The Scorpion King: Critic Reviews

Russell lacks the visual panache, the comic touch, and perhaps the budget of Sommers's title-bout features.

Another grandiose, hyperactive crock, full of lame jokes and gorgeous, stupefying images.

All the necessary exposition prevents the picture from rising above your generic sand 'n' sandal adventure.

On the silly popcorn scale, it works pretty well.

Boasting sword-and-sandal action more sluggish than a Ye Olde Renaissance Faire, The Rock putting someone through a table would be a welcome anachronism. "The Scorpion King"? More like "Moron the Barbarian."

A ridiculous though not entirely unpleasant way to while away ninety-two minutes.

Predecessors The Mummy and The Mummy Returns stand as intellectual masterpieces next to The Scorpion King.

The Rock, making his acting debut as the titular top dog (not counting his five digitally enhanced minutes in The Mummy Returns), turns in a slight, if promising, star turn as a reluctant savior of the free world, and leads an encouragingly multi-cultural

There are quite a few slow spots, never more so than when we're asked to believe in The Rock and Kelly Hu falling in love.

Buy some popcorn, check your brain at the door and have fun.

Isn't horrible because it's so obviously non-serious, but just being wink-wink silly isn't enough to breathe life into it.

...goofy, silly, and even a little campy - but most of all, it's just fun.

Fans of The Rock should see this for his abundance of charisma, but fans of quality filmmaking should skip it for its lack of anything else.

That's pretty much the flick -- the twang of a weapon flying through the air, the thwack of it hitting someone, followed closely by the thud of a falling body.

I'm sure we've not heard the last of the Scorpion King, if Wrestlemania fans and horny teenage boys have any say in the matter

How any studio head figured Mr Rock could carry a big-budget vehicle on his own is simply mind-boggling.

Johnson [a.k.a. The Rock] assumes the mantle of leading player, turning ancient Egypt into one long, costumed WWF match, except without the folding chairs.

...not a lot of variety here to consider The Scorpion King anything but loose-ended jazzy junk. Russell has to be accountable for this boisterous, dunderheaded and overextended B movie that bluntly slashes its way across screen in plodding fashion

The Rock is ceaselessly entertaining, it's fun to see the characters get killed(good or bad, I didn't care), and the women are so beautiful I thought I was watching Kama Sutra 2.

Brawny sword-and-sorcery adventure is both helped and hurt by the charm and good humor of wrestler-thespian star The Rock.

DVD extras work best for films with subtext, artistry, or deep themes, not The Scorpion King

It's a load of cheesy nonsense all right, but if you're in the mood for some brainless entertainment then The Scorpion King might just fit the bill . . .

Maybe [Hu and The Rock's] next film showcase will amount to something more than a throwaway episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

Action fans should delight in the well-choreographed fight scenes, but since they rarely pause to breathe, they become tiresome quickly.

Few expected a masterpiece from a movie powered by the image of a wrestling superstar, but even for Hollywood, The Scorpion King was a low blow.