The Scorpion King 2 – Rise Of A Warrior (2008/Blu-ray + DVD-Video/Universal)
Picture: B/C+ Sound: B/C+ Extras: D Feature: D
After
three tired Mummy films and one
especially tired spin off in the annoying Scorpion
King with that Rock guy, someone at Universal somehow thought it would be a
good idea to do a straight-to-disc sequel to the spin-off. For a few years, many somehow found
themselves asking why that Rock person did not land up in another Scorpion King
flick. Now, without him, they have made
the shocking dreadful The Scorpion King
2 – Rise Of A Warrior (2008) and boy, is it bad!
Randy
Couture is now the bodybuilder/fighter star of choice and his taking of the
star lead is only going to be like David Lee Roth being succeeded by Sammy Hagar,
both have to tolerate a tired idea that neither can save by being there. To justify this mess, it sells itself as a
sequel/origins tale, so we are supposed to believe that as Couture gets older,
he’ll look like The Rock? How stupid can
they get?
Most
shocking of all is that this is directed by the usually savvy Russell Mulcahy,
who just did a decent-by-default job on the third Resident Evil film, but the prolific Music Video director (who also
helmed the underrated 1994 The Shadow
for Universal) is left with a mess of a script, a badly edited mess and a total
bore for only the most diehard fans, if they even care. Too bad, because with more ambition, this
could have been at least watchable and interesting if Mulcahy was in peak form.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 image is terrible, with harsh video white, badly shot (maybe HD?)
footage throughout and lame editing and visual effects to boot. Not even an HD image can rectify it, while
the anamorphically enhanced DVD is much worse.
The Blu-ray’s DTS HD Master Audio (MA) lossless mix and DVD’s Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix is surprising underwhelming, making me realize Mulcahy likely
had limited control or input on this project.
Considering classic Mulcahy Music Videos shot on old analog videotape
like Planet Earth for Duran Duran, Bette Davis Eyes for Kim Carnes and Take The ‘L’
for The Motels look better than this should give you an idea of how bad this is
in any format!
Extras
include a few featurettes, deleted scenes (ha!) and a gag reel that is hard to
distinguish form the final cut of this train wreck. Enough already!
- Nicholas Sheffo
