From The Rock to The Scorpion King: Dwayne Johnson’s Cinematic Journey
It’s still so tempting to call him The Rock, isn’t it? But be that as it may, Dwayne Johnson is looking at trying to get a reboot of The Scorpion King off the ground and unfortunately for a lot of fans it doesn’t sound as though he’ll be taking the lead role again. But he will be seeking an action star to take the lead apparently, and there’s always a chance of a cameo once production starts, perhaps as a way of passing the torch so to speak since he did have such a moment with Arnold Schwarzenegger of all people. As fans should be able to remember, The Scorpion King was Johnson’s big break onto the big screen following his time in The Mummy Returns with Brendan Fraser, and as the same character no less. Thankfully the full-length movie allowed him to really put more punch into the character since he was a there and gone kind of villain in The Mummy Returns given that he was an ancient warrior that had made a deal with Anubis. The Scorpion King was a chance to see who the character was before he became a warlord, and it’s interesting to see how the fierce and unfortunately ill-fated warrior became a king in his own right. It’s also easy to question how he would have gone from being an assassin turned hero turned king to someone that would gladly give up his soul to conquer another group of people. There was an explanation given in the movies that came after, if people decided to watch them, but the Scorpion King went on a few different adventures and did lose his queen before finally becoming the conqueror that people saw him as in his first outing.
Rebooting The Scorpion King: What to Expect
What a reboot will do for this movie is hard to say, especially since it kind of depends on the director and the rating the movie is going for as well. Released in 2002, the original movie was rated PG-13, which allowed for the content that was there, even though we didn’t get to see a whole lot of blood or graphic violence since really, someone fighting as hard as the main character did would have no doubt left a pile of bodies in his wake. It’s interesting to think of what’s going to happen this time around since it’s very likely that the movie could get bloody, but if it features nudity that would be a switch. Plus, if it toned down the main character that might be kind of nice since Mathayus was definitely OP in the movie considering that he was dragging a boulder up the side of a stone chimney as he was climbing, and he only took minimal damage whenever someone actually hit him. Granted, he was playing the part of a deadly and extremely strong assassin that had no trouble taking out one opponent after another, but the fact is that he was kind of like the Superman of assassins, which became old pretty quick. Plus, it would be nice to see a villain that wasn’t so one-dimensional this time around since Memnon wasn’t the worst, but his swordplay and his acting could have been better. At the time it came out the movie was extremely popular, but going back to see it once or twice at this point is enough to make it clear that what a lot of people thought was so great was hyped up more than it should have been since a lot of the effects and the choreography was just kind of ‘meh’.
Looking Back: The Scorpion King’s Legacy
Some of the fight scenes were actually great, while the dialogue wasn’t too terrible. One has to remember that this was Johnson’s first real outing on the big screen with a lot of dialogue to remember and he was the lead as well, so gaining his footing was bound to take some time. After getting a few movies under his belt he really started getting better, and while The Scorpion King is kind of a cringe-worthy movie at this point, it’s still something that people enjoy for the nostalgia and because it’s Dwayne Johnson, a guy that a lot of people like to watch since he’s a great action star and he’s turned into a pretty good actor. Plus, the guy can be comical when he needs to be which is great. But as far as who might take on the role at this time there are no doubt a few names that fans might like to see nominated, and one I would actually put up would be Jason Momoa, if only because of his time as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones. Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Iko Uwais, and a few others might even be worth considering. But until it happens we’ll just have to wait and see how things develop.
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