The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior

Plot synopsis:
The movie begins with Mathayus' father, Ashur of Akkad, fighting in battle. He tells a young Mathayus not to join the Black Scorpions, the best warriors of the Emperor of Akkad, but Mathayus ignores him and goes to the games used to recruit boys to join the sacred Black Scorpions. During the games Mathayus encounters his childhood friend Layla, who desires to fight in battle like the men. Sargon, commander of the army, overhears their conversation and detains Layla. Mathayus gets detained as well after attacking Sargon. Sargon is about to execute Mathayus when his father rescues him, but he gets attacked by Sargon. The battle ends with Emperor Hammurabi forgiving them, in return for Mathayus joining the Black Scorpions. This leaves Sargon furious. During the night, Ashur is murdered by Sargon's Scorpion Curse. Mathayus joins the Black Scorpions and vows to be the best fighter because he realizes this is the best way to get vengeance.Years pass and an adult Mathayus is participating in the ceremony to join the Black Scorpions. He has graduated as a master swordsman, the best in his class. During the ceremony they are greeted by the current Emperor, Sargon, who has murdered Hammurabi to seize the throne. During the greeting Sargon recognizes Mathayus and invites him to the palace. That night in the palace, Mathayus declares his loyalty to the Emperor and is rewarded with a night with the emperor's concubines. The next day Mathayus is once again called to the palace, only to find his brother Noa arrested for spreading so-called "false rumors" about the emperor. Mathayus devises a plan to escape. However, during their escape Sargon uses his black magic and releases an "enchanted" arrow, killing Noa.Mathayus then encounters his friend, Layla. They escape together to Egypt in a boat. During the trip they meet a Greek named Aristophanes(or 'Ari' for short) who becomes their new accomplice. Ari devises a plan to kill the "cursed" Sargon, the only way being to go to the underworld and retrieve a magical sword from a legendary hero. To go to the underworld, they must first kill the Minotaur guarding the portal that leads there.Mathayus succeeds in killing the fable monster with the help of several prisoners who were mercenaries that owed a debt to his father. Another one of the them, a Chinese acrobat named Fong, becomes their new accomplice. To get the prisoners to join in the journey, Ari promises that the underworld is filled with riches. They enter the portal to the underworld, which is a great puzzle that only Ari could decipher. The answer to the puzzle was Asha's last words to Mathayus "Have faith." As they're walking through the desert of the underworld, it suddenly turns into a swamp, filled with dead corpses, traps, and fully awakened bodies. In the swamp only Fong, Ari, Mathayus, Layla, and one of the prisoners survive. One of the prisoners is captured by a tree and killed offscreen, and another is killed by an undead creature after reaching for gold and jewelry. Once in the palace of Lady Astarte, the goddess of Love and War, they encounter the Lady, who tries to seduce Mathayus. Layla initiates a fight with Astarte, and during this diversion, Ari and Fong acquire the sword, the group escapes. They pass back through the portal before an hour has passed, avoiding a curse that would turn them into stone, except for the mercenary whose stays too long because his greed causes him to try to get a ruby ring.They go back to Akkad, only to find that Sargon is planning on sacrificing the whole town to Lady Astarte in exchange for the ultimate power, the power of a god. To accomplish this, Sargon imprisons everyone in the town's coliseum and burn them alive. Layla and Fong help by killing the guards and putting out the fire before it reached the townspeople. Mathayus and Ari go to the King's quarters to confront him. Once they encounter him, Mathayus and Sargon fight hand-to-hand, while Ari writes down the details for his epic poem. Mathayus asks for the magical sword but Ari betrays him by throwing the sword to Sargon. Mathayus uses his dagger to break the sword, amazing Sargon. Ari then gives Mathayus the real sword. It was all part of Ari's plan to fool Sargon. Ari then tells Sargon, "Never trust a Greek." Sargon transforms into the monstrous Scorpion King, but after a long battle Mathayus succeeds in killing the monster by impaling him with the sword. Sargon is dead. Astarte confronts Mathayus, and she threatens to kill him, and he tells her he will join her soon enough.The day after, Hammurabi's son is declared the true emperor. Mathayus finally kisses Layla while recovering from his wounds. Layla admits she no longer wishes to lead the life of a soldier and wants to settle down. The movie ends with Ari's narration of how now Mathayus prefers to live a life of adventure and is traveling in the desert, and one day he will come back and become the Scorpion King. These events lead to the original 2002 film, The Scorpion King.

Tags: revenge, fantasy, violence

Review:
I will be honest I enjoyed like 10 min of this movie only because if you change the main characters name to Hercules, well then its exactly that.
