The Scorpion King was released in spring of 2002. It was the spin-off of The Mummy Returns which featured Dwayne Johnson as The Scorpion King. The Scorpion King did decently making a little under 100 million domestically. The movie sees Mathayus’ origin on how he became The Scorpion King as he sets out on a path of revenge against Memnon for killing someone close to him. The movie stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johson, Steven Brand, Michael Clark Duncan, Kelly Hu, Bernard Hill, Grant Heslov, Peter Facinelli, and Sherri Howard. 

The Scorpion King was a fun movie. It was very early 2000s. I have seen all three of The Mummy films. I remember when The Scorpion King was being advertised. At the time I was not that interested in seeing the movie. Watching it now, I thought it was mindless fun. It was cool watching one of Dwayne Johnson’s earliest roles. The Mummy Returns marked his acting debut. This would have been his first leading role since he didn’t have that large of a role in The Mummy Returns. This was at a time when Dwayne Johnson was going by his wrestling name “The Rock.” The Scorpion King was definitely a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson vehicle. It is amazing to see how far he has come in his career and the different roles he has played. The rest of the cast play their parts well. 

The movie moves at a brisk pace. It clocks in a little over ninety minutes. There is a basic plot but it does not delve heavily in any particular topic. A lot of the movie is over the top and laughable at times but in a fun way. I’m not sure if I would have felt this way if I had seen this when it was released or shortly after as opposed to watching twenty plus years later. The movie was fun. That is all anyone can really ask for. 

There are not many references to The Mummy franchise. None that I could notice anyway but it has been a while since I have seen those movies. The only real connection is the fact that it is Dwayne Johnson who was in The Mummy Returns which released a year prior to this. 

I think the length works in its favor. I don’t know if I would have had fun watching this if it would have clocked in at two hours or more. Not every movie needs to be two hours, and I feel if this had gone on longer it might have started to feel tedious. 

The Scorpion King is a fun action movie and a good lead vehicle for Dwayne Johnson who was just starting out in his acting career. It will be interesting to see if The Mummy Franchise which will be releasing a fourth installment in the near future will ever reference The Scorpion King or just leave it in the past. Time will tell.