Okay, I'll admit it, I kinda get a kick outta the WWF. It's cheesy, it's silly, and many of the wrestlers are horrible actors and actresses, but that's a big reason why I watch it. It's fun to laugh at that stuff. It's a soap opera for guys, and a theater of the absurd. I'll never forget the storyline of Mark Henry, who is a 350-pound black man, having a sexual relationship with Mae Young, who is a little tiny white woman, a former wrestler, and she must have been damn near 80 years old at the time. So the little old lady and the huge black man were a happy (and disturbing) couple. He eventually got her pregnant (keep in mind, this is a storyline, not real life), and about a month later, she gave birth. Now, you can say that it's odd for a skinny old lady to get pregnant, but I guess it's possible with some women. And if you realize that WWF storylines don't really pay attention to logic, you can accept that she gave birth a month later. But who on earth would understand what she gave birth to? Mae Young gave birth to a gooey, clumpy human hand. That's right, just a hand. And it wasn't a baby's hand, it was the hand of a full-grown human being. A few weeks later, Mark Henry, the father of the human hand, got in the middle of the wrestling ring, and with tears in his eyes, announced that he was a sex addict. I think this was around the time that Big Show dropped a car on Hardcore Holly (Hardcore Holly was back next week, and he actually said, "Big Show, I know you dropped a car on me and all..."), and Rikishi, a 300-pound Samoan (he wrestles wearing something that's just a couple of notches above a thong, exposing his huge ass cheeks) introduced his most famous wrestling move, the stinkface (he rubs his stinky, sweaty ass against his opponent's face... the crowd loves it when he does that).
So you can see why I watch it, right? I know, I know, but watching it with a large group of friends, which my friends and I do every month at the pay-per-views, it's a blast. Right now, the biggest name in the WWF (and therefore, the biggest name in pro wrestling) is The Rock, and it's easy to see why. Give the guy a microphone, and the crowd is hooked. The Rock has incredible charisma, he's funny, and he really knows how to work the crowd. When he wrestles, he's not as good, but that's okay, because he does a couple of moves in the ring that the crowd reacts to. His WWF persona has made him really popular, but even when he's out of character, and he's just being Dwayne Johnson (his real name), he's no less funny or charismatic, despite the fact that Dwayne Johnson is completely different from The Rock. Just look at "Saturday Night Live" the two times he hosted it. I guess it was just a matter of time before he started doing movies. He had a couple of guest spots on TV shows, like "Star Trek: Voyager" and a short-lived TV show called "DAG," but his big break came in his role as "The Scorpion King" in "The Mummy Returns." His role was very small, though. He was in the first 3 minutes of the movie, then he came back as a horrible computer animated monster for another couple of minutes at the end. His appearance in the movie was very brief, but it apparently impressed Hollywood honchos enough to give the character (as played by The Rock) his own movie. So that's what happened.
"The Scorpion King" is by no means a great movie. Like what goes on in the WWF, it's cheesy and silly, but it's entertaining. I can't say the same thing for "The Mummy" or "The Mummy Returns," both of which I thought were pretty bad. With "The Scorpion King," it's as though the people involved knew that they were working on a silly movie, so without apology, and with tongue firmly planted in cheek, they piled in every cliché they could come up. The end result is a fun movie that's hard not to like.
I suppose what people wanna know most is how did The Rock do? Personally, I think he did a great job. He's got the look, and he's got the talent to be a leading man in Hollywood, possibly even the next big action star (along with Vin Diesel). But another thing that The Rock has is intelligence. When he speaks, you can tell that he's a man who's educated. It would be interesting to see him in a drama, though I'm not sure if that'll happen. Also in the movie is the amazingly beautiful Kelly Hu. Wow. What a babe! Her feature film debut was in "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan," but she's probably best known for her role in the TV show, "Martial Law." I also found out that she was in one of my favorite TV shows ever. She was in the first season of "Murder One" as the Assistant to one of the main characters, "Richard Cross." Anyway, she's pretty good in this movie... I think. Actually, I don't know about her acting, I wasn't paying attention. Iwas too distracted by her looks. Michael Clarke Duncan is also in the movie. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in "The Green Mile" as "John Coffey." He's pretty good in this movie, but he just played a big tough guy, he wasn't exactly challenged with that role, ya know?
"The Scorpion King" was directed by Chuck Russell who also directed "Bless the Child," "Eraser," "The Mask," "The Blob," and "A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors." I think he did a great directing job in this movie, though nothing can make up for "Bless the Child." Actually, I shouldn't say that, I never saw the movie. But everyone I know who saw it hated it. That's okay, though. This movie is pretty good. As for the writers, well, the story was by Jonathan Hales (writer for the TV show, "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" and he helped George Lucas write "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones") and Stephen Sommers (wrote and directed "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns"). The screenplay by David Hayter (helped write "X-Men") and William Osborne (helped write "Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde," "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot," and "Twins") and Stephen Sommers.
This isn't a movie you should take very seriously. It's a simple, fun movie that's probably better for the kiddies than anyone else, but I enjoyed it. It gets TOO silly at times, and the events of "The Mummy Returns" make this movie seem pointless, but that's okay. It's not like that's gonna stop the studio from making a sequel to "The Scorpion King."
Scale of 1-10: 7