Show 6 Standard-Examin- Friday April 19 2002 er Rock leaves the ring to become ‘Scorpion King’ By STEVE SALLES Review movie cnbc Standard-Examin- THE FILM: The Scorpion King’ OUR RATING: 12 wrestling and only STARRING: Dwayne The Rock’ of “The Rock” through Johnson Michael Clarke Duncan TV appearances - until I Steven Brand Kelly Hu and Grant saw him in “The Mummy Returns” Heslov I was miscast Frankly thought he BEHIND THE SCENES: Directed as the desert warrior “Scorpion King” by Chuck Russell (‘Eraser’ The who spoke three lines and turned into Mask') a nasty cartoon bug He has such a PLAYING: Layton Hills 9 Motor-V- u commanding presence and rugged Drive-I- n (with “Dragonfly”) The face looks a he has that for dashing Tinseltown Walker Pointe Newgate good not for evil 6 Westates Runs 94 minutes Studio execs must have seen the MPAA RATING: PG-1- 3 same thing No sooner did he shake d the dust off from that “Mummy” sequel than he was remove the unfair advantage approached to star in a He gets the eventual help of a multimillion-dolla- r spinoff Nubian king Balthazar (Michael Gutsy move for Universal Clarke Duncan) who at first doesn’t considering The Rock’s acting chops trust the Akkadian are an unknown commodity (unless Double-crossgreed power and you throw in the WWF) The Suits g some literal keep the were also smart enough to convert forces of goodness on their toes Toss him from a stinging creepazoid to a in some humor plenty of violence a determined bad boy with a heart of little skin a few glistening muscles gold and you have the ingredients for He’s now Mathayus one of the last “Conan the Barbarian” - sorry I of a dying breed of Akkadian meant “The Scorpion King” assassins The few nomadic tribes Of course comparisons between left are facing elimination at the "Arnold and The Rock will be hands of Memnon and his inevitable but the new kid is already d army way ahead of Schwarzenegger’s Memnon (Steven Brand) has the learning curve - he speaks help of Cassandra the Sorceress understandable English! (Kelly Hu) to plan his battles She’s Sure his infrequent dramatic able to see the outcome of events and warn her king of any potential danger scenes were a little stiff but that’s to be expected for an - thus he never loses star Mathayus is determined to break The result is a the string of successes with the incentive of a bag full of blood rubies film It certainly His job is to kill the Sorceress and doesn’t have the charm and humor of never been a fan of I’ve half-bake- es back-stabbin- well-traine- athlete-tumed-mov- ie better-than-expect- Mathayus (The Rock right) and Cassandra Gomorrah in “The Scorpion King” 1999’s “The Mummy” but it is better than last summer’s disappointing sequel “The Mummy Returns” And speaking of sequels the city gates are wide open for a continuation of this new “Scorpion” franchise We’re still a couple of thousand years away from catching up to the beginning of the last (Kelly Hu) “Mummy” await stand at the city walls of - so many adventures Which has got to be good news for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson He can’t keep throwing his body around the wrestling ring forever Hollywood’s beckoning call will be a welcome relief someday soon Treehouse bringing the magic back wizard All invited wanna-be- s to Potter party OGDEN fund-rais- - Tickets month’s for Treehouse er Children’s Museum disappeared as if by magic So many wizard wanna-be- s were turned away from the sold-ou- t party that Treehouse is conjuring up another one Treehouse Museum has teamed up with The Pointe Theatre to put on another “Wizard Party” with a Potter prizes The movie will be shown on two screens at 9:15 am special screening of “It should be a lot of fun” said Lynne Goodwin “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” The director of Treehouse “It’s the last Museum 8:30 11:30 to am party am April 27 at The Point chance to see the movie on the big screen before it Theatre 151 12th St comes out on video and it’s Ogden includes a been awhile since most continental “Hogwarts people have seen it” Breakfast” and a chance to The screening of “Harry meet characters from the Potter and the Sorcerer’s book A magician will be Stone” is being donated by on hand to perform wizard The Pointe Theatre All tricks There will also be a proceeds will benefit Treehouse and help build a quiz and raffle-fo- r Harry new permanent home for the museum Because of the closing of Ogden City Mall Treehouse Children’s Museum is temporarily housed in the old Standard-Examin- er building 455 23rd St Ogden Tickets to the Wizard Party cost $5 and can be purchased at Treehouse Children’s Museum The Pointe Theatre and North Pointe Theatres 1610 N Washington Blvd Ogden For more information caH 394-966- 3 Warwick Davis is Professor Flitwick in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” |