Stars:
The Rock AKA Duane Johnson, Michael Clarke Duncan, Kelly Hu, Peter Facinelli,
Bernard Hill, and Grant Hestov
Writers:
Stephen Sommers, Wil Osborne, and David Hayter
Based
On A Story By: Jonathan Hales and Stephen Sommers
Director:
Chuck Russell
Feature
length: 92 minutes
Extras:
Alternate Version In Enhanced Viewing Mode, Feature Commentary With The Rock
Featuring Footage Of The Rock Recording His Commentary Track, Feature Commentary
With Director Chuck Russell, Outtakes, Godsmack Music Video For “I Stand
Alone,” Preparing To Fight: A Look At The Process Of Shooting A Fighting
Sequence, The Making Of The Scorpion King, The Special Effects, The Rock And
Michael Clarke Duncan, Ancient World Production Design, Working With Animals,
Scorpion King Man Or Myth, DVD-ROM Features Including Total Axess, Cast and
Filmmaker Bios and Credits, Production Notes, Trailer, Universal Showcase
Trailers
Languages:
English and French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 20
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Set
ten years before the prologue sequence in “The Mummy Returns,” this
prequel/spin-off is the first feature film to star WWE superstar “The Rock”
AKA Duane Jones as “Mathayus,” an Akkadian assassin who is betrayed by the
son of a dethroned King and as a result witnesses the deaths of his brothers,
leaving Mathayus as the last of his race. Escaping with the help of a thief,
Mathayus steals the warlord Memnon’s Sorceress who has the gift of foresight,
and unites the nomad tribes of the desert together against Memnon to seize his
destiny as The Scorpion King.
“The
Scorpion King” has more in common with “Conan The Barbarian” then “The
Mummy” films, but there are few instances that follow the broad template set
by the 1999 remake of “The Mummy” such as there is usually one or two scenes
featuring a frightening and ravenous creature of nature threatening the
protagonists. “The Mummy” featured scarabs and “The Mummy Returns”
featured a pit filled with Scorpions, and “The Scorpion King” features giant
mounds with fire red ants coming to devour our hero and a scene involving
various snakes including cobras. The other element is nature run amuck. “The
Mummy” featured a wall of sand with the Mummy’s face and “The Mummy
Returns” featured the same thing, but with a wall of water and in “The
Scorpion King” our hero rides into battle alone with a great sandstorm behind
him as an ally. The choreography for swordplay is exciting and the final battle
is inspired.
The
film has a few side characters thrown in for humor’s sake such as a scientist
ahead of his years by a few thousand with developing gunpowder and other
colorful characters sprinkled throughout including a guest appearance by Michael
Clarke Duncan. The film hints that the future for “The Scorpion King” and
the peace he creates by the film’s close is uncertain, which enables viewers
to accept “The Scorpion King” as it’s own separate entity while not
violating the tragic fate we know faces “The Scorpion King” as portrayed in
“The Mummy Returns.” As for a sequel in either franchise featuring “The
Rock” as “The Scorpion King,” anything is possible, but no one knows for
certain what will come to pass. I can imagine a “Scorpion King” TV series
with someone else as the title character since The Rock is now a budding movie
star and then having the action for this series take place in between the this
film and the prologue to “The Mummy Returns,” but I’m just a reviewer and
I don’t decide these things. The studios and networks do.
Universal
Home Entertainment’s Widescreen Collector’s Edition of “The Scorpion
King” has a beautiful (2.35:1) anamorphic cinemascope aspect ratio transfer
with deep reds, detailed earth tones, and nice contrasts free of color bleeding
and grain. In short this is a very good digital transfer. The English Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is lively and well mixed and a French Language
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is provided with English Captions for the
hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded on to the dual layered
DVD as options. There is also an enhanced viewing option where whenever a
scimitar appears on the lower right end of the screen, the viewer can press the
“Enter” or “Select” button and see a widescreen (2.35:1) alternate take
on the scene of slightly less quality and then when the alternate scene is
completed the disc returns to where you left off so this is not an extended or
alternate version of the film, but it is nice that they have included these
scenes, which can also be accessed separately in the extra features section of
the DVD. The same enhanced option is available for viewers to see some alternate
scene comments complete with a picture in picture box on the right hand corner
of The Rock recording his audio commentary for the DVD every time the
“Scorpion King” symbol appears on screen and then we return to the normal
commentary track with The Rock, who shares a few anecdotes and jabs at his
friends who he worked with on the film, but he is surprisingly quiet for
stretches of time as if he were getting caught up with watching the movie.
Director Chuck Russell has a far more traditional and screen specific audio
commentary track that is very articulate and interesting.
The
other extra features include a 3-minute reel of outtakes and bloopers, a 14-½
minute promotional behind-the-scenes featurette with cast and crew interviews
and even an on set moment with the WWE’s own Vince McMahon.
There is a 3-½ minute featurette on the amazing mix of practical and
computer generated production design with Ed Vereaux. I think the CGI and
production design in “The Scorpion King” is more polished than what we saw
in “The Mummy Returns” especially the CGI. There is in fact a CGI
demonstration for the Cobras and Fire Ants sequences in the film included as
well. The disc also features a short featurette on working with the various
animals used in the film like the camels and the snakes and there are some
videotaped clips of real life friends The Rock and Michael Clarke Duncan having
slightly different opinions of a certain scene where The Rock teases that he
knocked out Duncan for a few seconds while Duncan humorously insists that he
only knocked him to one knee and not out cold in the least.
The
(2.35:1) music video for “I Stand Alone” by Godsmack is included along with
a CD soundtrack spot and Universal Spotlight teasers for next year’s big
screen adaptation of “The Hulk” and the upcoming Steven Spielberg produced
miniseries for the Sci-Fi Channel entitled “Taken.” In addition home video
preview trailers for “E.T.: The Extraterrestrial” and the DVD debut of the
“Back To The Future Trilogy” precede the feature. The theatrical trailer for
“The Scorpion King” is presented in an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect
ratio with a full English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack.
A
“WWE Legends” spot, cast and filmmaker biographies and credits, production
notes as well as notes on the possibility of a real “King Scorpion” are
included on the DVD and can be read on screen without the need for a DVD-ROM
drive and there are some liner notes by Director Chuck Russell within the insert
inside the DVD keep case. There are also some “Scorpion King” related
special offers that include a game preview spot for the Sony Playstation 2 and a
Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando tourist advertisement. DVD-ROM users
with Windows 95 or higher have access to Universal’s “Total Axess” with
exclusive Internet enabled features that change every week.
The
main menu is animated with animated transitions to standard interactive still
frames that are all well rendered and all are easy to navigate. “The Scorpion
King” plays very well on DVD and is an entertaining swashbuckling adventure.
“The Scorpion King: Widescreen Collector’s Edition” will debut on DVD-Video
on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 from Universal Home Entertainment and is definitely
work checking out.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.