SCORPION KING, THE - Blu-ray review

Note: The following review contains portions from the previous HD-DVD review of "The Scorpion King." The technical sections for Video, Audio and Extras have been updated to reflect the differences between the two formats' releases. The entire review has been re-edited and updated, but the majority of the text is simply recycled from the earlier review.

The first two films in the "Mummy" franchise were huge hits and I have no doubt that the third picture will do well. Dwayne Johnson, better known as "The Rock" was a huge hit in the formerly named World Wide Wrestling Federation. I suppose it only made sense for the producers of "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns" to mix these elements together and create a spin-off film within the franchise. Mimic aspects of Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1982 film "Conan the Barbarian" and it would seem likely that the resulting project would be a guaranteed hit. Well, the film made more than a few dollars at the box office, and was far from being a flop. However, it wasn't nearly as successful as either of the two primary films in the franchise. Dwayne Johnson has hardly become as huge as Arnold did post-Conan, but he is still finding steady work in Hollywood. As was the case with the two Brendan Fraser films, "The Scorpion King" is a fun film, but with a plot that is even thinner than the stories of "The Mummy," this film is now a guilty pleasure at best.

"The Scorpion King" is a prequel to the "Mummy" films and was introduced during the first sequel, "The Mummy Returns." In that film, Brendan Fraser's character Rick O'Connell must battle the Scorpion King, a fearless king who earned his throne with a cursed deal with the god Anubis. This film tells the story of the rise of the Scorpion King and the events that occurred before the footage during the earlier parts of "The Mummy Returns." The Rock portrayed the character of Mathayus in "The Mummy Returns" and he provided his likeness for the horrendously created CGI monster that was the final monster for Rick O'Connell to defeat on the way of saving his son from certain death. The events that take place during this film have little to do with the eventual happenings during the two "Mummy" films, but it provided a way to capitalize on the success of those films and the legions of Rock fans out there who wanted to find out what he had cooking.

In the film, Mathayus (Johnson) is a mercenary who is sent to assassinate the sorceress of an evil and powerful ruler, Memnon (Steven Brand). He finds the sorceress Cassandra (Kelly Hu) and is unable to kill her and watches his brother die. Mathayus plans to avenge his brother and sneaks into Memnon's castle to kidnap the sorceress. He succeeds, but realizes he does not have the might to topple Memnon and enlists the aid of an unfriendly rival, but sworn enemy of Memnon, Balthazar (Michael Clarke Duncan). Mathayus, Blathazar, a whiny thief Philos (Bernard Hill) and Cassandra mount an assault against Memnon that results in an epic battle, a few snappy one-liners and enough action to satisfy hardened fans of The Rock.

The plot of this film is extremely light, about as light as the amount of clothing most of the characters wear in the film. The storyline is written to take the viewer from Point A to Point B with as little twists and curves along the way. Along the ride, you get to see a few nice scenic vistas and the ride is hardly boring. There is little character development along the way, and everything is quite predictable. The sole purpose of "The Scorpion King" is to showcase the Rock's bronzed and muscular physique and to highlight his ability to play a physical and entertaining action hero. There are lots of swordplay, impressive stunts and punches thrown. Nobody considers "Conan the Barbarian" to be classic cinema and nobody is going to ever consider "The Scorpion King" a classic either. Both films are fun and while it is only a spin-off, "The Scorpion King" carries on the tradition of the two "Mummy" films and looks impressive and delivers laughs, thrills and a couple chills.

Video:
"The Scorpion King" had a modest estimated budget of sixty million dollars. The film features a number of CGI effects and great outdoor scenes. The master comes from a direct digital transfer. However, the sets, locations and effects are not quite as impressive as either of "The Mummy" films and the resulting film does not look quite as good as its predecessors. This film just looks and feels cheaper. There was a visual splendor to both "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns." That sheen of grandeur is gone with "The Scorpion King" and the film takes a harsher, "Conan" like approach to its visuals. It is technically proficient, but this movie just isn't as pretty as the other films in the franchise.

