Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior [Blu-ray] [US Import]

An interesting attempt to plot the early life of The Scorpion King. In some ways it succeeds but in others it fails. Having watched The Mummy Returns (the first time The Scorpion King appears) and then The Scorpion King which was, itself, a prequel to the events of The Mummy Returns I guess the idea of traveling further back in his life was a natural step for this film. The cast are relative unknowns, although I guess the same could be said of The Rock as an actor prior to the two films already mentioned. As a swords and sorcery tale it worked pretty well but I wasn't as convinced by the lead as I had been by The Rock, who made the role so much more believable. Karen David as the companion was, I felt, stronger in her convictions and carried her part well. The action wasn't quite as "thrilling" as the DVD case lead you to believe (nor was Karen David quite as voluptuous!) but on the whole I enjoyed the film. I had intended to buy it earlier but it was wise to wait for the price to drop as I would not have been quite so happy had I paid more than I did for it. Had Stephen Sommers been involved perhaps it would have made it stronger but sadly he wasn't and the film misses his input.

I just finished watching this film and had to give it a 5 star rating (5 stars = 'I love it' and I did!) as I remembered there being bad reviews here which stopped me buying it (in actual fact I ended up buying it in a shop - I'm so glad I did). We were looking for a light, original adventure film with some familiarity about it. This film was perfect, better in fact! Here are some random reflections of it: There were a lot of very amusing one liners throughout. It didn't really get started until about 20 minutes in but when it did it settled into its own great atmosphere and the story and characters unfolded brilliantly. Some sections were very slow but they worked ok. The young man in the lead obviously studied Dwayne Johnson as he did an excellent job and could have been Dwyane when he was 19 years old - I thought this was excellent as it really was uncannily like watching The Scorpion King's early days. He has the same smile, the same delivery of his lines. The overall story was great! I really did not know what was going to happen next. Among other things the characters went on a quest to the underworld. This was very amusing with some excellent situations and events. There was a Minatour too and the godess was both unnerving and amusing. The picture and sound was excellent throughout, no turning turning down the music and then turning up the dialogue (my gripe with a lot of movies). Some of the effects weren't amazing but they worked. I actually thought the black scorpion was really effective. There's a gag reel in the bonus section and you can see the team had a lot of fun. The one-liners were very good throughout. The poet character was very amusing and complimented the group perfectly. The young woman was very funny too. The fighting was brilliant (not too much of it and very well done). There were a lot of funny moments. I have seen the Scorpian King original several times. I have to say that this was better. It is definately a top favourite film in our household now. I would describe it as a humourous, intriguing adventure/quest, well made and good fun. The DVD comes with some good extras. Would recommend! - ELLA

After seeing some heavy horror movies of late, I picked this movie up for a calm night. I had seen the Scorpion King way long ago and it was totally rubbish, why have that movie to link with the brilliant Mummy movies? The second one is the worst I have seen for a while, it's a pequel to the first and never had seen so many people from different places in this film. The acting is poor, the story is so dire that my sister went to sleep half way through! The special effects are terrible, if they made it any more fake I would be rolling on the floor laughing. If you liked the first one, be warned. It's not a follow-on of the first one, you see unknown actors trying to either frown or have very silly accents. Many would probably disagree with my review but some would feel the same way. Dire film, don't waste your money for it.