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 Movie A |
Video A | Audio A
| Extras A- | Recommended!
The Rock, Kelly Hu, Michael Clarke Duncan, Peter
Facinelli, and Steven Brand
director Chuck Russell | Universal Home Entertainment
2001 | Action - Adventure | PG-13 | 92 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio
| Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: As a spin-off of The
Mummy and The
Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King is action-packed and delivers all
of the promises of a great blockbuster action flick. While The
Rock (for those who don't know, "The Rock" is the name of a WWE wrestling
superstar who's real name is Dwayne Johnson) isn't
your typical Brendan Fraser type of leading man, he "makes up for
it" elsewhere and holds his own very well in this spin-off
film. The Scorpion King takes place in ancient Egypt, before
the times of the great pyramids, in a land where the great swordsman
Memnon (Steve Brand) conquers all and would soon rule the entire world,
thanks in part to the psychic and predictive powers of his beautiful
Scorceress (Kelly Hu). The remaining tribes hire Mathayus (The Rock)
as the assassin who would kill Memnon before he dominates all. As
fate would have it, Mathayus turns out to be the title character, the
famous Scorpion King as alluded to by the film The
Mummy Returns. Though the plot's outcome is obvious, it is
the journey that we're interested in, and it's a journey with non-stop and
stunning action sequences.
Visual special effects are world-class, Mummy-style
no doubt. And that's saying a lot for the quality of visual special effects. The
sound design is equally awesome as it aggressively uses the surround sound
channels to put the viewer into the action. Too bad there is not a
DTS soundtrack on this DVD. It would have made a
difference. On the other hand, bonus features are bountiful for a single-disc
release. If you're into a slick, special-effects intensive, action
movie, look no further than The Scorpion King. For action
fans, The Scorpion King is one of those few films that can be
enjoyed more than once. We give this DVD two claws up for its
entertainment value!
Special Features: There's lots and lots of
bonus features, considering this is a single-disc release. enhanced feature
commentary with The Rock, feature commentary with director Chuck Russell;
outtakes; alternate versions of key scenes with enhanced viewing mode;
"Spotlight on Location: The
Making of The Scorpion King" featurette, "Ancient World
Production Design" featurette, "Preparing The Fight"
featurette, "The Rock and Michael Clarke Duncan" featurette,
"Working with Animals" featurette, "The Special
Effects" featurette, Godsmack music video "I Stand
Alone"; "Scorpion King: Man or Myth" featurette ; theatrical trailer, production notes, cast and
filmmakers, universal showcase; DVD-ROM features including "Total
Axess"
DVD released on 10/1/2002 | Reviewed 9/10/2002
List $26.98 | online $19.99 | order from Amazon.com,
Buy.com
(widescreen version)
Also available in full frame version from Amazon.com,
Buy.com
Rent this DVD from NetFlix
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rental program absolutely free!
Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Editor@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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