It had pretty much everything I could expect in a spin-off from The Mummy- Great action, lots of witty humor and very beautiful Egyptian location, and THE ROCK!
So I decided to rent it anyways, because, well, hey, it's a Scorpion King movie.
The location is AWFUL and nothing like the other movie which had BEAUTIFUL scenery in Egypt, the actors seem to have gotten their acting talents from 4 year olds, the battle scenes are awful too- shaky camera, constant jump edits, it's like you're having a seizure the whole time.
The acting is surpassed in dreadfulness only by the dialog, although the muddy, on-the-cheap special effects also cannot be excluded from the race for the bottom.We expect a sequel to be worse than the original film, and SK2 does nothing to dash our expectations -- even if it's a prequel.
One finds it hard to imagine how the immensely boring and slightly soft hero played by Michael Copan ever could grow up to become "The Rock," whose Brooklynesque charm made the original "Scorpion King" worth watching.Everything, yes, absolutely EVERYTHING in SK2 is derivative -- and NOTHING is done nearly as well as it's been done in previous sword and sorcery epics.
This movie is very bland, action sequences are mediocre at best and the attempts at humor throughout the film usually failed to make me even think about laughing.
I was unable to watch this movie the whole way through the first time since it was just too boring to continue, but I did finish it during my third viewing of the film.
Everyone in this movie speaks modern English...All of the accents are completely different(not because they're supposed to be either)...the worst one of all being the people who don't even TRY, and talk like they're walking around the mall instead of taking their roles seriously.
For the love of God, don't watch this movie...it'll make you wish you had lost all of your senses the second you pushed play.P.S. The writers/directors/producers/casting agents/actors in/of this movie should be locked in a brick room and be forced to watch this movie nonstop while the rest of us take bets on how long it takes for one of them to bash their way through the wall with their head...
Precious few, maybe none.Somewhere early on I got the idea that the movie felt pretty much exactly like playing a D&D module, and that mental picture actually really worked for me -- it felt nostalgic.
(Okay, the wrestler-dude king was as stiff as a board, I can't deny that.) But the young fella and whatshercuteface were actually pretty good, and the scribe guy wasn't so horrible either.
Too bad this wasn't rated when I made the mistake the watch it.I actually enjoyed "The Scorpion King" with the Rock, because you could tell that they had bothered to create something watchable, and while not the greatest film, it was at least entertaining.This one on the other hand has nothing the previous one had.
It doesn't have the Rock, which I believe was one of the main reasons to watch "The Scorpion King" to begin with; and it doesn't have any good scenery or even special effects worth mentioning.
Action scenes were awful as well.So all in all, try to stay away from this movie, and if for some strange reason you decide to watch it at least don't do it sober..
Of course, that's not to say that anyone else in this movie can act either...the acting is on par with that of porn or the reenactments you see on those crime TV shows.I've never acted a day in my life and I know I could have delivered lines better than the actors did.To really accentuate the poor acting, the writing was ridiculous (both storyline and scripting).
It's really hard to believe that this script actually made it past the person writing the check to fund this piece of crap.The fight scenes aren't much better either...between the "heat seeking arrow" scene and Randy Couture doing some MMA training with his body guards, it took me about 20 minutes to realize I wasn't even going to have a little fun watching this thing.I loved the Mummy movies, but I thought the first SK movie was pure cheese and this one ups the ante even further.
I found the first Scorpion King movie a passable but underwhelming affair, had it not been for the presence of Kelly Hu it might have been instantly forgettable.Going into the sequels (Yep I have two more after this) I expected the worst, they reek of cashgrabs and things could only go downhill from an already distinctly average film.Rise of a Warrior is essentially the origin story of the scorpion king and tells an early tale from his youth where he seeks revenge against the man who killed his father.What takes place is an almost 2hr fantasy adventure which exceeded my expectations and actually managed to really entertain.Starring former mma star Randy Couture and........nobody else I'd even heard of this suffers from appalling cgi but the practical effects are really quite good.
In appearance it looks like a darker gloomier version of Xena Warrior Princess blended with Prince Of Persia.Since there are so few fantasy movies out there I take what I can get and simply didn't expect this to deliver on so many fronts.Not groundbreaking, but good hearty take your brain out entertainment.The Good:Set/costume production looks AAA in placesScript is better than you'd expectNatalie BeckerThe Bad:Poor CGIThings I Learnt From This Movie:The peoples eyebrow is contagiousSomewhere along the way the guys got given standard rpg female armourI don't care what anyone says, the lead is the Prince Of Persia.
On the bright side, Russell Mulcahy is an experienced B-movie director, and the film delivers enough spectacle, with clear cinematography and some imaginative special effects (the best being the transportation from the labyrinth to Hades).
