45
Metascore
30 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleLike every other action movie, it's designed for a 14-year-old boy's mentality, but it's enjoyable enough to turn most people into 14-year-old boys.
- 70SalonStephanie ZacharekSalonStephanie ZacharekThe Scorpion King, so far from perfect it isn't funny, is nevertheless one of those movies that catches you up in something bigger than yourself, namely, an archetypal desire to enjoy good trash every now and then.
- 58Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerSeattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerThe Rock manages to play both with a crude candor more genuine than the entertaining if contrived spectacle around him, and a surprising big-screen charisma and ease that makes him a natural-born screen hero.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIsn't incompetent; it's just plodding and obvious. If anything holds it together, it's The Rock's ironic ability to tread lightly, which the movie is neither fast nor inventive enough to recognize as different from the spirit of Arnold.
- 50Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMiami HeraldRene RodriguezThe good news about The Scorpion King is that The Rock turns out to be a charismatic, ingratiating screen presence.
- 50Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisFor a movie with such a misplaced sense of history, The Scorpion King seems afraid to have more fun with its own stupidity.
- 50The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyThe style here is much more in the spirit of the smash and slash of the Conan movies than the banter and computer-generated monsters of the Mummy movies.
- 50ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliIt is possible to make an engaging action/adventure picture of this sort, but The Scorpion King isn't it. The movie isn't godawful, but it's far from inspired, and, as I sat through its 90 minute running length, I found my mind wandering.
- 38Baltimore SunMichael SragowBaltimore SunMichael SragowPlays like Abbott and Costello Meet Conan the Barbarian.
- 10The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenAs this chaotic barrage of muscle flexing, swordplay, fireballs, crude digital effects and comic-book quips hurls itself off the screen, it's like having several garbage cans clogged with stale pizza, lukewarm cola, soggy French fries and greasy, ketchup-stained napkins emptied over your head.