The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Universal Pictures / 2008
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Written by Randall McCormick & Stephen Sommers
Cast: Michael Copon, Randy Couture, Karen Shenaz David & Simon Quarterman
Review by Brian Harris

After the tragic murder of his father, young Mathayus sets out with a small group on a quest to retrieve the fabled Sword of Damocles from the underworld and use it to strike down the powerful King Sargon for his bloody deeds.

Why anybody felt a spin-off of a sequel to a remake needed a prequel is beyond me but apparently the concept and character of Mathayus (The Scorpion King) was just begging to be milked…I mean explored…for all it was worth. I suppose I might have agreed with that were I a fan of the first film and The Rock but, sadly, I’m neither. I’m sure you can imagine my surprise then when TSK2 turned out to be relatively entertaining!

It’s by no means a perfect movie but the production design was top notch and the CG was pretty damn competent when you take into consideration the fact that this is a direct-to-DVD film! Not to be too kind to this film but there was very little wrong with it; the women were hot, the action was high-powered and the story required almost no brain power. For the most part TSK2 is a perfect, kick-back-and-relax type fantasy/action film…well…almost perfect.

Randy Couture. What can I say? The man is a mixed martial arts legend; he’s a fighter to be feared and revered. That being said, somebody should have been more honest with the guy about his acting ability, or lack thereof. No joke, Couture sucked hard. At first I figured he would even out a bit as the film progressed but I was horribly wrong, he just continued getting worse and worse. It’s really bad when film extras are acting laps around you! I suppose I could just insist it wasn’t all that bad and tell you to ignore it but it was and you won’t be able to.

Another problem I had with this film was the dialogue, as times it was just completely inappropriate for the concept. I’m one of those picky jerkwads that find modern diction in sword & sandal fantasy films to be incredibly annoying. I think this was one of the biggest reasons why I never got into Hercules, Xena and Beastmaster.

Aside from Couture’s acting and the moden lingo, The Scorpion King 2 was fun, it really was. I had the chance to sit down and watch it with the family and we all pretty much enjoyed ourselves and that’s what it’s all about. There was just enough action, adventure and hotties to make this worth the rental fee.

• Screen Format: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen / Color
• Audio: English, French, Spanish / Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Running time: 109 mins.

• Featurettes (6)
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel

I sorta had fun watching this! Not enough to recommend purchasing this but if you’re an admirer of the first film, why not check out the second? Karen David is the sexiest little Indian this side of the hemisphere and Michael Copon did his best to channel the spirit of The Rock without overdoing it. I gotta tell ya, there’s an underworld sequence that features writhing, rotted bodies that really grabbed me by the balls so keep an eye open for that, great stuff. For a direct-to-DVD release, it wasn’t half bad.

“The Action Event of the Summer!”