The Scorpion King 2: The Rise of a Warrior is actually a prequel to The Scorpion King (2002). My colleague Jeff says they called it The Scorpion King 2 because The Scorpion King 0 or The Scorpion King -1 didn’t have the same ring for a title. Stranger things have happened.
Scorpion King 2 tells the story of how young Mathayus (Michael Copon who will grow up to be “The Rock,” but not in this film) becomes a member of the elite warrior group The Black Scorpions and then goes on the first of what we must assume are his many adventures.
Mathayus’s father Ashur is a great warrior of Akkad. He warns his son not to get involved with the Black Scorpions, but the boy disobeys, joins the games that are used to recruit for the group and there are dire consequences.
Mathayus is shadowed in this activity by his friend Layla (Karen David) who wants to become a warrior in spite of being a girl. Layla’s identity is discovered while fighting and when Mathayus stands up for her, he almost gets himself executed by Sargon.
Ashur steps in and King Hammurabi pardons Mathayus, much to Sargon’s disgust which he vents in a Scorpion Curse that kills Ashur. This drives Mathayus into becoming a Black Scorpion, so that he will be best prepared to avenge his father.
When Mathayus as an adult Black Scorpion leaves Akkad to try to find the means and a weapon with which to assassinate the evil Sargon (Randy Couture), who has since killed the King of Akkad and stolen his throne, Layla follows.
She is still seeking the life of a warrior, and thinks she can become one in the outside world. On the voyage they meet a Greek poet named Aristotle (Simon Quarterman) who puts them onto the idea of retrieving the Sword of Damoclese as the weapon to do the job on Sargon.
Instead of their planned destination of Egypt, they are persuaded to go to Knossos to find the doorway or gateway to the underworld.
What follows is a grand adventure reminiscent of those epic Saturday afternoon movies that you watched with your little brother. Scary creatures must be battled, a rag-tag band of companions are gathered and even Lady Astarte (Natalie Becker) Goddess of the Underworld is involved in the action.
The special effects are not revolutionary, but they add interest to the story, and are not awful. Best of the shots are the floaty silk ribbons that announce the eminent arrival (and costuming) of Lady Astarte and the riotous thorn jungle that springs out of the white sands of the underworld to engulf the travelers in a horrific landscape.
In spite of battles with monsters and the evil of Sargon, there is a lot of humor in this film, which again reminds me of those long past Saturdays. Aristotle who is NOT the great philosopher has dialogue that makes you laugh, corny but funny.
Then there is the long suffering Chinese Acrobat who is simply looking for a shortcut back to China when the travelers hijack him on their way to the Underworld.
The Scorpion King 2: The Rise of a Warrior is presented on single disc in widescreen format, with a running time of 109 minutes.
The special features included are a one on one conversation with Randy Couture on “Becoming Sargon,” the “Fight Like an Akkadian Black Scorpion Training Camp, deleted scenes from the movie, and a gag reel.
The Scorpion King 2: The Rise of a Warrior is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
Some Clips from the film:
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