however, may be a product of the cinematography and not the authoring. The transfer is free of edge enhancement and other artifacts, with no noise or anything of the sort. The level of detail is strong, but I’ve seen better. Overall, however, this should please fans of the movie.
Audio
The movie comes with three tracks: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish DTS 5.1 and French DTS 5.1. I listened to the lossless track and I was pretty happy. The movie is pretty brash and loud most of the time, and that's the way the track sounds. The score is loud, but clear. The sword clangs and crashes are loud, but clear, and the dialogue is always clear, as well. Everything is mixed in pretty well, though dynamic range could be a bit better. Again, this is probably due to the fact that not much of the movie is quiet. However, the track should please the fans of the movie. English (HoH), Spanish and French subtitles are provided.
Extras
For some reason, Universal, after packing in 'The Mummy' movies with tons of extras, they decided to lay this one almost bare. There's an audio commentary by director Chuck Russell. Mr. Russell doesn't give a light and airy commentary, but he is continually informative and pretty interesting overall. He talks about The Rock quite a bit, talking about his talent and using this talent to the best of his abilities. He also talks about the locations and various ideas he had on set that were either used or not used. There isn't much dead time, and throughout the track he gives very nice information. After that, there's the High-definition exclusive extra, the U-Control track. This is a combination of storyboards, interview footage and behind the scenes clips of the movie. It’s very nice, though there are a lot of dead spots throughout the track. The interviews are pretty promo-like, but the behind the scenes forage is actually pretty interesting. There are more storyboards in this track than in the two Mummy U-Control tracks, but it's pretty interesting. It's a nice track, but, like I said, a bit too sparse for my taste.
Overall
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