The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008)

This is a weird little Sword and Sorcerer, very much in the tradition of the old Italian Steve Reeves movies of the late 50's and early 60's. Just with better production values, better acting, better scripting and more engaging characters. But beware - the title is a Rip-off, it has nothing to do with the original Scorpion King so don't expect any connection to its far better predecessor.For all of that, I found the movie engaging and that's where the weirdness comes in - I don't know why. The three main characters are mildly attractive, the script never sinks to idiocy (though it does swing wildly through history from the rise of city-states between the Tigris and Euphrates in the early 2nd Millennium to 1st Century B.C. Greeks (Ari) with 15th Century B.C. Knossos in between) and the editing is quite good. But that's not enough to really recommend it. The secondary characters, except for the wooden Sargon, add another positive as does the pacing but still, small change.Then there's the scene with Astarte in the cave - bordering on camp but underplayed just enough to work and work well with her flowing wardrobe transforming from seductive open robe to warrior armor and back again. The scene flirts with disaster at every step yet avoids falling into the pit Layla spends a great deal of time vocally dangling above. The counterpoint between Layla, dangling with commentary, and Astarte, flirting with Mathayus, comes close to being a B movie gem. All of the elements from dialog to editing gel, elevating all of them to a greater whole.That isn't to say that is Oscar material but, for what it is, it works extremely well.It does suffer when compared to The Scorpion King or Conan but both of those movies represent the pinnacle of the genre. Rise of a Warrior ranks with best of the second tier, like The Sword and the Sorcerer (with which it shares a classic line: Who will join me . . .) or Beastmaster.

The Scorpion King 2 - Rise of a WarriorI honestly think, that the current rating of 3.8 is not doing this movie justice, and I will try to find words why I think so. The action (which I would say is most important here) was actually pretty well done (at least as far as a PG-13-movie can do it), that is the fights were well choreographed and slow-motion was used quite effectively. I would exclude the scenes of Randy Couture wrestling down his opponents, because I wasn't aware that the Egyptians invented the WWF as well. As for the characters, they were likable although cliché (then again, so were the characters in the first movie). At least they were not the type of unlikeable idiots, one has to deal with in many horror-movies or comedies. They were all well cast, with the exception of our hero's mother, who looked totally out of place for the setting. Also I have to say, I never quite felt the charm that some reviewers attest Dwayne Johnson in the first part. I thought he did not do well as a main character, at least in this kind of movie. I would even go as far as saying that Michael Copon looks the part better than The Rock does. The set design and costume design were good. The weapons and armor looked real enough to appear to be more than toys, real enough to suspend one's disbelieve. As for the setting, I'd say, you can't go wrong with desert-and-Egyptian-style-temples.On the other hand, the story was predictable and there were some plot holes, but overall it could have been worse (especially towards the ending I was even quite surprised). And it has been done worse in countless other movies of this kind. It's just an average young-boy-rises-to-hero-story and for 90 minutes of entertaining what can be wrong with that? Unfortunately, and that is a big let-down, to call the special effects average would be already exaggerating. They are only slightly above Playstation-1-Level, especially in some crucial scenes. But also here you will find worse.So all in all I rate this movie 6 out of 10. It's not as good as the first part, but if you liked the Mummy-movies, if you liked the first Scorpion King-film and/or if you simply like sword-and-sorcerer-flicks (and I do), give it a watch.

When I heard about a sequel to The Scorpion King, I wanted to see it. I bought this with Prom Night and The Wizard of Gore remake. I thought it was just alright, but something confused the crap out of me! Mathayus's brother died in the first one, but this one takes place before the original, and his brother dies in this one. Unless he had two brothers, that did not make sense. Other than that, the storyline was okay. Mathayus wants to avenge his father's death, so he trains for six years. When he comes back, the man who killed hid dad became king. Later, Mathayus and his girlfriend Layla end up in the Underworld. There are some funny moments, but it's still not as good as the original Scorpion King! I probably wouldn't recommend THE SCORPION KING 2: RISE OF A WARRIOR!!!

This is one of those movies that cries for your full attention; but this prequel to 2002's THE SCORPION KING is pitiful and the more you watch you realize this thing is just not going to get any better. The young warrior Mathayus(Michael Copon)witnesses his father's death at the hands of the evil and powerful King Sargon(Ultimate Fighting champ Randy Couture). Mathayus trains six years to become one of the King's elite body guards the Black Scorpions and all the while plots to avenge his father's death. Some real nice special effects, but the dialog is so ridiculous anything redeemable is buried in the sand. The exciting fight scenes are just not enough to carry a movie that seems to lumber on aimlessly.The cast includes: Simon Quarterman, Karen David, Tom Wu, Jeremy Crutchley and Natalie Becker.