The Scorpion King 2 - Rise of a WarriorI honestly think, that the current rating of 3.8 is not doing this movie justice, and I will try to find words why I think so.
The action (which I would say is most important here) was actually pretty well done (at least as far as a PG-13-movie can do it), that is the fights were well choreographed and slow-motion was used quite effectively.
It's not as good as the first part, but if you liked the Mummy-movies, if you liked the first Scorpion King-film and/or if you simply like sword-and-sorcerer-flicks (and I do), give it a watch..
I would not recommend this movie to anyone, except for the ones who wants a good laugh.Another thing I did not like was the filming and sound effects.
I know I'm in the minority on this but I quite liked The Scorpion King because of its dynamic direction,its moments of humor and the natural charisma from Dwayne Johnson.So,I expected The Scorpion King 2 : Rise of a Warrior with enthusiasm.And the movie disappointed me.This sequel lacks of that 3 elements which had made the first part so entertaining.This movie bored me and Michael Copon does not show even one fraction of Johnson's charisma.Copon lacks of any grace or charisma.Another reason I had hope on this movie was because director Russell Mulcahy had done solid works on B movies like this one,like in the brilliant The Shadow or in the overrated,but still entertaining,Highlander.But his work on this movie is not too good,because I felt his direction too rigid and unnatural...a very big difference with director Chuck Russell's energetic work on the first part.Also,if all this is not enough,the humor parts on this movie feel very forced and there are a lot of clichés.The Scorpion King 2 is a weak sequel which commits the fatal mistake of being boring.I recommend the first part.It may not be an excellent film but it's very entertaining..
All The Scorpion king movie are prequels to The Mummy.
Originally being introduced in The Mummy Returns (2001) played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the character would earn himself enough popularity to warrant a spin-off with Johnson reprising the role in The Scorpion King (2002).
Although the prequel explaining the origins of the character had a screenplay that wasn't exactly clear and suffered from goofy acting, it was still a competently made film with steady camera-work and entertaining action sequences.
Why does Mathayus have to have such a backward story line?In basic plot the title speaks for itself, it explains (if that's what you call it) how Mathayus (Michael Copon) earned his way up in the ranks from childhood to young adult to overthrow and evil king named Sargon (Randy Couture).
Although Michael Copon as Mathayus is perhaps too young looking for the role, he at least has the physique to look like he's on his way and he can passably act for what it's worth.
I don't know what sold it to me more, the incredible choreography during the fight scenes or the very complex, intricate storyline, full of twists and turns carefully execute with Randy Couture's superb acting (You know, he won the light heavyweight title at UFC 44 by defeating Tito Ortiz).I lost myself between the compelling powerpoint transition effects (the wipes).
I can't tell you how bad it is, all I can say is that I almost threw up in the end.The rating this movie has is more then generous, I am voting it 1 because it has no depth in the story, no relevance to "The Scorpion King", and less then a good rating for acting.For all of you who enjoy a good movie with meaning to it, I say skip this one.
They were at least enjoyable.And even more than that I really enjoyed the 1st Scorpion King and the 1st 2 Mummy films.However even I thought this film was a joke The CGI was absolute s**t, the acting had no depth, the outcome was predictable, the plot varied between laughable and downright ridiculous and there was no chemistry between the hero and his love interest.Even thought I expected little from a direct to DVD movie that didn't even have the same actor as its predecessor this disappointed me.Even the Mummy 3 was far superior this film..
The annoying type-casted female "sidekick", along with the script, terrible acting, and the "special" effects, made this all feel like taking a time capsule back to the cheesy 80's films.The upper chest armor and leather bra costumes the main character wore looked ridiculous and laughable, his nipples were well protected though...
I think most of the rest of the cast was snagged on their way back to the parking lot after failing at try-outs for a High School Musical sequel.Thought this would at least have some good fight scenes but the fighting was even worse than the CGI which was dreadful, Power Rangers or Buffy Vampire Slayer level stuff.
As someone who personally thought "The Mummy" to just be okay and "The Scorpion King" to be mediocre at best, I didn't have high expectations for this.
TSK at least had a charismatic actor like The Rock starring and this practically has nothing to do with that or any of the mummy movies.
Sargon (Randy Couture) uses black magic to kill Mathayus' father and later becomes the king of Akkad.
I can handle corny, silly and even bad acting if the story is good and the plot makes some sense and the action is plausible.
Heck, while I liked most of the mummy movies and even felt the first scorpion king was worth watching...once; this movie was a colossal waist of time.Not often is a movie so bad I felt obligated to warn other's to stay away.
