I knew it was only a matter of time before the WWF's The Rock would get his own movie. After all, the guy is charismatic, engaging and bigger than a fricken' house.

Although this is a spin-off of the last Mummy picture, it is even lighter in tone if you can believe that. Taking place many years before The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King tells the story of a mighty warrior and how he would become a legend.

Taking a major cue from Conan the Barbarian, The Scorpion King pays homage to a plethora of other adventures as well (Indiana Jones and The Goonies just to name two), as The Rock finds himself plunged into one adventurous situation after another.

The Rock seems very comfortable here, although it should be noted that this is hardly a role of dimension. This is the type of stuff that made Ahnold a star, and the WWF star seems right at home. His sense of humor and obvious physical ability enable him to make that graceful leap from sport to film. This is a movie chalk full of over the top action, creative special effects, dumb one liners and kick ass fighting sequences.

Those looking for character development, realistic dialogue, and any sense of plot-development, best see something else. This is an obvious vehicle picture for it's star, and while this movie is is cheesy and dumb to say the least, I wouldn't necessarily say I hated it. In fact, I liked it more than the first Mummy movie.

Director Chuck Russell is no slouch when it comes to effects pictures. Early on in his career, he made a name for himself in the horror genre bringing to the screen Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (one of the better sequels in the franchise) and an extremely underrated remake of The Blob. He has since gone on to higher profile flicks like The Mask and Eraser. With The Scorpion King, Russell keeps things moving along briskly. He also has the good sense to know that this is really The Rock's show.

The Scorpion King is violent, but in a cartoonish way. In fact, most of the bloodshed is off camera, and when we see a sword piercing the flesh, we are subjected to the obligatory sound effect, but virtually no blood, and though his love interest appears nude in the picture, her hair is strategically placed as to not interfere with the PG-13 rating. Hell, even when she's falling from a waterfall, no body part is left uncovered.

With The Scorpion King, lets just say that I have smelt what The Rock is cooking. And while it wasn't all roses, I expected much worse. With a little time under his belt, The Rock could emerge as a true action star.