April 20, 2002 -- "The Scorpion King" is a predictable, but well-constructed swashbuckling tale along the lines of "The Mummy Returns," and the Conan movies. Stephen Sommers, who co-wrote the story and screenplay and who is a producer of the film, wrote and directed "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns." The film is a spinoff of "The Mummy Returns," in which the main character, Mathayus, The Scorpion King, played by Dwayne Johnson (AKA The Rock), first appeared. The Rock, is of course, a professional wrestler, and Vincent K. McMahon, Chairman of the board of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., is an executive producer of the film.

The movie is a standard action-adventure flick, so much so that when I first caught a glimpse of Grant Heslov ("Enemy of the State") in the film, I immediately knew he was going to be the comic sidekick. The character's name is Arpid and he joins up with Mathayus (an Akkadian assassin at the beginning of the film), and stays with him for no particular reason. The movie starts in the manner of James Bond films, with an unrelated action sequence. Later, we get to another action sequence which sets up both the villain, Memnon (played by Steven Brand) and the love interest, Cassandra (Kelly Hu of the "Martial Law" TV series). Memnon is an evil, ruthless king. Also in the mix is Balthazar (Michael Clarke Duncan of "Planet of the Apes") a Nubian warrior king, and one of Memnon's foes. The plot generally has to do with rescuing women in distress, slaying evil rulers and getting vengeance. There is a bit of romance and comedy too.

The bottom line in this kind of movie is how good are the stunts and fights? The answer is, they are pretty good. Stunt coordinators William H. Burton ("Collateral Damage"), Tom Lupo ("Eraser"), along with stunt actors Andy Cheng, Al Leong and many others did a good job polishing the stunts and fights. A lot of special effects were also used to beef up the action sequences. The Rock and Michael Clarke Duncan are a couple of larger-than-life types who come across as believable action heroes because of their physical size and strength. Arnold Schwarzenegger had a very successful career in show business using little more than his brains and brawn. It appears as though The Rock could have similar success. There is little difference between the role of Mathayus in "Scorpion King," and the role of The Rock in the wrestling ring. It is the same kind of acting. Michael Clarke Duncan, of course, is a much more versatile actor. He can do much more than stoic action roles which demand little in the way of acting skills, as he proved in "The Green Mile."

There will be those who will pan "The Scorpion King" because of its cookie-cutter similarity to other films, and the fact that it is obviously another attempt at a "franchise" movie, like the James Bond films. A number of media critics have noted that the number of sequels and franchise films is unusually large this year. The idea of franchise films and sequels is to take some of the risk out of the movie business by creating familiar, more dependable commodities. Risky films like "Donnie Darko" and "Memento" have become more scarce, while "The Mummy" and "Austin Powers" become more common. Critics who like art films exclusively hate franchise films, sequels and other kinds of non-original, non-risky material. However, movies are aimed at a mass market, as are McDonald's hamburgers. Some critics want gourmet films, regardless of profit, while the studios want Big Mac-like profits. The two goals are not compatible. The bottom line is what really counts. The studios will quit making franchise films and sequels just as soon as they are no longer profitable.

The Scorpion King is a fast-paced action romp that is fun to watch. The stunts, special effects, costumes, sets, production design, camerawork (by John R. Leonetti) and direction by Chuck Russell ("Bless the Child") are all strong. The story holds together well enough to connect the action sequences. The character motivations are a bit weak and there is little character development. The tongnue-in-cheek film doesn't concern itself with historical accuracy, although recent archaeolical evidence suggests there may have been an actual "King Scorpion," an early Egyptian ruler and conqueror. Then again, nobody expects historical accuracy, or character development, from a movie like this. This film rates a B.

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