Scorpion King, The (Blu-ray)

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Sound:
Universal again ups the ante with a brand spanking new English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that replaces the former Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack of the HD-DVD release. This new mix is quite strong and impressive, but as I pointed out in my previous review of "The Scorpion King," this movie lacks the awe-inspiring soundtrack of either "The Mummy" or "The Mummy Returns." The soundtrack excels is in its deep and impressive bass surges of the .1 LFE channel. The sound effects were crisp and each metallic collision of bladed weapons is piercingly sharp. The rear surrounds are not used as heavily as they were in the other films, and much of the sound is reserved for the action sequences and contained in the front channels. There are a few effects that bleed to the rear surrounds, but the element contained mostly within their channels is the rock soundtrack. The soundtrack is one of the elements that I disliked with "The Scorpion King," as I would have preferred a cinematic score of orchestral music. While the soundtrack is quite agreeable to my ears, I felt it wasn´t nearly as impressive as either of the "Mummy" films.

Extras:
The former HD-DVD release was stripped of any bonus materials aside from a commentary track. Universal has not given "The Scorpion King" a rehash and a fancy new ´Deluxe Edition´ packaging that was given to the two "Mummy" films, but it´s well-loved ´U-Control´ functionality makes its way to "The Scorpion King." Unfortunately, all of the bonus materials that were found on the DVD side of the HD-DVD / DVD Combo Release of "The Scorpion King" are now missing. The commentary track from The Rock is gone. All the numerous other bits of outtakes, alternate versions and other making-of footage is gone. The DVD flip side had some rather decent supplements and this new Blu-ray title feels quite sad in comparison. This film is presented on a BD-25 disc and I feel that Universal could have added some of the extras here.

The sole remaining bit of bonus content from the HD-DVD release is the Feature Commentary with Director Chuck Russell. Mr. Russell´s commentary is passable as entertainment, but there were a few stretches when I felt the commentary was boring and unnecessary. Other times, Russell spoke of historical elements contained in the film and offered interesting tidbits about the production. This was a hit-or-miss commentary that is worth a listen for steadfast fans of "The Scorpion King," but avoidable for most others. I felt the white-space ridden commentary by The Rock was the better of the two commentary tracks and it is a shame it is not contained here.

The U-Control functionality is entirely Picture-in-Picture based and chunks of material from the DVD´s bonus features are pulled into these PiP pop-ups so that the bonus features are not entirely lost; that is if you own a Blu-ray player capable of using Profile 1.1 functionality. I didn´t take the time to try and figure out what all was included with this PiP feature, but while I was disappointed in the fact that Universal didn´t give "The Scorpion King" the treatment it gave the two superior films, at least they provided some nice moments from the lost bonus materials in the form of U-Control. I´m also surprised that the ´Sneak Peak´ for the third "Mummy" film wasn´t crammed in here somewhere.

Closing Thoughts:
I don´t particularly love "The Scorpion King" and feel it is the black sheep of the "Mummy" franchise. It is a spin off and not a very good one at that. In fact, I´d struggle to call it a good film. However, it is oddly entertaining and I find myself having little problem sitting down to watch it every now and again. I just can´t enjoy it nearly as much as I do the films starring Brendan Fraser. The new Blu-ray release features identical visuals to the HD-DVD release, but a more potent DTS-HD soundtrack. The previous high definition release had a DVD glued to the backside that contained a large number of supplements. Some of these are rehashed through U-Control, but it doesn´t fully make up for the missing bonus materials. This film isn´t given the same love as the two bigger siblings, but Universal did deliver a nice new soundtrack and U-Control functionality to tempt those with Blu-ray players.

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