It was obvious they were just trying to cash in on the first Scorpion King movie, the director appeared not even to try and ensure a half way decent product; confusing plot line, jumping from one part of the earth to the other in a matter of seconds with no explanation on how they got there, (hours to get into forest, seconds to get out???) implausible fight scenes at the end (both the arena and the scorpion) that were so bad it made me angry I even watched it till the ending.
I didn't particularly like the acting of leading actor Micheal Copon, whom plays the 'Black Scorpion' champion and vengeful Mathayus, who is on the verge of killing the evil king Sargon, played by Randy Couture.
For the audience I can only consider this recommendable if you're a huge fan of the first Scorpion King and if you're willing to continue to follow the story, as more sequels are brought to our attention - I would also, personally, suggest that you think carefully about this one, as it may, predictably, be the movie you weren't hoping for..
Just look at all the effects and slow motions in this film.Luckily, Michael Copon's handsome enough to make me keep watching this movie.
"The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior" was ALMOST not bad...
I'm the guy who actually liked "Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" and thought the first "Scorpion King" was a fast, fun film.
I knew the basics- it was directed by Russel Mulcahy (who I quite like as a director, actually), it was direct to video (which is generally not a good thing), and I of course know that it is a "prequel of a prequel/spin-off of a sequel of a remake." Try saying that ten times, fast!
As a fan of the first "Scorpion King", it seems obvious that a sequel should bridge the gap between it and "The Mummy Returns", and explain just how Mathayus went from being a championed hero of the people into being a fairly violent villain.
(A character speaks of seeing the pyramids, whereas the first film took place "before the pyramids", being an example)We start with a young Mathayus, who yearns to train to be a "Black Scorpion", famed warriors.
enter the Underworld seeking a sacred sword held by the goddess Astarte, and a scene that references "The Spear of Anubis" (the weapon that would later kill the Scorpion King Mathayus in "The Mummy Returns"), but all in all, it's a very clichéd plot, and the way the movie flows feels like it was written as a TV-pilot.
The CGI effects ranged from "acceptable" to "abysmal." It was all low quality in terms of production.But like I said, I've seen far worse direct-to-video films.
The Scorpion King is hands down one of the worst movies on earth.
I liked the first Scorpion King OK, and I wasn't expecting much from this, but it was worse than I could possibly imagine!
Like I said, the special effects are truly laughable, just like every think else, in the scorpion king 2.
This really makes the Rock look bad, I am glad he decided not to be in this movie or I would have lost all respect for him.
its not possible and the actions is bad beside he doesn't look like the rock at all so!
I loved the previous Scorpion king movie, so i hoped i would like this one too.When i finally watched it, my feelins were mixed.
Other lines for other characters in the script make the movie sound like a Saturday morning cartoon.
- Michael Copon, the actor who plays young Scorpion king.
Though he doesn't look like a young Rock At least he tries to mimic the way the Dwayne "theRock" Johnson(in the previous SCorpion king movie) moves, acts and speaks.
AFter watching this, seems that either the Mummy Returns has their history wrong or THe Scorpion king Mathyus is a really silly man.
"Scorpion King 2", however, takes the cake in its craptastic acting, plot, and special effects.As soon as the film starts, you're greeted with cardboard cutouts fighting each other with names scrolling across their nameless, faceless (and pointless!) bodies.
But beware - the title is a Rip-off, it has nothing to do with the original Scorpion King so don't expect any connection to its far better predecessor.For all of that, I found the movie engaging and that's where the weirdness comes in - I don't know why.
This won't make it into my list of all time favorite films but I'm glad I saw it once and might be tempted to watch it again sometime.After having seen the first Scorpion King I went into this with negative expectations.
The chemistry between the actors in Scorpion King 2 was one of the strong points of the film.
If you go in with high expectations of this being like the Mummy movies you will be very disappointed.
Looking like a good TV movie this could have been interesting if the cast could actually have turned in better than adequate performances.
This is one of those movies that cries for your full attention; but this prequel to 2002's THE SCORPION KING is pitiful and the more you watch you realize this thing is just not going to get any better.
The young warrior Mathayus(Michael Copon)witnesses his father's death at the hands of the evil and powerful King Sargon(Ultimate Fighting champ Randy Couture).
Mathayus trains six years to become one of the King's elite body guards the Black Scorpions and all the while plots to avenge his father's death.
There are some funny moments, but it's still not as good as the original Scorpion King!
It also seems to have no continuity with The Mummy Returns or the original, The Scorpion King.
what a surprise.As a movie with a budget that seems more than the average Sci-Fi Channel nonsense, The Scorpion King 2 has some of the worst special effects in film to date.