The Scorpion King (2002)

'The Scorpion King' isn't one to take seriously, but based on sheer entertainment factor I did suitably enjoy this. It was, at least for yours truly, a fairly breezy 90 minutes, they did a solid job at keeping the action paced well across that run time. The casting is good too.
Dwayne Johnson isn't the best actor here in terms of how he says his lines and all that (his acting has improved since), but I'd say he makes up for that by fulfilling the physicality requirements. Michael Clarke Duncan, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov and Bernard Hill are ones I liked seeing too.
Steven Brand is the only actor that I wasn't sold on whilst watching. I do think his Memnon character is just about passable, but at the same time I'd consider him as the weakest link. Elsewhere, the special effects seemed minimally used (at least compared to the originals) - that's a plus.
It always fascinates me when I find out about these sorta franchises, simply because it is somewhat difficult to believe that they could produce five releases and have none of them enter my knowledge - until now, of course. I am interested in checking them out though, no question.

When _The Scorpion King_ first came out in '02, it would be hard to imagine that between this franchise and its forebears (_The Mummy_ & _The Mummy Returns_), that it would be _The Scorpion King_ who would continue to live on in the following decade. Though that's maybe less shocking knowing that _Tomb of the Dragon Emperor_ happened.
_Scorpion King_ delivers on a small amount of the hammy fun it could have been, though I can't help but wonder just how amazing it would be if we had gotten a _Fast & Furious_ level Rock portraying Mathayas.
_Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product._