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Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (15th September 2008). |
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The Film
 If 'The Scorpion King' is to 'The Mummy', then 'The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior' is to...? The answer to that question is basically that 'The Scorpion King 2' thoroughly sucks. Though the movie does have the titular character in its presence, the producers seem to have taken an unrelated script and adapted it to their Mummy cash cow. Changing the main character's name to 'Mathayus' and tweaking lines of dialogue to include 'Akkadian' here and there is all it would take to make such a transformation. It also seems that any script, no matter how inane, would do. This prequel at its base is a revenge story, where the main character, Mathayus (Michael Copon), wants to exact revenge on the man that killed his father. To do this, he enlists the help of a couple of people to find a sword that can cut through anything, and he needs this sword because the bad guy has magical powers or some such. Saying that writer Randall McCormick's previous screenplay credit is for 'Speed 2: Cruise Control' should explain more than enough. The movie definitely wants to have the feel of the 1960s Ray Harryhausen 'Sinbad' movies. However, it has none of the originality or enthusiasm those movies do. In 'The Scorpion King 2', Mathayus has to go to the underworld, though strange forests popping out of deserts, and go through mazes being roamed by minotaurs to find his magical item. He also has to outwit a demon enchantress (Natalie Becker) and do other silly and mundane things. A tired script wouldn't be so bad if the direction were good. Unfortunately, Russell Mulcahy has had his better days. Try as he might to inject some sort of energy or flow into the script, he just can't make it, thanks to the bad acting and unoriginal choices. The only good thing about the movie is the action, but even then, it's not that impressive. The movie tries to have an adventure movie feel, but it can't get as excited as it should. The action is nicely done, and much of the marketing of the movie surrounds Randy Couture's presence. He has too much screen time attempting do so something approximating acting, but when he has to fight, it's pretty nice. A few battles are hampered by bad CGI or bad stop-motion (!), making the cutting a bit too quick and the flow of the scene too fast, but overall the action is nicely done. There's no real sense of danger, though, given the tone of the movie and the relationships between the characters. The movie doesn't seem to have any enthusiasm in itself. It has the texture of a British mini-series, having strong sepias and heavy grain. It's an okay look, but with the movie drained of colour, all life seems to have followed. The performers are doing things strictly by-the-book and nobody seems to be having any fun. It gets kind of painful to watch, at times. Don't get me wrong, I love crappy movies. It's just that 'The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior' has the feel of a bad made-for-video sequel. Oh, wait...
Video
1.85:1 widescreen, using the VC-1 codec. I actually thought there was first, too much dirt on my glasses, and second, a problem with the focus on my projector. As it turns out, there were no problems with either of these things. Rather, the film’s transfer is very soft and underwhelming. Universal has an at-times spotty record with high-def, and though they did a very nice job with 'The Mummy' movies, they really didn't apply themselves all that much with 'The Scorpion King 2'. The colours are muted – too much so. Even considering the palette, they don’t seem to be as bright as they could. By the same token, shadow detail is pretty bad, with blacks being do dark as soon as the lighting shows a bit of shadow. The faces are waxy, and show little detail, as well. The picture is occasionally grainy (as in the underground maze), occasionally not-grainy. I won’t say 'clear' because it's never really clear. The picture is passable, but there’s not much to recommend it.
Audio
The movie has an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, and it's better than the picture, though that's not particularly difficult to do. The dialogue may be a bit low a few times, but for the most part it's clear and centered. The side and rear speakers are there for ambiance during crowd scenes, and the like. The music is also clear and uses up the speakers nicely. The track is okay for the kind of movie but doesn't open up the way it should during the action sequences. Overall, it's clear. English (HoH), Spanish and French subtitles are provided.
Extras
Though Universal was very nice with the other mummy movies, they skimped out for this release, only including the My Scenes bookmark feature.
Overall
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