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Patricia Clements��������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������� ��������� ������������������������������������������������������ June 4, 2002 |
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Essay #3 |
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The Rock as The Scorpion King |
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It all started about five thousand years ago, in the ancient city of Gomorrah; the evil warlord, Memnon (Steven Brand) with the sibyl or oracle (Kelly Hu) by his side, believed he was destined to rule and conquer the desert nomad tribes.� His tactics were to either kill or enslave the tribes; and because of this, the remaining tribes decided to band together against Memnon.� They decided to hire the Arkadian assassins to kill Memnon and his sibyl because her prophecies guaranteed his victory.� Mathayus (Dwayne Johnson a.k.a. The Rock in professional wrestling) is the Arkadian leader and was an expert in all the antediluvian or ancient, deadly arts.� The amalgamated tribes believe, that by, killing the sibyl, Memnon could not rise to power and rule as the Scorpion King.� The Scorpion King is a spin-off of the Mummy series that is mediocre in its special effects presentations, banter, and in my opinion, doesn't really connect with the Mummy series.� |
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Mathayus goes against Memnon in a series of battles.� During one of these battles, he sneaks into a palace which lodges Memnon's harem of beautiful girls. During their deliberate groping, they steal all of his weapons, as he ascertains when the guards enter.� When he sets eyes on the oracle, Cassandra, and realizes that the sibyl is a beautiful woman, he alters his plan of killing her.� Cassandra takes one look at Mathayus and is quite intrigued by him. Of course, after a series of visions and battles, they fall for each other.� When Mathayus takes Cassandra to the Valley of the Dead, they are pursued by Memnon.� In another scene, Mathayus is buried from the neck down and surrounded by a colony of red ants, but he is saved by the comical horse thief he encounters.� During Mathayus's battles, he gains a diverse anthology of allies, a Nubian giant (Michael Clarke Duncan), a scientist who invented gunpowder, a wisecracking horse thief, and a knowledgeable kid.� The final confrontation between Memnon and Mathayus was the tried but true, disappointing swordplay that takes place in the Valley of the Dead.� Michael Wilmington of Chicago Movies Review stated, "The Scorpion King is one of the sweatiest, dustiest and most cartoonishly violent movies to hit the screens in quite a while'is a desert actioner without much character, story or real suspense (SIC)." |
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In the original Mummy tale, Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), a librarian with knowledge of ancient times named Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), her mindless brother (John Hannah), and the Medjai warrior Ardeth (Oded Fehr), all go on a audacious hunt for the mummy in the City of the Dead which is rumored to contain an amazing collection of treasures.� The treasure belongs to the mummified man, Imhotep, who had messed around with the Pharaoh's mistress and was slain and buried, in the City of the Dead.� |
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In The Mummy Returns, Rick, Evelyn, Jonathan, and Ardeth return to m�l�e against Imhotep and his cohorts again, but instead of hunting for treasure, they are hunting for an ancient warrior who could rise from the underworld and grant Imhotep immortality.� To achieve immortality Imhotep has to conquer the Scorpion King (The Rock).� This movie is set eight years after the first.� Rick and Evelyn have a son that has an active role in their current exploits.� Needless to say, Imhotep is once again vanquished along with the Scorpion King. |
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The Rock after a few acting lessons, would be more compelling in this role, but he did have an abundance of charisma, muscles, and magnetism to make watching him a delight.� The Rock tends to be more authentic as a WWF wrestler than as a big screen action hero.� Kelly Hu (sibyl Cassandra) was only eye candy for the male movie going population and was too scantily clad.� Steven Brand (Memnon) was quite deadpan in his delivery as the evil warlord.� Grant Heslow, as the comical horse thief, gives the mainstream exhibition of comedic acting. I was expecting this movie to answer the question of how and why the scorpion king became half man, half scorpion in the previous movie, The Mummy Returns. |
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This movie does have plenty of infantile humor, body slams, swordplay, explosions, venomous cobras, burly men and attractive ladies that may satisfy the average moviegoer.� The Egyptian venues were ineptly faked in California and the Arizona desert; and to think, I was hoping for some real breathtaking panorama.� Hopefully, when Mummy III comes out in the summer of 2003 it will have a better script, special effects, and will interlink the storylines in the Mummy tales. |
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Works Cited |
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"The Scorpion King." Chicago Movies Review. 30 May 2002. <http://alliance.zap2it.com/custom/metromix/main_template>. |
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