The Blu-ray release is identical to the previous HD-DVD format release and no improvement was made in the visuals department. The film is again mastered with the VC-1 codec and presented in 2.35:1 widescreen. The former HD-DVD release was one of Universal's "Combo Format" titles and contained a DVD layer on the flip side. That technology doesn't suit Blu-ray and the DVD side is not absent. The level of detail is just as strong as the first two films. Every contour of the Rock's face is defined, as is every ounce of texture showcased in the film. Unfortunately, the level of detail betrays the computer generated effects. They stand out as being cartoonish and do not meld well with the live action captured by the cameras. Black levels are deep and true and shadow detail is strong. This is a visually striking film that certainly benefits the People's Champ.

Sound:
Universal again ups the ante with a brand spanking new English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that replaces the former Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack of the HD-DVD release. This new mix is quite strong and impressive, but as I pointed out in my previous review of "The Scorpion King," this movie lacks the awe-inspiring soundtrack of either "The Mummy" or "The Mummy Returns." The soundtrack excels is in its deep and impressive bass surges of the .1 LFE channel. The sound effects were crisp and each metallic collision of bladed weapons is piercingly sharp. The rear surrounds are not used as heavily as they were in the other films, and much of the sound is reserved for the action sequences and contained in the front channels. There are a few effects that bleed to the rear surrounds, but the element contained mostly within their channels is the rock soundtrack. The soundtrack is one of the elements that I disliked with "The Scorpion King," as I would have preferred a cinematic score of orchestral music. While the soundtrack is quite agreeable to my ears, I felt it wasn't nearly as impressive as either of the "Mummy" films.

Extras:
The former HD-DVD release was stripped of any bonus materials aside from a commentary track. Universal has not given "The Scorpion King" a rehash and a fancy new ‘Deluxe Edition' packaging that was given to the two "Mummy" films, but it's well-loved ‘U-Control' functionality makes its way to "The Scorpion King." Unfortunately, all of the bonus materials that were found on the DVD side of the HD-DVD / DVD Combo Release of "The Scorpion King" are now missing. The commentary track from The Rock is gone. All the numerous other bits of outtakes, alternate versions and other making-of footage is gone. The DVD flip side had some rather decent supplements and this new Blu-ray title feels quite sad in comparison. This film is presented on a BD-25 disc and I feel that Universal could have added some of the extras here.

The sole remaining bit of bonus content from the HD-DVD release is the Feature Commentary with Director Chuck Russell. Mr. Russell's commentary is passable as entertainment, but there were a few stretches when I felt the commentary was boring and unnecessary. Other times, Russell spoke of historical elements contained in the film and offered interesting tidbits about the production. This was a hit-or-miss commentary that is worth a listen for steadfast fans of "The Scorpion King," but avoidable for most others. I felt the white-space ridden commentary by The Rock was the better of the two commentary tracks and it is a shame it is not contained here.

The U-Control functionality is entirely Picture-in-Picture based and chunks of material from the DVD's bonus features are pulled into these PiP pop-ups so that the bonus features are not entirely lost; that is if you own a Blu-ray player capable of using Profile 1.1 functionality. I didn't take the time to try and figure out what all was included with this PiP feature, but while I was disappointed in the fact that Universal didn't give "The Scorpion King" the treatment it gave the two superior films, at least they provided some nice moments from the lost bonus materials in the form of U-Control. I'm also surprised that the ‘Sneak Peak' for the third "Mummy" film wasn't crammed in here somewhere.

Closing Thoughts:
I don't particularly love "The Scorpion King" and feel it is the black sheep of the "Mummy" franchise. It is a spin off and not a very good one at that. In fact, I'd struggle to call it a good film. However, it is oddly entertaining and I find myself having little problem sitting down to watch it every now and again. I just can't enjoy it nearly as much as I do the films starring Brendan Fraser. The new Blu-ray release features identical visuals to the HD-DVD release, but a more potent DTS-HD soundtrack. The previous high definition release had a DVD glued to the backside that contained a large number of supplements. Some of these are rehashed through U-Control, but it doesn't fully make up for the missing bonus materials. This film isn't given the same love as the two bigger siblings, but Universal did deliver a nice new soundtrack and U-Control functionality to tempt those with Blu-ray players.