Mark this day on your calenders, as it will be a tale told to your grandchildren for decades, Yes, Direct to DVD Dissection returns from it’s LONG vacation, and some movie about and old spin-off that had The Rock in it. The action horror villain turned swords and sandals hero and seemingly DVD-only franchise returns, but how does it fair on it’s own?
The Story
After the king of Norvania is assassinated, the legendary Scorpion King Mathayus is framed for the crime and must fight off an entire kingdom of soldiers. Now Mathayus and his only remaining allies, a mysterious woman and her unconventional father, are the last hope to stop the evil heir to the throne on his quest for an ancient and almighty mystical power.
The Trailer
The Dissection
Well, this seems to be a landmark for a franchise that went from action horror and spun off into a big budget action vehicle for The Rock, and to a DEATHSTALKER-lite dvd franchise. Though, this might fair better than that, as while DEATHSTALKER may have had an army, SCORPION KING 4 has a Hulk.
And with that joke out of the way, on to the movie proper.
SCORPION KING 4, even for being the fourth entry in a franchise overshadowed by the first, seems to be the first film to actually get past trying to follow the franchise, and instead stand on it’s own. That leads to both good and bad elements in the film.
First off, Victor Webster does a pretty good job as the title character, or Mathayus if you want to be correct. Webster, in continuing the DEATHSTALKER comparison, feels like a better form of John Terlesky’s Deathstalker from the second movie. He’s still a big imposing dude, but he’s a bit more of a dry wit and sarcasm magnet, compared to someone like The Rock, or the two teens from the second film. Which is needed, as most of the other talent, even some of the seasoned actors, kind of either go too far into their roles to be taken seriously, or end up kind of giving a performance that just oozes of apathy.
“Don’t worry Mathayus, no matter what happens to me and what other leaders do, you’ll still be my choice to win the Royal Rumble.”
The whole movie feels like it’s tongue is planted firmly in cheek, albeit fumbling it at times. Aside from comparisons to a Roger Corman franchise that will not be named again, it feels like a episode of HERCULES mixed with an episode of the 1966 BATMAN series. Not in the goofy camp sense, but it seems more like an escape for the people involved to go out and do some goofy stuff and play act for almost 2 hours. However, with not taking itself so seriously, it does end up losing a bit of the edge around the time the villains and threats are being established.
It seems to try to capture the big action feel of recent swords and sandals blockbuster films, on a smaller scale. A lot of time was spent on making sure the fighting scenes worked in between getting the actors, mma fighters, and other people on the same page. The editing on those scenes was not, though, so there are moments where the camera ends up deflating a serious moment in these scenes.
The DVD comes with some good extras for a direct to dvd film. There’s an audio commentary with the director of the film, as well as a behind the scenes video of the making of the film and two small features on parts of the movie. Those, along with funny looking deleted scenes and a gag reel give the whole disc a bit more meat to it.
The Verdict
SCORPION KING 4 is a film that feels like a good strong first step out of the shadow of it’s big screen ancestor, and pushing it away from the previous two films to do a little of it’s own thing. For better or worse, it’s worth a watch if you are in the mood to see something that is less GAME OF THRONES, and more MYSTIC KNIGHTS OF TIR NA NOG.